With arms wide open: Pittsburgh welcomes Creed on Summer of '99 tour

Creed, one of the biggest bands in modern rock, is no stranger to struggles.

Despite selling millions and millions of records, the post-grunge band could never seem to win over music critics. Singer Scott Stapp faced mental health issues and battled alcoholism and addiction. The band broke up in 2004, reunited in 2009, and went on hiatus in 2013.

After reuniting again last summer, Creed announced the Summer of ‘99 tour, which included a date Saturday night at the Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown. A sold-out crowd enthusiastically welcomed the band’s return, who last played Pittsburgh in 2009. (Stapp later noted it was their largest crowd of the tour so far, and he believed it was among the biggest in the past 15 years.)

”Heartache, betrayal, struggles, self-inflicted pain, the mistakes we make, bad decisions. I know, man. I’m a recovering addict and alcoholic,” Stapp said while introducing “Never Die.” “I’ve made some bad decisions. But no matter what life throws at us, no matter how many times we fall, whether it’s by the hands of someone else or our own hands, we get back up and keep fighting. We keep pushing on.”

With a massive digital display, flamethrowers, fountain fireworks and spotlights from behind and above, Creed put on a high-energy show and pulled no punches. With the entire band dressed in black, Stapp was the most active, prowling the stage and pouring himself into the performance.

Creed opened their nearly two-hour set with one of their heaviest songs, “Bullets,” before playing “Torn” and “Are You Ready?,” which has some serious Stone Temple Pilots vibe. The aforementioned “Never Die” led to the first big singalong on “My Own Prison.”

Related

• A Pittsburgh homecoming: Dan + Shay feel the love at Star Lake
• Interview: Former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure brings Band in a Box tour to Pittsburgh
• 2024 Pittsburgh area concert calendar

The band’s 1999 album “Human Clay” featured most prominently in their show, with seven of the 11 songs played, while 1997’s “My Own Prison” and 2001’s “Weathered” each had four played.

Bassist Brian Marshall took center stage on “What If,” and guitarist Mark Tremonti unleashed heavy riffs all night, including “Overcome,” which concluded with a guitar giveaway to a young boy named Ryan afterward.

With Stapp saying they were going to take a “transcendental trip” on the next few songs, Creed tore through “Say I” and “Faceless Man” before launching into the rest of their greatest hits.

“In a world that’s so divided, it appears they want to keep us divided, they want to keep us separated, they want to keep us arguing about stuff that doesn’t really matter,” Stapp said ahead of “One.” “We’ve got to start coming together and finding what we can agree on instead of what separates us, what makes us alike instead of what makes us different. … The only way we can change anything in our personal lives and in this world is for us to come together as one, to find common ground, to unite.”

The closing hit parade began with “One” followed by “What’s This Life For,” which had Stapp belting as strongly as he did at the beginning of the night. Then came “With Arms Wide Open,” which brought out the phone flashlights. They closed their regular set with a soaring “Higher,” with thousands of hands in the air and the crowd singing along.

After a quick break, they returned for the encore with the last two of their smashes: “One Last Breath” and “My Sacrifice.”

More from @Creed pic.twitter.com/Z1jPwGUJOc

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) August 4, 2024

3 Doors Down, another veteran band of the late 1990s/early 2000s, set the stage for Creed.

They balanced modern power ballads like “Here Without You” and “Landing in London” with heavy hitters like “Train” and “Duck and Run.” And there was a new song, “Never Look Down” — “We’ll try to get off our lazy butts and record it soon,” added charismatic frontman Brad Arnold.

“It’s Not My Time” and “Loser” early in their set got the crowd pumped while closing with “Kryptonite” and “When I’m Gone” primed the pump for Creed.

While Creed’s Stapp also talked about spirituality, 3 Doors Down’s Arnold was more direct, dropping “God bless you” after a majority of the songs. In a three-minute speech ahead of “Away From the Sun,” Arnold talked about getting out of the shadows and darkness.

“And it’s hard. We live in a world that constantly tells us that we’re not good enough and you’ll never be enough, you’ll never have enough, you’re never going to be enough, you’re never going to win,” he said. “… I want to tell you that is a great lie. I’m going to tell you you are enough, you’ve always been enough, you will win, and you’ll always be enough, for one reason. That’s because Jesus Christ loves you. Jesus Christ made you enough.”

More from @3doorsdown in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/X2cqlVWh58

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) August 4, 2024

Finger Eleven, the Canadian alt rockers with roots together dating back to 1990, didn’t just dwell on the past in their 30-minute set. From 2023’s greatest hits album, they played “Together Right,” which at the time had been their first new music since 2016. They also added “Adrenaline,” which just officially came out Friday, from an album of the same name slated for release next year.

But they closed with their two biggest hits, the heartfelt ballad “One Thing” and the dance club discomfort story, “Paralyzer” — which started with Genesis’ “That’s All” and later included a snippet of AC/DC’s “Back in Black.”

.@Finger_Eleven at @Pav_StarLake ahead of Creed and 3 Doors Down pic.twitter.com/xfReNi2eEY

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) August 3, 2024