Words & Photos by Marco Denzer
Black Friday shopping might be great for some people, but attending a sold-out triple bill concert at the legendary Madison Square Garden, with headliner Creed along with 3 Doors Down and Mammoth WVH last Friday evening is without a doubt a far greater experience for many heavy metal fans.
Having reunited and successfully completed their triumphant Summer of 99 Tour earlier this year. Creed, the renowned multi-platinum and Grammy winning rock band, returned to the world-famous “crown jewel” of New York City venues with an absolutely phenomenal show as part of their current Are You Ready? Tour. The concert began promptly at 7:00 PM when Mammoth WVH, the hard rocking band founded and fronted by Wolfgang “Wolf” Van Halen, opened the first set of the night with “Another Celebration at the End of the World”, and firmly set the pace and good vibe for the show to come.
With a setlist of titles that included “You’re to Blame”, “Like a Pastime” and “Take a Bow”, selected from their two highly acclaimed studio albums “Mammoth” and “Mammoth II”, the guitar centric band held nothing back and thoroughly kicked ass to easily ignite the energy in the venue. The powerhouse duo of drummer Garrett Whitlock and bassist Ronnie Ficarro set the rock steady foundation that vocalist/ guitarist Wolf Van Halen and guitarist Jon Jourdan used to lay their heavy riffs and shredding leads upon. Additionally, Wolf’s vocals paired with Jon’s harmonies sounded great and complemented the band’s overall sound extremely well.
Mammoth WVH appeared very comfortable on stage and played song after song with impeccable skill, drive and heart felt emotion. Additionally, there was a particularly poignant moment during the set when as he reminisced with the audience Wolf said “Being here brings back memories… the last time I played in Madison Square Garden I was with my dad”, to which the crowd responded with a very loud cheer and applause and support. It was obvious from moments like this and the good vibes in the room that the band’s introspective, thoughtful and well written music resonated extremely well with the crowd. And this in turn translated into one hell of a good time, a show that was every bit rock and roll concert and zero fluff.
Multi-platinum rockers 3 Doors Down, featuring Justin Biltonen (bass), Greg Upchurch (drums), Chris Henderson (rhythm guitar), Chet Roberts (lead guitar), and Brad Arnold (vocals), were up next on the night’s bill with an engaging set that easily connected with the crowd and pumped up the energy even higher. Their twelve song setlist opened with “Train”, from the band’s 2008 album titled “3 Doors Down”, and it followed immediately with “It’s Not My Time” from the same album. With the audience fully engaged in the band’s performance, on its feet and singing the choruses along with them, 3 Doors Down continued with many of their widely popular hits including “When I’m Gone”, “Here Without You” and the extremely popular “Kryptonite” among others.
It was evident from their low-key demeanor that the band is an easy-going group of guys that are up on stage to deliver a great performance and spread good vibes with their music, and clearly that resonated incredibly well with the fans. Additionally, vocalist Brad Arnold candidly communicated a faith-based message of gratitude, hope and goodwill throughout their set that was notably well received and cheered by the fans.
At long last the wait was finally over when the night’s headliners Creed, much to the delight of their cheering fans, timely walked on stage at 9:00 PM with an incredibly good setlist in mind and ready to rock. Featuring vocalist Scott Stapp, guitarist/vocalist Mark Tremonti, drummer Scott Phillips, and bassist Brian Marshall, in addition to their supporting rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist Eric Friedman, the band started their set with “Bullets” a song selected from the 2001 album “Weathered”.
Creed literally turned the heat up to full blast right from the start, as huge flames ignited across the back of the stage to greatly accentuate the last sentence of the song’s first verse and subsequent choruses. And they continued their performance with that same high level of energy and pyro techniques by carefully planning and coordinating their repertoire with strategically timed bursts of flames, in addition to their impressive animated video screens, lights, and bursts of CO2 gas shooting from jets located on the edge of the stage.
Band members were very active throughout the entire set and constantly moved around on the spacious MSG stage, interacting often with the audience and each other as they delivered and absolutely rock-solid performance. Let there be no doubt, Creed is a formidable metal power house. They appeared quite comfortable as a unit, physically fit, very dynamic and full of energy to deliver the goods, particularly Scott Stapp who’s an absolute bundle of energy and consummate front man. He was thoughtful, inspiring, and engaging in his interactions with the fans, and he appeared to effortlessly instigate audience participation from beginning to end without ever letting up… and the crowd went right along with him and loved every minute of it.
In addition to the long list of popular hits the band played, including “My Own Prison”, “What If”, “One”, “Higher” and many others, there was an extremely captivating visual element about the entire show and Creed’s connection with those in attendance greatly contributed to blurring the line between audience and musicians. It brought everyone together in Rock and Roll spirit and made it possible to turn a concert into an incredibly fun and memorable experience.
Creed Setlist:
Bullets
Freedom Fighter
Torn
Are You Ready?
Never Die
My Own Prison
What If
Say I
Unforgiven
Peace Inside Us All
One
What’s This Life For
With Arms Wide Open
Higher
One Last Breath
My Sacrifice
Gallery +
TheWaster.com | NYC
12.4.24
