Creed @ South America

[George]

[YouTube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 5uqShGgGuY[/YouTube]


Nice video!

[Timotheus]

[youtube]http://youtu.be/d5uqShGgGuY[/youtube]

[JaredWard]

Can't wait to see how this turns out. A lot of cool venues for sure!

[George]

It's coming! The first Creed show in South America is going to be in Rio de Janeiro and I'll be there!

[Andy92]

How's Scott's knee holding up? I'm assuming these shows are still on, but he might be sitting down the entire time.

[Marcos]

How's Scott's knee holding up? I'm assuming these shows are still on, but he might be sitting down the entire time.

Don't worry. He jumped, ran accross the stage and danced all night long yesterday. It didn't even seem like he had such a bad injury less than a month ago.

[George]

He rocked it, the whole band did. They were so fucking awesome. Just got back home after travelling for those two first shows.

[Der_Metzgermeister]

Two days away from the Buenos Aires gig, and there are still tickets available in all sections. There's no way it's going to be full. Brazil, you win this round We're 1-1 from the Slash tour!

[Marcos]

Says who? We outshined Argentina in the Slash tour.

And you always lose for us anyway, no matter if it's in La Bombonera... Brazil 2-0 and counting!

[Marcos]

I just watched the videos I recorded from Creed's gig. The sound is good! I'll upload Faceless Man and the soundcheck jam later.

[abw1987]

Aww, look at the cute little South American rivalry!

[George]

I won't kick your ass Jon because you're not from Argentina, ok? LOL Just kidding dude! Have a blast in Buenos Aires.

[Marcos]

Aww, look at the cute little South American rivalry!

Well... Every Pennsylvania has its Ohio!

[abw1987]

Actually I think it'd be PA vs. NJ, but I lived in New Jersey for many years, so I take no sides in this battle.

[Der_Metzgermeister]

Says who? We outshined Argentina in the Slash tour.

I refer you to the twitter of Mr Brent Fitz: "Buenos f*ckin' Aires! Wow, that was definitely it ... THE best crowd of the entire tour! Thank you!"

The others posted similar stuff, but had to retract when you guys acted all butthurt

1-1 Golazo de Messi.

Anyways, this is the Creed section. Resume your normal activities.

[Marcos]

Says who? We outshined Argentina in the Slash tour.

I refer you to the twitter of Mr Brent Fitz: "Buenos f*ckin' Aires! Wow, that was definitely it ... THE best crowd of the entire tour! Thank you!"

That's called being polite! hahaha

[George]

Where's your review, Jon?

[George]

I don’t even know how I could describe the journey I had that weekend. It was magic, nostalgic, inspiring, it was such a gift in my life. I can’t believe I was there, and I don’t really know if I already can believe. I couldn’t feel I was there, it was so magic.

It Was Coming

Starting on the week’s begin, I couldn’t believe it was so close, I was so excited, after all it was also my first time in an airplane (Not that I was freaking out about that, but that could make my experience even better). The time was passing by and finally it turns out Thursday 22nd, the day I was supposed to leave home. When I log in on Facebook I see that a few friends received the band on the airport, I got even more excited because of that, specially because one of them is a friend I’ve met for several years and the same one who’d receive and help out me in Rio. They told us that Scott was the most friendly with them. I got my bag ready and soon it was time to work but I just couldn’t make my job the right way that day, I was out of mine, my mind was not there, it was in Creed, it was in travelling, it was in the friends I’d met that weekend. At that time I was not anxious because of Creed but I just wanted to be in Rio de Janeiro as soon as possible, so I could relax and wait for the show and all the experience. On a side note, I took my best friend who’s also the singer of my band with me to Rio de Janeiro( he was also coming to Sao Paulo but had to cancel the plane tickets due to other reasons). My parents and girlfriend took me to our local airport and there I met Tarcisio (my friend) with her parents. We did eat some food, waited a few moments and then it was time to enter the flight gate. I said goodbye to my parents and girlfriend and I was ready to fly, but still couldn’t believe what was to happen. Unfortunately our flight was delayed for an hour. Between this time we got to chat about Creed, about the set list and more. Then we saw a woman who got a medal in the last Olympic Games for Brazil. I am not the one who asks for pics and signs but I felt she deserved that friendly act from us. Then I asked her if we could have a pic, and she said “yes” with a surprised-happy smile. It was around 1 a.m and finally time to get in the plane. The flight was fine, I haven’t had a second of sleep, the others in the plane did, lol. We arrived in Rio de Janeiro three hours later.

