Summer 2024 Tour and Summer of '99 and Beyond festival

[austin.]

Just bought more pit tickets for another show.

Gonna work fridays for a few months but man I’m so excited to see my favorite band ever, again and again.

[nagpo]

Creed is a one guitar band

excuse me?!?!?

I don't know why that happened. But in that era, it didn't matter. That was the time of "'murrica fuck yeah"

[paisleyfan]

Creed is a one guitar band

excuse me?!?!?

I don't know why that happened. But in that era, it didn't matter. That was the time of "'murrica fuck yeah"

I guess Stapp needed to play rhythm on 'Stand Here With Me' during the solo? That's the only time he played as far as I remember.

[Devil Inside You]

Omg that guitar lol I think he did it during Don't Stop Dancing too. I remember being a little boy when 911 happened and how the entire decade the main enemy was always "the terrorists"

[Andy92]

I also wonder if Mark is going to bring back his clean tone, which is crucial to Creed's sound.
I like Yannis a lot, but despite his technical abilities, he has never managed to recreate Mark's original tone.

These days, there is zero conveniency or price excuse for not doing it, since all bands can perfectly replicate their amps with Axe-Fx (just an example among many more).
It's just a matter of will.
Even Metallica made the switch in 2018, and they're sounding better than ever.

A lot of it ends up coming down to whether or not you like how playing a digital effects unit feels rather than sounds. I own one of Fractal Audio’s floor units (same company that makes Axe-Fx). The thing sounds phenomenal, but there is a bit of difference in overall feel/response under your fingers when playing compared to analog gear.

Mark probably prefers the feel of playing through analog gear still. The way he does his clean tone live today is way more convenient from a player’s standpoint, but I also get why some fans prefer the sounds from the original records and older live shows. It’s just not as convenient to bring out his old gear when he can do everything with one amp and call it a day.

His signature amp actually has a really clean channel on it, I’m assuming he just doesn’t use it much live because that channel isn’t nearly as loud as the overdrive channel. Easier to get the audio louder on stage when you just turn the volume knob down a bit on the guitar while running it through the crunch channel.

Long way of saying it’s something that can be done, but you’ve got to weigh the pros/cons of what gear feels good for the guitarist to play and what sound they’re currently gravitating towards.

[chtimixeur]

Nah, he's just set in his ways.
The Elvis thing is a perfect example. Pretty much everybody wants them to move away from that guy, but they don't want to fix what is not broken (in their eyes only). They'd rather keep playing it safe rather than make a leap of faith with another producer.

As for the Fractal Audio stuff, I think it's really a matter of overcoming your prejudice. A lot of old school guitar players don't want to admit it sounds just as good as the analog stuff.
I get it, especially if you're a gearhead like Mark.
I woudn't mind it if his current "clean" tone sounded good. But it's just dreadful.

[Dolo]

Creed is a one guitar band

excuse me?!?!?

You just made me spit my coffee out. Legendary stuff.

Nah, he's just set in his ways.
The Elvis thing is a perfect example. Pretty much everybody wants them to move away from that guy, but they don't want to fix what is not broken (in their eyes only). They'd rather keep playing it safe rather than make a leap of faith with another producer.

As for the Fractal Audio stuff, I think it's really a matter of overcoming your prejudice. A lot of old school guitar players don't want to admit it sounds just as good as the analog stuff.
I get it, especially if you're a gearhead like Mark.
I woudn't mind it if his current "clean" tone sounded good. But it's just dreadful.

Exactly that. I still cannot get over the fact that he's been refusing to switch the clean sound in AB for iconic riffs like Blackbird or Broken Wings. I feel like we're getting dreadful sounding rolled off dirty sounds for My Sacrifice and Higher.

[Vaux]

I too miss the switching from clean to dirty. I have mentioned that on these forums before - I think it's a vital part of the Creed sound, when distortion kicks in mid song. Hopefully he will want to show off his new amp and go back to pedal switching - the cleans make the distortion sound so much better. And hope he doesn't shy away from the wah pedal either, that was also a big part of the Creed sound.

And that Stapp pic, yeah good stuff lol

[nagpo]

I too miss the switching from clean to dirty. I have mentioned that on these forums before - I think it's a vital part of the Creed sound, when distortion kicks in mid song. Hopefully he will want to show off his new amp and go back to pedal switching - the cleans make the distortion sound so much better. And hope he doesn't shy away from the wah pedal either, that was also a big part of the Creed sound.

And that Stapp pic, yeah good stuff lol

yeah. every time the chorus kicks in in a creed song the distortion clicks in. classic

[Timotheus]

I don't think Puddle of Mudd has more influence over AB nowadays and even so, how does influence translate into the now? Puddle of Mudd is known for whatever controversies Wes Scantlin is doing over whatever stuff they release nowadays. I think younger bands would rather have AB's trajectory over Puddle of Mudd's trajectory nowadays.

