Pop Music

BY RICK MASSIMO
Journal Pop Music Writer

MANSFIELD, Mass. -- The Creed reunion tour that started earlier this month hit the Comcast Center Tuesday night, and the platinum-selling Florida-based post-grunge band showed that little had changed in the five years since they first took off.

The elements of the Creed sound are still there -- the metallic guitar riffs and occasional spooky minor-key openings of Mark Tremonti (augmented last night by guitarist Eric Friedman) with the solid mid-tempo pounding of bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips (the latter three members formed the band Alter Bridge during Creed's breakup and have said that it will continue).

All topped off, of course, by singer Scott Stapp delivering from-the-mountaintop lyrics that tackle The Big Subjects, laden with religious imagery and delivered in his distinctive muscular yawn of a voice. There wasn't a lot of variation; touches such as the acoustic guitar on much of "Faceless Man" and the triple-unison bent riff of "Never Die" were extremely welcome.

The set was mostly a greatest-hits affair, with staples such as "With Arms Wide Open," "One," "Higher" and "Torn" drawing the greatest noise. The band has a new record, entitled Full Circle, coming out in October and a new single, "Overcome," due later this month, and Tuesday night they played the title track and the single (the latter twice, as they were shooting the video). There's not a lot to differentiate the new stuff from the old, although "Overcome" did throw in some rapid-fire vocals in the middle and "Full Circle" included some of the metal-funk feel of, say, Aerosmith.

While the rest of the band wasn't exactly faceless Tuesday night, Stapp provided the visual focus. Like Disturbed frontman David Draiman, Stapp is utterly convinced of the importance of what he's doing, saying and singing, prowling the stage in dead earnest, not so much enjoying the shouts and fist-pumps of the audience as feeding on them and returning them. Twice, he spoke of "responsibility." Woo!

"Let's keep pressing," Stapp told the audience as he left the stage at the end of the show. Towards what, he didn't say -- but he didn't need to. That feeling -- that playing a rock show is a way of pressing toward a higher goal -- was what Stapp and Creed were all about.

Fall River's own Resin opened the show, playing muscular post-grunge led by leather-lunged singer Ron Dallaire. Highlights included the metallic pop of "Breathe" and the radio-ready single "Soul to Soul," while Creedence's "Fortunate Son" also got a good working over. It's far from the first recent high-profile opening gig for Resin, and they looked comfortable enough on the big stage that it's easy to predict they'll be back.

The New Zealand band Like a Storm preceded Creed with a similar mix of hard rock and melody, with a bit more brash to their twin guitars and more high drama to their lyrics. The harmony spots on "What It's Like" and the double-time ending of "Just Save Me" were nice touches.

rmassimo@projo.com / (401) 277-7206

 Tags  Comcast Center concert Creed review

---