History

I have met a lot of Creed fans in Brazil over the past ten years on line. We had groups in sites, fan sites, messengers and now on Facebook. There was a time I was kind of a “head” for the group, if it was about Creed, “George knows”, and that time was the period I most loved Creed. I confess I don’t feel the same for them right now, I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I have my obligations right now, I am getting older. In Rio we would be guided by Jean and he told us about one hotel we could stay while we were in Rio. We got a taxi at the airport and it took us to the hotel, but to be honest when Jean told us “it’s cheap” I should have thought that it was not good, and it really was not good, it was terrible. Lol When we left the Hotel without knowing what to do we met an old man taxi driver called Roberto, when he saw us he said with the typical Rio de Janeiro accent : “I’ll get you a good hotel where you’ll have some good time and price”. We said: “Ok, let’s go”! He took us and on our way he asked: “What you guys are doing here?” We answered: “We came for a show, we’ll leave tomorrow”. Then he said: “What show? Kiss?” – Kiss played a day earlier in Rio - I said: “CREED” then he said: “Ohh, Creed”. I don’t think he really knew who was Creed. LOL He drove a few miles away and we made the check in on the Hotel, it was not five stars (And we didn’t want it) but it was a nice one. Cesar Gil, my friend from Sao Paulo was supposed to arrive that afternoon so we would share the hotel room for three, after all it became really cheap.

The Big Day

I hadn’t sleep in the plane, so I took a couple of hours sleeping in the hotel. When it was around 11 a.m I realized we had to take our tickets for the concerts yet. We hadn’t bought the tickets for the Rio show yet and we had to take our Sao Paulo tickets in one of the ticket-points. We chose to take in the “Norte Shopping” so we asked the Hotel lady how we could get there (We have never been in Rio de Janeiro and although it’s a nice and beautiful city, it might be violent in some areas, even more if you don’t know where you are) and she told us to take a bus, but we got a bit confused since the shopping was around 10 kilometers from where we were. We got afraid to take a bus and have some troubles, so what we did? We called the taxi driver Roberto. It was almost 12 a.m and around 2:30 p.m we’d have to take Cesar Gil on the airport. We came in the shopping and took our tickets, I bought my ticket for the Rio show, and the time was coming, it was time for Creed. We had launch and then we left the Shopping, took another taxi to the airport. In the airport we had a confusion, we spent almost 40 minutes to find each other and we just could communicate through SMS. In the meantime Jean was texting us asking where we were, he was supposed to take us in the Hotel and then we’d leave for the show. That’s what we did, another taxi, on the way to the Hotel we met Jean for the first time (I’ve known Jean and Cesar Gil for more than seven years and that was the first time we were together). Jean had to leave some work in the college, I don’t know, so he was quick. I took a shower, wore my Creed t-shirt from the Full Circle tour I bought on ebay, then I was ready and couldn’t wait to be in the Shopping where Citibank Hall is. We took a bus to Rio’s center, then Jean got to his College to leave his work and we waited him for around 40 minutes or so. When he got back we met other buddies and got to the subway station. It was time for a chaotic period. End of work-week in Rio, around 5 p.m / 6 p.m What could have we waited? A LOT of people. We spent around 30 minutes on the subway, then it was time to take another bus. Here in my city I wouldn’t spent this whole time even if I was to flow the city ten times. Lol I really couldn’t wait to get in Citibank Hall. A feel more time and we got in the Citibank Hall. It was about 7:30 p.m and I supposed the soundcheck was already done, but I didn’t know anyone who made the soundcheck in Rio. There were two lines, one for the “Pista Premium” which was my sector, the one closer to the stage and also the “Pista Standard”, right behind us. Also there were people selling non-official stuff from Creed which is typical here. Some pretty good stuff, except for the Blackbird (Alter Bridge) album cover with Creed’s logo. LOL When we got there, I think there were 300 people at most but also a lot of people walking in the shopping. At that time I really thought the crowd in Rio de Janeiro would not be big. We got in the line, took a few pictures and a virtual friend of mine told me when we first met: “I got pictures with Mark, Flip, Brian and Eric on the shopping…I’m so full of emotion”. It was interesting, she was full of joy, I felt happy for her. Again, at that time I didn’t realize what was about to happen, I was going to see Creed, the band of my life, the soundtrack of most of my experiences in life, I couldn’t believe yet, and wasn’t feeling like it was happening. Me and Tarcisio just walked into the Shopping, we had to eat something. There were a lot of fans. Interesting part of this was when I got to hear some girl talking to her husband( I think): “Let’s buy Pista Premium, I love them. I can’t believe I didn’t know they were playing here today and I can’t believe I didn’t know they were back”. It reminded me of the global problem about Creed, the lack of marketing, lack of stuff to work on. It happens in the whole world. Creed needs more recognition and more marketing.

