Scott Stapp
2011-04-14 Ridgefield CT / 2011-04-16 Starland Ballroom Sayreville NJ


For the loyal followers of my numerous concert reviews, thanks for the continued encouragement. For the rookies who find themselves reading their first of my stories, welcome aboard. Grab some popcorn, strap your seatbelts and get ready for a story born of excitement, passion and family. I must first apologize. Some of you are expecting a 7 page review. As verbose and detailed as I may be, and as exciting to read as my reviews are, I’m also one to favor quality over quantity. I’ve elected to follow my grade school teacher’s advice and exercise brevity. But fear not, while shorter than the expected 7 pages, I promise each much detail, fun and excitement ahead!

It all began in 2009 with the rebirth of Creed after nearly a decade of separation, reflection and growth. Reunited, better than ever and a new album on the airwaves, Creed announced a tour which, by the mysterious and deliberate hand of fate would introduce a group of fans and forever bond them as family. Several loyal Creed fans met through the fan club site, CreedWorld, and agreed to meet at various Creed shows. I met Angela, Kristal, Bonny and Gordon at the PNC NJ show (I know others were there, but I didn’t meet them). This one concert planted a seed of friendship that will blossom for many years to come. We’ve since kept in constant contact through CreedWorld, attended more concerts together and spawned a CreedWorld revolution on Facebook.

With Creed’s tour sadly over, Alter Bridge touring with the release of their new album and Scott once again performing solo shows and prepping his own new album, these loyal fans suffered withdrawal. Desperately waiting for tour dates near us, we finally heard about Ridgefield CT. Not very near, but we’re loyal fans and will gladly travel facing near death for the slightest glimpse of our most treasured musical inspiration. Fearing no other nearby shows, we quickly loaded up on VIP tickets for CT and agonizingly waited months for our very special reunion.

Thursday, April 14, 2011. Our little family of concert rockers had shared several concert adventures since our fateful first, but never as a complete group. Until now. Fate would swing in our favor again and lead us together, rather poetically, for Scott Stapp. The closest of us over an hour away, the farthest over 4, we eagerly texted, emailed, called, facebooked, dreamed and otherwise chattered away in the days leading up to the show. With growing excitement to see each other and Scott, and some of us armed with new digital cameras (competition’s tough!), we planned to meet roughly between 3 and 4. Mother Nature, who had been torturing us with vengeance, felt pity and blessed our adventure with wonderful sunny weather at a comfortable 60. I needed little convincing to drop the top for a fun convertible drive across state lines. Armed with my Scott/Creed playlist, sunglasses and navigation system, I began my voyage, music loud of course. Sun in my face, wind blowing through my freshly scalped hair and a smile plastered on my face, I spent the next hour receiving excited texts from the group as I traversed the winding roads and highways from Bergen County to CT. Mother Nature’s sister, Mother Traffic was also in a rare good mood and provided an enjoyable trip which led me to follow Scott’s bus into the parking lot of the Ridgefield Playhouse.

I quickly parked and took my steadfast position outside the bus and began texting away with my comrades, announcing Scott’s arrival. As I was on the phone, Paul B from CW, who’d been there I didn’t recognize, came over. I’m glad to call him a friend. He was with his friend Brian and the three of us stood outside the bus to await the arrival of the rest of our group. Two guys with guitars were outside Scott’s bus singing, hoping for a chance to play for a legend. As Paul, Brian and I shared stories and became acquainted, Kristal and Angela pulled in. Smiles, laughs and jokes exchanged, we all caught up for a while and waited for Bonny and Gordon to arrive. They pulled in and the laughs and hugs replayed in full force, then we gathered outside the bus in the hopes of a few minutes with Scott.

Sure enough our patience and persistence paid off. Scott exited the bus, all smiles, said hello. He signed some autographs, eagerly took pictures with all of us and even listened to a song from the guitar players. Total, he spent about fifteen minutes with us, his entourage of handlers eagerly waiting to get him inside and ready for the show. For us, dedicated an appreciative fans, it was what distinguished him. I’m a firm believer that a performer does his job during the show. What a performer does outside of the show is what defines them, what sets them apart and tells you about their character. He didn’t have to spend time with us, especially in such a low key setting, no press, no photographers, just admiring fans hoping for a personal connection for a second.

