| Creed Concert |
| Here's how it went. August 13th finally rolled around and I, of course, couldn't sleep, so I got up early, got ready, and did some extra stuff before leaving to pick up my friend, Becky. We left her house at about 10am or so. We listened to Creed on the way up, because I wanted her to get more familiar with their songs since she's not anywhere near as much of a Creed nerd as I am! We made it up there in about 4 hours, when it was supposed to be a 5 hour drive...oops, was I speeding?! Anyway...we stopped at our hotel to check in before we headed to the Fargodome. We got to the Dome at like, 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon. We would have been there earlier had there not been detours in Fargo which made it difficult to find our hotel and of course we had to eat, so we went to McDonalds across the street from the Fargodome beforehand. While there I decided where I wanted to hide the disposable camera, as it is common knowledge that cameras are not allowed at Creed concerts. Where did I hide it? In the knot of the the sweatshirt tied around my waist! Sneaky huh?! After a while of sitting in line at the East Entrance of the Fargodome, we started hearing some guitar strums and drum beats and some singing...it was Creed warming up or doing soundchecks. I heard the beginning of Hide and then part of Higher. While we waited in line, we met a group of really cool, nice people. Their names are Kristin, Kendra, David, Matt, and Shaylie (sp?). We started talking when they were trying to figure out if their camera was noticeable where they hid it. They finally started letting people in. Kendra's camera was confiscated. When my turn came to be patted down, she ended up patting the camera, and evidently didn't feel it, and let me in, along with my camera! So we ran down to the floor and took our spot one away from the rail on the runway, and about 5 to 7 people away from the rail by where Tremonti would be. Then we waited.... We all talked a bunch and I gave Kristin my cell # to call about getting copies of the pics, since they didn't get their camera in. Shaylie ended up right on the rail cuz this weird guy kept coming and going and she got the guard to yell at him and say he couldn't have his spot back. The security guards name was Matt, he kicked ass! Shaylie kept talking to him and almost got us backstage passes for $50 each. But it wasn't up to him, he had to ask one of Creed's personal security guards for them, and unfortunately he said no but I still love him for trying! 12 Stones came on the stage first. They were awesome and got the crowd psyched up despite, Paul, the singer, having a migraine. I had already heard a few of their songs and knew some of the lyrics, and I have now downloaded the rest, it's pretty good! Jerry Cantrell, formerly the guitarist in Alice In Chains, played next. I think I speak for the majority of the people at the concert when I say, his set sucked. He came on stage acting like he was some rock God and we should have all bowed down to him. Nope, sorry! He didn't try to get us into it and just came out there to play his songs and get off and seemed to think that fans aren't part of a musicians career. We were all pretty thankful when he got off the stage, partly cuz he was bad, but mostly cuz we knew Creed was next! While we were waiting for Creed, I looked around to see how many people were in the stands, I was really surprised to find so many of them empty! The atmosphere would have been even better had there been more people there! As the crew got the stage ready for Creed, anticipation grew. The lights dimmed, but still no Creed. FINALLY! We see shadows cross the stage and I can see Scott at the mic. We hear the intro to Bullets: "Walking around I heard the sounds of the earth seeking relief..." It was going! At the end of the Bullets intro, the stage lights came on and the first of many pyro explosions went off. They gave off so much heat! The crowd was screaming the fans were surging forward, it was amazing! Somewhere in the craziness I lost Becky, but I knew I'd find her afterward. I started taking pictures, and through the whole show got yelled at 2 or 3 times by guards to "put it away or I'm gonna take it!" But when one left, and a different guard came over, I took more pics. Check out some concert pics, these are blown up and cropped as the camera was a disposable and therefore, had a lot of negative space and looked really far away. I was pretty surprised at first to see Scott Stapp with a goatee, but after a while I just got used to it and didn't think anything of it. You can't really see anything in the pictures, that's how minimal it was. I think he's shaved it off since, but I know he's had one for a couple of other shows. Everyone was making such a big deal of it, but