The Show

When we got back to the line the venue was about to open. When the first signs of the house opening happened, everyone started screaming. It rocked. I felt good…I really couldn’t believe what was to happen. I walked in, got inside the venue and when I take a look to the stage it was all ready. I saw Mark’s MESA amps, his whole rack cabinet, I saw Eric’s amps, Brian’s ones and the drum. I looked to my friends and said: “Man, it all I have only seen on youtube. I can’t believe”. I think it would be way greater if the drums had the CREED logo and if they had the CREED name behind them on the stage though. The venue was almost empty. The doors opened 8:30 p.m and it took a lot of time to get it packed. I chose to stay in front of Scott’s mic as my friends chose to be in front of Mark’s mic. Inside the house I met a few virtual friends from back in the day, it was great to meet them. I was 1600 miles away from my city and I really felt like I was in my home. A couple minutes later the opening act started to play. When I heard which band was going to open for Creed, I did a search on youtube to see if it’d be a good band, it wasn’t. At least not for my taste of music. It was not a band to open for Creed, definitely not. They surprised me a little bit live, the drummer was a pretty nice guy, but thank God it took only 7 or 8 songs. When they got their set over, the Creed staff came in. I really felt something special when that happened. I saw Mark’s tech and Flip’s tech. It was funny, Flip’s tech was the one sticking the set list. When he was in front of the stage sticking Scott’s set list, some guys in audience started asking him what was the set list (I’ll lie if I tell you I didn’t know it was the same as the previous shows in Asia) and he said “the first song is One Last Breath”, don’t know if he was just joking or thinking we were idiots. Lol I couldn’t tell it by looking at his face.

Now it was time to “meet” Jaclyn. When I saw her coming to a seat beside the stage it was a cool moment. She came smiling and I started waving the rock fingers to her. Lol The others in front of the stage started too and she answered us with the same act. It was a cool moment. She was smiling all the time. While I was talking to Jean while we were coming to the Citibank Hall he told us that Jaclyn was gracious when they were in airport. He said he was with a friend at the moment, when they saw Scott walking in the airport Jean got paralyzed and his friend started to cry, Scott didn’t see them. Then Jaclyn calls Scott and says with a cute voice: “Aww Scott, they came to see you” and then Scott goes on their direction. I believe it was such a cool moment. From their statement, Scott Stapp was the nicest band member on the airport. To add, they got to follow Creed’s van through the traffic just to see which hotel they were coming. They got it. Lol We planned to come there the next day, but it didn’t work well.
Interesting they started to play some cool stuff before the band came in. I just remember Foo Fighters right now. Before the show started I left the place I was in front of the stage to buy water, when I came back there was a girl in the place I was but my friend was still there, what I did? I “stole” my place back. Then she started annoying me saying: “If I had your size I’d be ashamed to be in front of someone like me”. I looked at her and smiled, then I said: “I was here one minute ago, ok?” smiling again and she: “Don’t want to know”. I didn’t say one more word, I just smiled and laughed, also had a thought for myself: “I’ve waited more than 10 years to get this moment, why would I give my place?” lol In fact, I got to be the second person closest to the stage in the location I was, so I was pretty happy.
I got freaked out when the lights got off and I saw the only SCOTT STAPP behind the sound engineer, he was stretching and I could see his mouth moving while he was doing some exercises for his vocal chords. When the intro song started, I looked at Jaclyn’s side and there were Brian with his bass and Erock with his guitar and mandolin. I thought I was ready but I wasn’t. lol They were there, almost entering in the stage and I was so close. A feel seconds later I see Flip coming to his drums and Scott crossing the stage dressing black, then he goes to the drums, take some water , get back and stops in front of his mic, in front of me. I couldn’t believe where I was. He rock-signed to us, joined his two hands like he was praying and started moving his mouth, his eyes, his face, his hair. When Erock started the first note on the mandolin, Scott was so pumped, he kept moving his head and mouth. It was very interesting and it was so different from everything I’ve ever seen on youtube, the sensation was totally different. When the song started he was all for head-banger (For the videos I saw from this tour, the only show he really head-banger when “Are You Ready?” starts is the Rio show). When I look at my right there was Mark rocking out to the crowd, the first Creed song I saw live in my entire life had just begun as the own song says. When the Are You Ready got finished, he came with: “What’s up, Rio? Obrigado”. The band was amazing. I just have two complains about those shows. The number one is that I didn’t get to see one of my favorite Creed scenes that is Scott joining Mark and Mark joining Scott on the stage, both of them having fun and rocking out together. The other one is that in front of the stage I barely heard Scott’s voice and I really wanted to hear his voice, he’s my favorite member. Anyway I rocked as hard as I could, all the time I was singing, I didn’t care if my voice was devastated since Are You Ready, if I was out of tune all the time, all I cared was about that moment. When they started Torn, it gave me chills. Torn is my favorite live Creed song from all the time. I almost cried during the chorus. I was happy that Scott let the audience sing the clean chorus for Torn, I love when he does that. It was nostalgic. I remember a few years ago when I had that famous San Antonio 99 Creed live show that I listened to every night before sleeping through two years. I had to listen at least Torn but I took a listen to it every day. It surprised me when I looked at my back and the place was packed, fulfilled of Creed die-hards and everyone was singing, as was I.
It was HOT. Thank God that Scott throw out water in us a few times. Some ridiculous review stated that he was baptizing his fans. But for me, each drop of water was like an ocean. It was really hot and I couldn’t/wouldn’t leave my place to buy water. It was a CREED show afterall. Lol There were a lot of sensations on that show. When I looked at my friends’ eyes, they were blighting, it was surreal. What a real experience. We were all together, a lot of friends, from all the country, that haven’t ever met, were on that moment as “one”. I also almost cried in My Own Prison. I just remembered of all the time they had since the release of that song, and it inspired me to think about all my life. When they released My Own Prison, I was only 8 years old.
Although the set list was exactly what I thought it were to be, it was so special. Each song was very special, but when I heard Bullets it was awesome. It was so hard, so heavy, so meaningful that my mouth dropped. I have seen a few heavy metal bands but I have never seen something so heavy like that. It was amazing. And it was LOUD. I think you know that, but Creed is probably one of the loudest bands out there. Faceless Man was also inspiring. When Scott made his a cappella blues singing to introduce Faceless Man, I could see his mouth, all his technique in his tongue, teeths and mouth. I couldn’t believe I was so close. His singing on that part was so beautiful and probably one of the few moments I could really hear his voice on that show. A lot of times Scott acted to us like he was having chills, pointing to his arms. It was so great that I could be a part of that. Before Higher he sang “The Song You Sing” chorus’, it was crazy, we really thought they were going to sing that song, but after the chorus, Scott called: “Take me higheeeer”. I said: “Sh***” lol I thought we were about to see the first performance of a Creed song, that’d be epic.