Our fifteen minutes of delight over, we walked to the front and waited to enter the soundcheck. We gathered in the lobby and met other CW family, chatted and caught up, growing more excited by the minute. We could hear the guys rehearsing for a while before they finally brought us in for soundcheck. The guys didn’t seem like they were on the same page as they practiced. We could almost sense the tension between them – perhaps just our impressions as they totally rocked during the public show. Soundcheck was very quick, but they did some variations of “Crazy in Love” as they were trying to figure out the best way to play it. The first time I heard this song months ago, I have to admit I wasn’t feeling it, but even during soundcheck, it seemed to have changed. What a fantastic song! Scott thanked us all and we returned to the lobby to await the meet and greet.

So the woes of my concert going experience. I had 3 unused VIP tickets (seriously), so I approached the coordinator from GroundCTRL and told him my situation, asked if I could take a group picture with my CW friends, explained that we’d traveled from 5 different states to be here and I wasn’t asking for anything I hadn’t paid for. Flat out no. “We don’t do that” was his response. He was actually a bit gruff about it. Now look, I’m not asking for favors here. I paid for 3 VIP tix I’m not using. Which means I paid for 3 pics that aren’t being taken, so I don’t think its unreasonable to ask for 1 group shot. I explained the detail again and he said “that’s not how it works” and walked off. Hmm. Well, now I’m just saying, I understand these guys probably get hassled on the road a lot, but those little things make a big difference – and I PAID FOR THE PICS. It’s my pic, it’s my ticket, if I want a pic of shaking Scott’s hand, no problem, if I want to stand on my head while Scott laughs at me, I can do that – it’s my freaking pic. So I’m a little ticked, more by his attitude than by his denial. Paul was next to me as this went down and we both looked at each other after the guy left and mutually agreed – bullshit. Now I wasn’t ready to push the issue (at least I hadn’t made up my mind to) but Paul was all fire. So we talk with everyone and learn that this guy has a reputation of being less than pleasant with the fans during the VIP. Where’s Kiel when you need him! Am I right? Kiel was AWESOME. I’ve spoken to Joel at Ground too, really nice guy, would love to meet him on the road at a show sometime. This guy? He’s voted off the island as far as I’m concerned.

Ok, I’m done ranting. Back to my story. So Paul goes up to meet Scott first (we’re towards the end of the line, so many had already taken their pic with Scott). He walks right up and explains that we’re here from several states, all members of CreedWorld and asks if he would mind taking a group shot with us. Scott gets a great big smile and asks if it’s the group right behind Paul – I think he recognized us from being outside the bus and chatting with him earlier. He looks right over at Mr. No and says “Hold these guys aside, we’re gonna take a group pic with them at the end, they’re from CreedWorld” – and that’s all we needed! Hell yeah! And this is what fan appreciation is all about! The Ground guy mumbles under his breath, what’s CreedWorld. Seriously? Hey dude, I think it’s time for some retraining don’t you? He’s clearly not happy but doesn’t argue with Scott. Bam! We all get our individual pics and wait til the end, then Scott smiles, waves us over for the pic of a lifetime. We’re all in with Scott, faithfully representing CW. I want to take a moment here and acknowledge the other CW members who were at the show. We didn’t mean to exclude you. We simply wanted our group shot, as we’ve banded together as a close group of friends who’ve been to many concerts together and organized our trip together to see Scott. Please don’t take offense. Scott was awesome and insisted a few pics be taken, acknowledging this was a special picture. Scott, you are a great performer and wonderful person, thank you so much!

We’re already floating in the clouds as we head outside, just from the picture experience, and await the show. We have about 90 minutes to kill, so we walk around, talk, share stories and laughs. Then we head back for entrance and make our way to our seats. Wow, great seats! We have Bonny and Gordon in the 4th row center, I’m with Paul, Angela, and Brian just off center in the 2nd row and Kristal has managed to score herself a first row seat in front of us for being a member of the playhouse. We chat some more and then the guys come out. The place is packed Scott starts off. His vocals are the best I’ve ever heard him, we later all agree on this. He belts out song after song, the guys rockin hard with him, all energy, emotion, and all playing in sync with each other like they’d been touring for a decade. By the time “One” plays, we’re all on our feet and jamming away with them, singing every word to every song. You can hear the unison in the audience, the emotion, the feeling of family and all being together. I can’t say enough about this performance. Simply amazing. Encore and they come back to play 3 more plus a bonus “Lullaby” which wasn’t on the setlist. They simply nailed “Crazy in Love”. It’s a longer song, but they rocked it like they’d played it a million times. “Justify” ended the show to much applause and continue vocal accompaniment from the audience. Our night of magic had come to an end as we gathered in the parking lot, a cool and mostly windless night around 55. We chatted a bit more as the parking lot emptied, than hugged our goodbyes with promises to meet around 330 on Saturday for our second Scott show. All in our cars, off we went. A nice night for a drive, not much traffic, clear skies (and for those of you who know me and are wondering, I drove with the top up).

