CREED kicked off its first tour in 12 years, “Summer Of ’99”. Wednesday night (July 17) at Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The band’s 16-song set included seven songs off CREED‘s diamond-certified second album, 1999’s “Human Clay”, four each from CREED‘s debut, 1997’s “My Own Prison” and 2001’s “Weathered”, and just one song from the band’s most recent LP, 2009’s “Full Circle”.
CREED‘s setlist was as follows:
01. Bullets
02. Torn
03. Are You Ready?
04. My Own Prison
05. What If
06. Never Die
07. Weathered
08. Say I
09. Faceless Man
10. One
11. What’s This Life For
12. Rain
13. With Arms Wide Open
14. Higher
Encore:
15. One Last Breath
16. My Sacrifice
With more than 53 million albums sold worldwide, CREED remains one of modern rock’s most successful acts. Now, 30 years into their incredible journey, CREED is bigger than ever. In late 2023, the Texas Rangers made “Higher” their unofficial anthem, as it spurred them to their first World Series win. Earlier this year, the song appeared in a high-profile Paramount+ Super Bowl commercial, while a NASCAR Daytona 500 campaign also incorporated the hit single. Along the way, CREED has gained a new generation of fans, thanks to countless TikTok videos that feature their songs.
Last summer, after an 11-year hiatus, CREED announced their long-awaited reunion — returning to the stage for the first time in April 2024 at the sold-out Summer Of ’99 cruise and Summer Of ’99 And Beyond cruise. In May, meanwhile, the band’s multiplatinum-selling “Greatest Hits” collection made its wide debut on vinyl (via Craft),this month landing the collection back into the Billboard Top 200 (currently No. 166, in a list of the most consumed albums in the U.S.),as well as hitting Top Hard Rock & Alternative Albums (No.48),Top Alternative Albums (No. 21),and moving up the Top Hard Rock Albums rankings (No. 11). Originally issued in 2004, the 14-track compilation spans the band’s first three albums (1997’s “My Own Prison”, 1999’s “Human Clay” and 2001’s “Weathered”). In the months ahead, fans can catch the band on their “Summer Of ’99” tour, running from July through September, where they’ll be joined by the likes of 3 DOORS DOWN, FINGER ELEVEN, SWITCHFOOT, FUEL, BIG WRECK and DAUGHTRY. The band will be heading into arenas this November and December on the “Are You Ready?” tour with 3 DOORS DOWN and MAMMOTH WVH in the U.S. and MAMMOTH WVH and FINGER ELEVEN in Canada.
In a recent interview with Ryan McCredden of the I-Rock 93.5 radio station, singer Scott Stapp spoke about the fact that younger generations of fans have discovered CREED‘s music in the 12 years since he and his bandmates played their last concert. He said: “Yeah, a hundred percent. And the analytics don’t lie. We’ve started seeing, in late 2020, CREED beginning to go viral on TikTok, Instagram and then Facebook. And then it just seemed like every two or three months… The first couple months in 2021, we went viral again, and it just kept happening every two or three months. And then you look at the analytics, and you realize that when you look at the numbers, it’s three generations. And now it’s gotten down into high school kids. And so, what a gift and what a blessing. And I do not take that for granted. I understand how rare that that is. And I think I can speak for all of CREED, because we’ve had these conversations in private, that it’s something we definitely understand is a gift, it’s rare and we’re not taking it for granted and we’re just so grateful and appreciative that this has happened. And I think we’re in the nurture phase of this whole thing and not taking a single bit of it for granted and just want to just share how grateful we are and fortunate we are that all these years later [so many people are discovering our music.”
Stapp went on to discuss the overwhelmingly positive response to the announcement of CREED‘s first shows together in 12 years.
“I learned this from Mark [Tremonti, guitar] the other day in a Guitar World interview that we did together,” Scott said. “One thing about Mark, and I hope he doesn’t get mad at me for sharing, but he’s always in touch with our long-term agent from day one, Ken Fermaglich at UTA. He started with us when we were doing clubs and nobody was showing up, and he’s still our agent today. And Mark checks in with him to get analytics and get numbers. And Ken shared with him that right now we are bigger in terms of sales and how things are moving than we were at our peak in 2001, 2002, which blows my mind. It still doesn’t seem that way to me, but Mark made a comment. He goes, ‘Oh, well, you’ll see it when you step out and there’s 25,000 people in front of you.’ And I said, ‘Don’t scare me, man.’ It’s been a long time since I’ve stepped in front of an audience that big.”
When McCredden suggested that “the social media world of TikTok and Instagram” played a huge part in generating interest in a CREED reunion tour, Stapp said: “I’ve learned in my journey in sobriety and in recovery that… I believe in God and I believe that God has a plan. And looking at this from a thousand-foot perspective, it just all just seems, to me, without a doubt that God’s had a hand in it. And I’m just grateful that I’m included on the ride and I’m just not gonna take a moment for granted and [I’m gonna] try to deliver every night and give the fans what they’re asking for.”