Though much of the post-grunge scene of the latter 20th century featured gruff vocals, macho posturing and anthemic, vaguely religious imagery, few bands did it bigger, louder and more successfully than Tallahassee, Florida’s own Creed. Creed sold millions of records, packed stadiums and predictably imploded in the mid-2000s: a five-year hiatus marked by acrimony, “creative differences” and the vow that the band would never return. Like most bands, it did return.
The reunion has been something of a mixed bag for Creed, with reports of lagging ticket sales and an album, Full Circle, that failed to light a sales spark, like prior releases did way back in the good old days when digital piracy was something from a Philip K. Dick novel and not the alleged implosion of the music industry.
Just to put it into perspective, Creed released three studio albums in its first incarnation, selling six million, 11 million and six million respectively. Creed certainly remembers how much rock fans liked those albums. That is why they’re touring the country performing the first two – My Own Prison (1997) and Human Clay (1999) – in their entirety on alternating nights, alongside greatest hits guaranteed to make you want to reach for a sympathy lozenge.
At the Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC) in Kingston on Thursday, April 26, Creed will perform on one of its Human Clay nights, which is good news for fans of “Higher” and “Arms Wide Open.” Even if you’re hipper-than-thou and pretend that you don’t like songs that make you want to sing atop a high peak into the vast expanse of a valley below, you’d still probably find yourself unable to, at the very least, hum along to Creed.
Tickets for Creed at UPAC are $77 for Golden Circle, $47 for adults and $37 for members. For more information, visit www.creed.com and www.bardavon.org. Eve To Adam will open this show.
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