Friday. Still reeling from the power and experience of the previous night. At work by 7am as usual. Reviewing and uploading pics, reliving the memories, and of course texting away with my CW friends. Telling friends at work about the show and how incredible Scott was, to meet and during the performance. And of course counting the hours for Saturday!

Finally, Saturday morning. At work for a bit, then off to family friends in south Jersey to drop off a repaired computer, shoot some pool, then up to the show. In the pouring rain. Buckets. I pick up Michelle at her hotel a few minutes from Starland in Sayreville, then drive over. Traffic is normal, but it’s a windy down pour. Get to the lot and there’s only one other car which I quickly learn is Angela. No parking attendant yet. Just the two of us. I pull up next to her to roll down the window to chat and quickly decide it’s not worth the river now flowing into my cracked window. So we park side by side and are posting on FB and texting, all three of us. Kristal and her son Colin and friend Christine arrive, so we’re all next to each other, then Barb and Kirsten arrive in their cars. Now there’s a line, neatly formed, close to the building. It’s still down pouring and we’re all texting back and forth between the cars as our only form of communication. It’s actually kinda funny. So I text we should order a pizza and have it delivered. No one bites – they really should have, more on that later.

Now the parking attendant arrives, covered in yellow raincoat and drenched. Then proceeds to walk to each of our cars, forcing us to open our windows and drown some more while he reluctantly tells us we can’t park here. Seriously? OK, what’s in gonna cost me for you to walk away so I don’t have to keep my window open. We explain we’re part of the VIP and we’ll buy the higher priced parking pass if we can just stay here (I’ll be damned if I’m walking another 60ft in the storm because he wants me parked by the street. He checks inside, then back to each of us, yes window open again (my poor car is a freaking swimming pool at 4months old) but says we can go inside to buy the parking passes. Ugh. That means a I’ve got to open the door and venture into the waterfall above me to get a parking pass. Oh well. So if we all go, get our passes and we can stay. Woohoo – thank you Mr. Parking Lot Man! Bonny and Gordon arrive and more cars start filling the lot, although no one’s leaving their vehicles.

Four thirty rolls around and we head into the lobby to get ready for soundcheck. They check our IDs, wristband us and we gather for the VIP, all meeting each other, talking, sharing stories from Thursday night. I had printed 8x10 photos of our group shot with Scott and gave one to everyone. We all signed a copy for Scott and after a long wait, headed into soundcheck. Acoustics were not as good and they kept trying different levels to compensate. Lighting was really bad too, like a dark cave. We had traditional row seating in CT, but here we have rows of tables perpendicular from the stage with seating on either side of the tables. Not really liking this at first. What it lacked in our ability to stand for the show, it made up in allowing us to talk in larger groups. Somehow our group managed to be seated at the same table despite having 4 separate ticket orders. I have no idea how that worked out, but we loved it!

Soundcheck over, we reconvene by the darkly lit bar for pics with Scott. A longer lie than CT, we stay towards the back. Pics are taking longer because apparently they missed the memo that it’s 2011 and we have little bright devices to illuminate dark areas. Nope. Apparently it’s 1670 and we operate by candle. That’s as much light as we worked with. When you got your picture you actually hoped for red eye – that meant there was enough light to distinguish a head as opposed to a dark mass in mid-air. So I volunteer first, walk up to Scott and give him the story, we met him 2 nights ago in CT, had a great show, that we’re from CW who’ve come to see him again. The same group he took the pic with in CT. I explained we all signed the group pic with him and wanted to give it to him. He loved it. Said it’s going on his wall at home. Whether or not it actually makes the wall doesn’t matter – his reaction is priceless and something that we will cherish for decades. He remembered us instantly. His face lit up with a bright smile and asked if we were all there again. When I confirmed his smile seemed to grow and he insisted we take another group shot! He also took individual shows with people who weren’t in CT like Colin and Christine. When we mentioned pics and video, he encouraged us to take both, said he would tell his people to allow it, that he wants us to take pics and video and post them online. And congrats to Bonny for taking a video of “Crazy in Love” in CT which Scott published to his website! He was awesome. Scott, we can’t thank you enough – not just for the performance and the music, but for your personal attention and for being a gracious host.

