The last concert of the summer at Saratoga Performing Arts Center started out with 12 Stones and Jerry Cantrell and finally reached the long awaited members of Creed. The fall weather was definitely there to chill the crowd but blankets and sweatshirts alike kept the audience waiting for the performers to come out.
12 Stones started out with a lot of spunk for a rather unknown band from Mandeville, Louisiana. The band came out and successfully psyched up the crowd for the oncoming performers of the night, while they were having fun jumping around on stage. These young twenty-somethings pride themselves on using their music to reflect on bad experiences in a positive way and as they introduced each song they tried to explain what emotions the song conveys. Their music was less burdened then the main feature Creed, but their sound shows promise.
Jerry Cantrell then came on with heavy metal music, which is a lot different from the bands they were touring with. They started out slowly with their own songs, which didn’t seem to impress the crowd much. When they finally played selections from Alice in Chain songs, Cantrell’s former group, the crowd definitely warmed up to them. Even though at first they didn’t seem to fit into the mix of bands that night, they did in the end.
Creed came on after two hours of opening bands and was met with much excitement. Their audience was psyched up and screaming with anticipation as they waited for their arrival on stage. They started out with one of their newest hits “One Last Breath,” and the crowd went wild over this and the special effects. The stage blasted fire and shot sparks in the background as Scott Stapp, Mark Tremonti, and Scott Phillips played their music as it was meant to be. They followed up with a variety of songs from each of their CDs including their first big hit from their first CD, “My Own Prison.” They ended the show with well known “Higher.” The band came out for an encore, and Scott Stapp’s son followed him out. They ended for the second time with “My Sacrifice” and the audience went nuts as the band threw out drum sticks, guitar picks, and whatever else they found on stage to the fans. It was a good show and no one was disappointed by the performance.