it wasn't anything at all. Another thing: CREED HAS THE BEST FANS! Sometime early on, like, 3 or 4 songs in, there was quite a dilemma in my area of the pit. There was a guy in an electric wheelchair down on the floor, and everyone around him was trying to hold the entire pit back so he didn't get crushed. At one point my leg was getting pressed against the side of the wheelchair (I ended up getting a bruise from it), and I was almost falling on him, so I turned my upper body (I couldn't have moved the rest of me if my life depended on it!) and put my hand on this guys chest on the other side of the tiny circle around the guy in the wheelchair to keep from falling on him. I was like, "I'm sorry," to the guy I was pushing on and he said, "It's alright, don't worry about it," or something like that. I think I was kinda helping him keep the crowd back a little bit and helping him keep his balance and not fall on the guy too. Some people kept asking the guy in the wheelchair if he wanted out; finally he said yes. Someone told me to get one of the security guards. So I yelled to someone to get a guards attention (I was only one away from the rail but I wouldn't have been able to get their attention). It ended up being one of the guys who yelled at me about the camera, but anyway, I yelled to him, "There's a guy in a wheelchair and he wants out!" The guard was like, "What?!" and got a little closer. I yelled it again and louder. He kinda got this look like he didn't know what to do. A couple of the security guards disappeared, meanwhile everyone pushed the crowd back even more and 3 guys in the crowd lifted the wheelchair with the guy in it (remember, it's an electric wheelchair, and the guy wasn't small!). They pushed their way as far over to the rail as the could and tipped the wheelchair so the security guards could get him out. One guard took the guy and another grabbed the wheelchair, after that, I don't know what happened to him. I was just glad we got him out. The whole time I was wondering if Scott saw what was happening, cuz he was only about 10 or 20 ft away. After the guy was out the guards managed to get over to us through the crowd and they must have realized that he had gotten out or something and had to make their way to the rail to get pulled out. I ended up moving back a little bit to make more room for them to get out. They were right behind me for awhile and I tried to keep them from seeing my camera, I was successful. I had a better view of Mark where I ended up, and I remember looking at him at the beginning of One Last Breath, because I LOVE the guitar in that song, and in the video when they show his fingers on the strings...OMG! It's so beautiful! I got a couple of pics while I had the better view of Mark, and then I just kinda got moved back over toward the runway and was back where I started, one away from the rail! In one of the pics you can tell it's during One Last Breath because of the guitar he's using, it's the same one that's in the One Last Breath video. Scott did a couple of intros into a few songs. Before Hide he talked about how the song was about him coming to grips with his life and getting comfortable with himself, and didn't feel like he had to hide anymore. The crowd screamed, we knew Hide was the next song. He did another intro for Stand Here With Me, all I remember him saying (though there may have been more) was, "Now you live on, in the words of a song....you're a melody," and we all screamed and cheered. He may have done another one for My Own Prison but I don't remember, and then before With Arms Wide Open, he talked about Jagger (his son, for those of you who don't know that) and I remember him saying something about how Jagger was born "3 years, 8 months, and 14...13 days ago, something like that." He knew almost down to the day how old his son was, it was so cute! Toward the beginning of the concert, Scott mostly stayed back on the main part of the stage, but about halfway through he was out on the runway A LOT, so he was only about 6 feet away. During some of the little breaks in the lyrics and during the solos Scott would mouth, "Thank you!" He really seemed to appreciate all of the fans and he was making eye contact with everyone up close in the pit. It was an amazing experience and I can now NEVER be further away at a Creed concert than I was in Fargo. The setlist was as follows: Bullets, Freedom Fighter, What If, Say I, Torn, Who's Got My Back, One Last Breath, Hide, Stand Here With Me, My Own Prison, With Arms Wide Open, One, and What's This Life For, with Don't Stop Dancing, Higher, and My Sacrifice as the encore. (Thanks to Tammy who was lucky and has a setlist that she was handed from Scott Stapp!) There were three songs from the Weathered cd that weren't played: Lullaby, even though