Pics done, all of us once again floating on cloud 9, we gather in the hall and wait entrance to our tables. A short wait and we’re in. So we’re pretty hungry. I’m sitting across from the marvelous Kirsten, Angela to her left. Colin and Kristal are to my right. To my left is Michael and across from him, his girlfriend Claudia, with Bonny and Gordon next to Claudia and Michelle next to Michael. Colin and I are having a bunch of laughs picking on Kirsten (all in good fun). She’s enjoying it though, posing for the camera. Ah……..the be 21 again. Ha! So we decide to order pizza. We would most definitely regret that decision. For $3 – yep – for $3 a slice, we’ve now paid for something intended to resemble pizza, but certainly wouldn’t pass FDA inspection. First, it was cold. Ok, taste, texture and appearance aside, we just sat down. You just made this. How is it possibly cold. But it was, and the taste. Ick. Dominos is a flavor fest in comparison. Actually, playdoh pizza tastes better (come on, you have to know someone with a kid who at some point ate playdoh). Yep, I’d definitely eat playdoh instead of this expensive and unworthy imposter. It had a strange after taste too. I wouldn’t call it edible, I wouldn’t call it food, and if you tried to feed it to the dog under the table when no one was looking, he would take one wiff and trot off in disgust. No one at the table, even those encouraged by alcohol, were daring enough to order a second and we just hoped it would hold in our stomachs through the show. I have a strong stomach, could probably eat the table without consequence if I had to, but this stuff had me a little worried! That mess through, and Kirsten onto her second drink (you go girl!) – we’re getting great pics of her by the way – everyone is having a great time. I’m sneaking shots of everyone just enjoying the time together.

We had a great time shared many laughs as the place started filling in. The bar area behind us is full of standing patrons waiting to see the show. Packed in and now mostly dry, the lights – I still don’t understand how they managed this mystical feat, but the lights actually lowered. Yep. We went from just enough light to see in front of you to the pitch black of the inside of my head (believe me, it’s pretty dim in there). And the guys walk out, they’re all pumped and jump right into the set. We’re all seated, but rockin to the music, singing the words to every song. Same set list, minus “Lullaby”. A few songs in one of the guitarists broke a string and they just rolled with it while guitars were swapped. The trials of live music! The guys were right on again. Acoustics definitely not as good, but their passion, energy were just as strong and full of conviction. They played like a polished band touring together for decades Once again, after “One” everyone’s standing, we’re right at the stage in front of Scott. He looked directly at each of us at some point during the show, recognized us, smiled and nodded. No, it wasn’t a figment of our overactive and wishful imaginations. Everyone sang along, again the audience in unison with Scott, and they played a fantastic “Crazy in Love” as well. Seeing Scott solo was a fantastic experience, more enjoyable by meeting old and new W friends. And Scott was just awesome to meet in person. Our show complete, our hearts alive, our memories rocking from 2 truly special nights, we’re quickly ushered to the doors…..and the storm which had now amazingly kicked up a few notches. The buckets of down pour from the afternoon had launched into ferocious overdrive in thunderous applause of a high energy show. Winds whipping the rain sideways at 50mph gusts, we were soaked the minute the doors opened into the walkaway. Drenched and excited, we said our goodbyes and piled into cars for the drive home (in some cases, the float home).

A personal record, it’s now taken me over a week to compile my review for this show. But, as promised, I’ve kept it to under 7 pages! Next up, Avalanche Tour starring Stone Sour, Theory of a Deadman, Skillet, Halestorm and Art of Dying followed by Bon Jovi! Thanks for playing along…..until next time……

Pics - http://s1112.photobucket.com/albums/k483/nbcreed/

Video - http://www.youtube.com/user/nbcreed?feature=mhsn