Riding a wave of ’90s nostalgia

Riding a wave of ’90s nostalgia Creed finds fans young and old as the oft-disbanded group returns to city To continue reading, please subscribe: Digital Subscription One year of digital access for only $205* - Enjoy unlimited reading on...

Riding a wave of ’90s nostalgia Creed finds fans young and old as the oft-disbanded group returns to city To continue reading, please subscribe: Digital Subscription One year of digital access for only $205* - Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com - Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper - Access News Break, our award-winning app - Play interactive puzzles *First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35).

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Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks. Creed is, once again, having a moment.

The American post-grunge band was one of the most prolific acts of the late ‘90s and early 2000s, releasing three multi-platinum records in a row and dominating radio airwaves with more than a dozen hit singles. Despite the popular acclaim, the band was also the subject of much critical disdain. The disdain, however, seems to have waned as new and returning fans have welcomed Creed back into the zeitgeist in recent years with arms wide open.

That sentiment certainly rang true for the enthusiastic multigenerational crowd that gathered at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday night to worship at the altar of hard rock nostalgia during the band’s Summer of ‘99 tour stop. Concert Review Creed with Big Wreck and Mammoth - Canada Life Centre - Tuesday, July 14 - Attendance: approximately 12,000 - 3-1/2 stars out of 5 The band strode on stage under cover of thick fog following an extended light show that prompted a chant of “Creed, Creed, Creed” from the nearly sold-out house.

Wearing a spray of silver chains and dressed head-to-toe in black, lead singer Scott Stapp, 52, assumed a wide stance and dove into the night’s opening track Bullets, from the band’s third album, Weathered. Slick, ominous video montages rolled on a large screen while fire (pyro) and brimstone (smoke) erupted from the stage in time with the band’s punchy drums and Stapp’s soaring, growling vocals. Pockets of light moshing broke out in the pit throughout the night.

Creed has long denied any association with Christian rock, but Stapp’s lyrics have always been steeped in religious imagery, and the vocalist has become more open about his faith in recent years. On Tuesday, he took a moment to deliver a mid-concert sermon, which drew a wave of cheers, before launching into the title track off the band’s debut 1997 album, My Own Prison. The first half of the setlist focused on deeper cuts — such as Are You Ready?

and What If — that may be lesser known to new Creed converts. Formed in Florida in 1994, Creed disbanded and reconvened and disbanded again before experiencing a renewed surge in popularity in 2023 thanks to the internet’s obsession with ‘90s nostalgia. The band’s modern fanbase run the gamut from gen X and millennial fans looking for a blast from the past and gen Z listeners who discovered the group through TikTok.

The band has embraced the nostalgia machine with its Summer of ‘99 offerings, sharing the stage with other era-appropriate acts — such as Limp Bizkit, Hoobastank and Cypress Hill — on tours, cruises and music festivals over the past three years. After some more evangelizing from Stapp, the band closed its 90-minute performance with a run of mega hits: With Arms Wide Open and Higher, both of which kicked off arena-wide singalongs. These were the songs people came to experience live.

Another chant of “Creed, Creed, Creed” brought the band back out for an encore of One Last Breath and My Sacrifice. And, of course, more singing. The band tossed paper airplanes and guitar picks into the crowd before exiting the stage for good.

Mammoth opened the night with a loud, heavy set. The Los Angeles hard rock band formed in 2015 as a solo project of frontman Wolfgang Van Halen (son of Eddie Van Halen and a former member of the family band), who, like his dad, can definitely shred. Though not a genuine ‘90s article, the band’s lofty vocals and booming drums meshed well with the rest of the bill.

The five-piece pulled songs from its three-album catalogue, including The End, the title track of Mammoth’s latest record; and Distance, a tribute to Eddie, who died in 2020. Big Wreck followed with more loud and more heavy. The Canadian-American rock band received a warm reception from the nearly full crowd during the opening notes of The Oaf, the lead single off In Loving Memory Of..., the band’s debut 1997 album.

The Juno-nominated group is fronted by Toronto-born singer and guitarist Ian Thornley, who set out on his own when Big Wreck disbanded in 2003. Tuesday’s setlist included work from the band’s busy second act, such as Albatross (2012); the Thornley cover, Come Again; and early hits Blown Wide Open and That Song — the latter of which saw the audience singing along at the top of its lungs.

Thornley’s vocals were crisp and the band was tight despite a static performance. eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.

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