CREED

Powerplay - June/July/August 1999

The Borderline, London, 15 March 1999

"Each performance is an intense experience for us, we play from the heart. I think that's important the first time you see a band that you're in love with. When we play, you can see the sweat dripping off my face and the spit coming out of my mouth."

--Scott Stapp (Creed)

Listen to Creed's "My Own Prison" debut and it may not become immediately apparent just why over three million Americans have decided to part with their hard earned for it. Sure, it's a strong enough offering musically and the thought provoking lyrical sentiments have clearly touched a nerve with many listeners, but is that enough to create such a success story?

Tonight's gig, Creed's first ever show outside of the US, sure provided the emphatic explanation for the curiously unconvinced. The UK may have only recently picked up on the fact that Creed even exist, but they turned in a blinding performance that captivated the packed crowd throughout; an intense, sweaty, gutsy display of cracking rock music. No-one was bothered about the hackneyed 'grunge this, Seattle that' bullshit tonight-this show elevated Creed's music and attitude way above the UK's pigeon-hole brigade (unless you're unfortunate enough to "write" for a weekly piece of shit that specialises in hatchet jobs on bands that break the US before the rag has "discovered" them for the UK. Sad bastards).

A prolonged battering of piped Egyptian music set the crowd tingling before Creed ripped (and I mean ripped!) into "Ode" as frontman Scott Stapp set about dominating the Borderline's tiny stage from the onset, wanting to see, feel, touch and connect with every member of the audience tonight. His wild-eyed stares from behind the floppy, sweat ridden locks that curled around this glistening face gave him a quite demonic appearance, his unrelenting energy and pure passion seemingly fuelled from Hell's own fires.

All but one track from their US triple-platinum debut got an airing tonight, from which the absolutely blistering rendition of "Torn" blew away all competition, although US bonus track "Bound & Tied" (from the 'Deadman On Campus' soundtrack) also his the spot quite beautifully, and metal-head guitarist Marc Tremonti positively smouldered through "In America". The promised experimentation manifested itself via four brand new tracks, pick of the bunch being the crushing power of "Faceless Man" and Stapp added extra weight (if any were needed) to the Vedder comparisons with a short solo sting that followed the out and out belligerence of "Sister".

Encore time brought forth the upbeat class of "One", followed by the awesome "What's This Life For?", a track incessantly demanded by impatient punters throughout the evening! As the intro chords ushered in Stapp's opening line of "Hurray for a child that makes it through...", his mouth started to curl into a wry grin at the realisation that the array of sweaty faces in the mosh pit were outsinging him! The parting promise of Creed returning to these shores in two to three months time was wrapped up in a sincere shot of gratitude--"Thank you, we didn't know what to expect coming over here and you've made it feel like we were playing at home tonight--this has exceeded all our expectations." Believe me, man, that makes two of us. Great show.

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read the article 'My Own Person'

.Richard Blundell