Scott Stapp at Sony Hall

Scott Stapp fled his childhood home as a teen in Orlando, Florida, and while attending university in 1993 formed the band Creed with his old schoolmate, Mark Tremonti. Creed became one of the major acts of the post-grunge movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s, selling more than 50 million albums worldwide. In 2001, Stapp and Tremonti also earned a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song as the writers of the Creed song "With Arms Wide Open." Beginning in 2002, Stapp made ongoing headlines due to a fight with members of the band 311, public intoxication, attempted suicide, and other incidents. Creed split in 2004 and Stapp launched a solo career in 2005. Creed reunited in 2009, releasing a fourth album and touring sporadically. In 2014, MusiCares connected Stapp to therapeutic resources, and Stapp received treatment for depression and addiction near his home outside Nashville, Tennessee. In 2016, Stapp replaced the late Scott Weiland as the lead singer of Art of Anarchy, recording an album with the group and performing 18 live concerts before leaving the band. Stapp's third and most recent solo album, The Space Between the Shadows, was released on July 19, 2019.

At Sony Hall tonight, the stage lights flickered and fog bellowed as the musicians took their places and began playing the eerie instrumental introduction to the Creed song "Bullets," complete with Stapp's spoken lyrics. Stapp paced rapidly backed and forth across the small stage with the energy of a rocket ready to launch. The atmospheric intensity increased until Stapp howled. Guitarists Yiannis Papadopoulos and Ben Flanders, bassist Sammy Hudson, and drummer Dango Cellan then fed the crescendo with big, powerful thunder. Weaving between eight Creed songs and seven of Stapp's solo songs (six of which were from his most recent album), the performance was both a view to the past and a call to the future. Stapp unleashed his trademark baritone and it was rich, solid and compelling. Stapp's distinctively dark vocals were so strong that everything he sang was explosive. Stapp's newer lyrics fixed him in a more positive space; he seemed healthier, happier and more grateful. Stapp's fan bas diminished in recent years, but those who give his current concert tour another chance would be very pleased.

Setlist:

1. Bullets (Creed song)
2. Slow Suicide
3. World I Used to Know
4. My Own Prison (Creed song)
5. What If (Creed song)
6. Face of the Sun
7. Overcome (Creed song)
8. Name
9. Survivor
10. With Arms Wide Open (Creed song)
11. Higher (Creed song)
12. Purpose For Pain
13. Gone Too Soon
14. One Last Breath (Creed song)
15. My Sacrifice (Creed song)