Encore

When they left the stage before the encore, the crowd lift a paper with the words “With Arms” and “Wide Open” wrote on it. It was an idea from my friends from Rio and it worked very well. The crowd started an “Ole ole ole ole Creed, Creed” which is something common in Brazil for our soccer teams. It surprised the hell out of us when Mark came in playing a riff which was exactly like we were singing. It was something very special. He took the few seconds he had off stage to make that. Awesome. When Scott came back, thanking us all the time and introduced With Arms Wide Open, I thought that the venue was about to drop out. Everyone started screaming and when the song begun, everyone started singing. Scott smiled all the time and thanked us in Portuguese saying “obrigado”. With Arms Wide Open was a theme of a soap opera here back in 2001/2002 along Inside Us All, that’s why those songs are so loved down here. The next songs One Last Breath and My Sacrifice closed that show with a golden key. Those songs are so loved, everyone sang them. When Scott allowed us to start singing My Sacrifice before Mark’s intro I felt like I was ten years back on time. That was the song I cried, the words didn’t leave my mouth anymore, the few tears came one by one in my face. I just had everything from the last ten, twelve years in my mind. I thought in a lot of things I couldn’t even remember a few seconds later but that was probably a sensation I haven’t ever had in my life. It was like I was dying and my own life came in my mind. Such a great moment.

The show was over. Even though I tried so hard, I didn’t get an eye-to-eye from Scott, not from anyone in the band but I felt good. The show was over and I didn’t feel like I was there. I’d need another Creed show to feel something bigger, I was so in-heaven that I didn’t feel what I should feel. When we left the house, I bought one or two liters of water, then we moved to where Jean was. He was where the band comes in and lefts out. We waited a few moments but the guys left so fast. We only saw the staff. It was nice, I called Ernie (Mark’s tech) to ask a picture since I am also a fan of his work but don’t think he heard me or if he wanted to hear me. Lol

It’s time to sleep and come to Sao Paulo to another amazing experience…My review from the phenomenal, out of this planet Sao Paulo show will be here in a few days.


Here's my facebook album from the journey. I didn't took many pics on the shows since I found out my camera sucked. Hope you like the ones I have. :stapphug

Also, a channel where you can see me/my hands/my head in fron of Scott's mic.

http://www.youtube.com/feed/UC1W8J2H3A7rwYlhSQ2sJsEg

[abw1987]

Thank you for writing all that! It's great to hear the perspective of a true fan who finally gets to see Creed after so long. It's been a long time since I've felt that sense of euphoria at a concert.

LOL - I would love to see that Blackbird t-shirt with the Creed logo.

[George]

You're welcome, dude!

Here it is: