The Creed concert so terrible that fans sued them
There was a time in the mid-to-late 1990s when a peculiar genre called post-grunge littered the airwaves. It was an odd musical development which saw the genre’s most famous bands, the likes of Creed, Nickelback, Bush, and Matchbox Twenty, all enjoy intense mainstream and commercial success. It’s an area that has always been among the most derided in popular music, heavily criticised for its cheesy and over-the-top delivery.
One of the most successful and divisive groups of the post-grunge genre is Creed. Perhaps the most prominent of the movement in tandem with Nickelback, the band is known for the pronounced Eddie Vedder-inspired vocals of frontman Scott Stapp and the skill of guitarist Mark Tremonti.
A multi-platinum-selling act, Creed’s most successful album was 1999’s second full-length Human Clay, a record that spawned the hits ‘With Arms Wide Open’ and ‘Higher’. Notably, the quartet was so triumphant during this period that the former ‘Higher’ even earned them a Grammy victory for ‘Best Rock Song’ in 2001.
Despite the band being at the peak of their career come the turn of the millennium, issues were bubbling below the surface. During the summer of 2000, bassist Brian Marshall was spiralling into the depths of alcoholism. To solve the problem, Creed met with management to discuss Marshall’s future, with Stapp and Tremonti backing the idea of Marshall entering rehab. However, Marshall outright refused when the proposition was put to him. Eventually, the bassist departed the band and was subsequently replaced by Brett Hestla.
Creed then spent most of 2001 working on their third studio album, Weathered. However, Tremonti chose to play bass on the record to “preserve the band’s initial core”, with Hestla remaining part of their touring lineup. The album was another best-seller and debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200, staying there for eight weeks, setting a record that Creed shares with the most successful band of all time, The Beatles.
However, Creed’s time at the top was marred by more issues, and it led to them calling it a day on their first chapter. The Weathered tour was delayed in 2002 when Stapp was involved in a car crash that saw him suffer vertebrae damage and concussion. Already grappling with his own alcoholism, the frontman then became addicted to painkillers.
Things came to a head when Creed performed a show at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, on December 29th, 2002. Reportedly, Stapp was so out of it that four local audience members filed a class-action lawsuit again the band in Cook County Circuit Court, claiming that the frontman was so “intoxicated and/or medicated that he was unable to sing the lyrics of a single Creed song”. Instead, they said, he “left the stage on several occasions during songs for long periods of time, rolled around on the floor of the stage in apparent pain or distress and [finally] appeared to pass out”.
The suit claimed that the rest of Creed, as well as their management and the concert’s promoters, were fully aware that Stapp was in no condition to perform but allowed the show to take place anyway. Accordingly, they were named as co-defendants. Ultimately, the filing requested a full refund of the ticket price and parking costs for all 15,000 attendees, costing an estimated $2million.
In response, Creed issued the following press statement: “We apologise if you don’t feel that the show was up to the very high standards set by our previous shows in Chicago. We also understand and appreciate the fact that there has been much concern about Scott’s health [and he] is taking a much-needed break at home in Orlando… For now, we hope that you can take some solace in the fact that you definitely experienced the most unique of all Creed shows”.
For a time, Stapp maintained that he hadn’t passed out, asserting in the Orlando Sentinel that dropping to the floor was “a symbolic, personal gesture”. He said: “It was a symbol that I didn’t think anybody had my back at the time. Some people get it. Some people don’t”. No one bought it, though, and he would later admit to being intoxicated.
Despite the apparent issues that took place during the concert, the presiding Judge, Peter Flynn, threw out the case in September 2003. “He absolutely gutted their lawsuit,” Creed’s attorney Rob McNeely told MTV News at the time of the ruling. “He said to their lawyer, ‘You’re asking judges to become rock critics. You’re asking us to decide what’s a good show and what’s a bad show, and that’s no business of the judiciary.’ And he said, ‘If I were to agree with you, it would have a chilling effect on the arts.'”
Flynn also rejected the central argument posed by the fans and suggested filing again in 30 days with a different one. “He thought that if the case proceeds at all it should be on a basis of ‘frustrated commercial expectations’,” the plaintiffs’ attorney, Daniel Voelker, explained to MTV News. “It’s unusual for a judge to give what might be viewed as legal advice.”
Nevertheless, the writing was on the wall for Creed. In 2004, they broke up after more than a year of inactivity. Tremonti would assert that the tension between Stapp and the rest of the group was the primary reason for the decision. The creativity was sapped, and Stapp had gone to Maui to battle his addictions. The band reunited in 2009, and after another hiatus in 2012, they reformed in 2023.