it was on the setlist, Signs, I don't know why, I love that songs, and surprisingly Weathered considering that's the name of the cd and the tour. I guess they weren't getting enough of a reaction when they did play Weathered, and Lullaby wouldn't have really fit into the atmosphere I don't think, cuz that song is just what it's named, a lullaby. I love all the songs though, but they can only be on stage so long.... After the concert, Matt, Kristin, Kendra, David, and Shaylie gave us a ride back to the hotel so we didn't have to walk, it was so nice of them. You guys ROCK! We squished 7 people into that car! It was "cozy." The day after I got home from the concert, I went on the internet to check email and everything. I realized that CreedINK (Creed's fanclub) was up so I tried logging in. It was only open at the time for those who were members of the old fan club Creed Worldwide, and since I was a member, I should have been able to get in, but it wasn't working. So I emailed them about that and I saw a thing about sending artwork and everything, so I emailed them asking about 8 drawings that I sent them, if they had gotten them, and what they thought and did with them. The next day I checked my email, there was a reply about not being able to log in, they gave me a new password to use and then I was supposed to change it once I got in, so I did that and started looking around, without checking the rest of my emails. I went to the members area of CreedINK and looked at the videos and some other stuff, then I saw the Fan Art Gallery. I clicked, and up pops 6 of my drawings! I was like, "OMG...OMG...OMG!" I finished checking my emails and found an email from a lady named Diana, who is in charge of fan relations (if I remember correctly). Here's what she said in the email: Hi Amanda, Yes we received your great drawings of the band and we have the one you drew of all three of them on the wall in our Creed INK office. You did a great job, but I lost your address, so I couldn't write you back to tell you how much they loved your drawings of them. Thank you very much. Have you checked out our fan club Creed INK? It just went up this week. Check it out. Have a great day. Diana I emailed her back saying: I couldn't get into Creed INK last night and did some other emailing and was finally able to get in today after I checked my email. I just saw them up on the site. It's so amazing to see them up on the site. Thanks so much! I'm glad they liked them! And I'm so happy they made it there safe. Thanks again! Amanda Barta She then emailed me back again: You keep the classes going, you are an amazing artist. I think that the hardest thing to draw are people. So much detail but you do very well. I get to see your work every morning. :) Cheers, Diana The reference to the classes was from my letter that I had sent along with the drawings. I had said that I turned the group one in for credit in my drawing class. I tried to let that be that, but I still had unanswered questions (I still do) so once again I emailed her, saying: Diana, I'm sorry to keep bugging you, this will be the last one, I promise! It's just that I haven't been able to stop wondering what was done with the two drawings of Scott with Jagger. I figure Scott just kept them for himself and didn't want them on the site. I was also wondering if they read the letter themselves, if they were all there and saw them at the same time, that kinda thing, and did they all take the individual ones of themselves to keep? Again, I'm sorry, but it's just been eating away at me! Thanks so much for your help and the peace of mind! Amanda Barta Of course, she rules, and emailed me back: Hi Amanda, Please do feel that you are bothering me. I understand completely. They scanned some of your drawings to put in one of the issues of Creed INK, the new fan club magazine. I don't know when they are going to use them, but we will let you know. So for right now the large one is hung in our office and the others are with each of them. Have a great day! Cheers, Diana :) I'm almost 100% sure that in the first line, she meant, "Please DON'T feel that you are bothering me," because otherwise, the rest wouldn't make sense. She did give me a scare the first time I read it though. I kept reading that, and was like, "I'm bugging her, oh no!" Then I read the rest, and I felt better, whew! Of course, I was having the best week of my life, and there was no one around to tell. Later on that day everyone found out, and needless to say I was in the best mood for the following couple of weeks. If you check the drawings out at CreedINK, the group one, which is actually an 18" x 24" drawing, is the one hanging on the wall at the CreedINK office, and the individual ones are with each of them. If you want to see them go to my art page. Home |