Creed Took Van Andel Arena “Higher” With Help From 3 Doors Down

Creed welcomed their fanbase “With Arms Wide Open” as we enter the holiday season with a series of tour dates across the U.S. with 3 Doors Down and Mammoth WVH, this time with a stop at Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Arena on November 19.

 

MAMMOTH WVH

Due to our trek from Detroit to Grand Rapids during rush hour traffic, we unfortunately missed the window to photograph Mammoth WVH, but since we already captured him in Detroit at the legendary Saint Andrew’s Hall back in February with Nita Strauss, we can tell you that he puts on a fabulous and technically skilled performance — no surprise there, given the lineage.

 

We shared in that review the following analysis:

 

“More people need to put respect on Wolfgang Van Halen’s name – plain and simple. Mammoth WVH is a fine-tuned machine with stellar licks and insane vocals. With the caliber of the greats, the powerful vocals could be compared to that of Myles Kennedy in terms of range, and of course, the guitar playing is 100% top-notch. That’s not to leave out the rest of the band, who are all stellar and tight within their own right in their respective roles, making it a full-on audible assault in the best way possible.

 

If you’d like to see a visual representation of his set, we defer to esteemed photographer Anthony Norkus, who captured the performance for the West Michigan outlet Local Spins.

 

3 DOORS DOWN

 

 

 

 

We’re no strangers to catching 3 Doors Down, as they came through the Metro Detroit area in 2023 with Candlebox, but they sounded better than ever. They performed a 12-song setlist which included their most popular tracks like “Loser,” “Away from the Sun,” “Here Without You,” “When I’m Gone” and of course, “Kryptonite.”

 

Frontman Brad Arnold is all over the place on the stage, carrying the showmanship while the rest of the crew sticks to their technical prowess with these iconic tracks which have now spanned generations, as you see both families and children in the crowd.

 

 

CREED

 

 

 

 

 

And then, the moment finally came. Pyro, cryo, and an excellent light show accompanied Creed as they rocked through a 16-song setlist, accompanying philosophical discussions that frontman Scott Stapp called “a journey of the human experience told through music.” The first 3 tracks played included “Bullets,” “Freedom Fighter,” and “Torn,” which got the crowd amped, standing and singing while grinning ear-to-ear.

 

Creed has been on an upswing in popularity over the last few years, especially in pop culture, after championing arena rock through the 2000s. Frontman Scott Stapp has been credited with bringing his beliefs into his lyricism and has looked at his output as a way of expressing his faith, but that doesn’t stop fans from all sides of life from participating in the musical fun.

 

We must note that Mark Tremonti doesn’t get enough acclaim for his guitar skills. Whether it’s with Creed or his solo project Tremonti, he frankly SHREDS with an undeniable intensity, and if he was not present, it would remove a key component to Creed’s discography and overall sound. While you need an entire band to create the type of music they put out, songs like “Higher” and “Say I” wouldn’t have the same impact, and we truly believe they wouldn’t hit nearly as hard with the fanbase.

 

During “What If,” the band scoped out the person rocking out the hardest to give away a guitar from Tremonti. Stapp said that they usually go pretty deep into the crowd to get someone, but there was someone toward the front who was rocking out from song 1 with a huge smile on her face. That fan, Cynthia, ended up being the winner and was brought on stage to claim her prize.

 

Toward the tail end of the set and before going into “What’s This Life For,” Stapp spoke about working with a veteran’s organization called the Boot Campaign, and how suicide has no age limit, and no discrimination in who it decides to take. See the full transcript of that here:

 

“We’re working with a veteran’s organziation right now called the Boot Campaign. In working with them and learning about what they do, we found over 22 veterans kill themselves every single day. Suicide has become an epidemic. It has no age limits anymore. All this garbage that we’re pouring into children way too early in their life in our public education system is just destroying them from the inside out. By the time they’re teenagers, they’re so confused and have not been given the fundamentals of what this life is for… What we live for. 

 

But they don’t live anymore. And the same with living life as an adult. This world can beat us down when the idealism wears off and we realize that not everything is as it seems and we feel lost. Sometimes we feel hopeless and don’t want to go on. This song was inspried by a friend of Mark’s who committed suicide at a very young age. It doesn’t discriminate, my friends.

 

If you’re suffering out there tonight, if you’re thinking these thoughts, let me encourage you, take it one day at a time. I promise you, just fight one more day. Get up and fight one more day, and one more day. And I promise you, the clouds will go away and the sun will rise. Don’t be afriad to speak up and share how you feel. I guarentee you, if you shared your feelings with anyone in this room, they would love you all the way home, and make sure that you knew that there are people that care. Don’t give up hope before you find out what this life is for.”

 

The band rounded out their set with their heaviest hitters, performing “With Arms Wide Open” and “Higher” before a brief break before going into their encore of “One Last Breath” and “My Sacrifice.”

 

Walking back to the parking garages, the jovial crowd could be heard screaming the lyrics to “Higher” and “With Arms Wide Open,” as well as blaring these key tracks from their windows while waiting to drive out into the night and head home; a clear sign that everyone indeed had a great experience, and was highly intent on living another day.