Those are some good points. AB is definitely the healthier band to be a member in and young bands should indeed be inspired by their attitude. AB has gathered a more loyal fanbase over the years, but I'm not sure if they'd financially survive without all of their other projects. I think the Slash name recognition helped a lot during the AB III period. When it comes to reach, I think Puddle of Mudd always on the upperhand. I'm not sure any of my friends would've known about Alter Bridge without me, while most of them know Puddle of Mudd merely out of collective knowledge.

Honestly, people in pop culture probably, nowadays, don't even know the band members of Led Zeppelin. Billie Eilish didn't know Van Halen so like who does know those legacy bands in this generation? People still know Creed to some extent, mainly for the jokes, but people are starting to look at them at a positive light rather than making jokes off of their expenses, hopefully.

Lol, I didn't know about that Billie Eilish incident. I'm pretty sure she would recognize songs like Jump though. And that's kind of the thing. You still have young people with T-shirts of bands I mentioned, even though them might not even be able to name 1 song by them. Awful phenomenom, but that's also cultural influence. Plently of their songs are still being used in soundtracks of movies or tv series, sampled in hip hop or covered by startup bands in pubs.

To stay on topic, this is clearly a nostalgia tour. They should do whatever they can to make this sound as much as the original tours. No 2nd guitarist, and Mark should definitely bring back his clean tone.

[Andy92]

Nah, he's just set in his ways.
The Elvis thing is a perfect example. Pretty much everybody wants them to move away from that guy, but they don't want to fix what is not broken (in their eyes only). They'd rather keep playing it safe rather than make a leap of faith with another producer.

As for the Fractal Audio stuff, I think it's really a matter of overcoming your prejudice. A lot of old school guitar players don't want to admit it sounds just as good as the analog stuff.
I get it, especially if you're a gearhead like Mark.
I woudn't mind it if his current "clean" tone sounded good. But it's just dreadful.

In a band mix the guitar tones from digital and analog gear today are pretty well indistinguishable like you said because of how far digital tech has come with guitar amp simulations. When you’re playing isolated guitar tracks in a room you can tell a difference though just based on how the two operate. The way analog gear pushes air through a speaker cab is different than how digital gear passes the signal through an impulse response, which is a capture of a speaker/microphone combo.

I would imagine Mark has tried digital gear in isolation and he can tell it feels different, and if you’ve been in the room to hear that or play it yourself, you’ll know there is one. But for a live show all the signals are mixed in with the rest of the band and pushed through a PA, which is why when you hear Metallica playing through their Axe-Fx units live, no one would know it isn’t their Diezel or Mesa amps.

I love the convenience of the digital gear but totally get why Mark doesn’t prefer it even though the stuff sounds good now compared to 15 years ago.

As far as the clean tone, yeah the current crunch thing he uses with the volume knob rolled back doesn’t give the same sound as a true clean channel. But that’s less of an analog vs digital debate and more of just how you choose to dial in your amp settings.

[Dolo]

In a band mix the guitar tones from digital and analog gear today are pretty well indistinguishable like you said because of how far digital tech has come with guitar amp simulations. When you’re playing isolated guitar tracks in a room you can tell a difference though just based on how the two operate. The way analog gear pushes air through a speaker cab is different than how digital gear passes the signal through an impulse response, which is a capture of a speaker/microphone combo.

I would imagine Mark has tried digital gear in isolation and he can tell it feels different, and if you’ve been in the room to hear that or play it yourself, you’ll know there is one. But for a live show all the signals are mixed in with the rest of the band and pushed through a PA, which is why when you hear Metallica playing through their Axe-Fx units live, no one would know it isn’t their Diezel or Mesa amps.

I love the convenience of the digital gear but totally get why Mark doesn’t prefer it even though the stuff sounds good now compared to 15 years ago.

I don't think the audience at the venue would be able to tell the difference, especially given the fact they'll be playing in big arenas where the folks standing at the back won't really feel 'analog gear pushing air through a speaker cab'. But yeah, as long as Mark feels the difference and guitar players are extremely particular about their gear, I don't we'll ever hear Mark use digital stuff.

[nagpo]

I wonder how they're gonna approach the next album... Are they going to release and finish old material and write new material? Last time in '12 they played the first two records live exclusively to try and capture that creed sound. That's how we got the More Than This Demo which sounded good and I hope they finish it.

[chtimixeur]

@Andy92 : thanks for the informative feedback.

[nagpo]

Creed brought the Beatles back together one last time. Can't believe it.

[number1]

Creed brought the Beatles back together one last time. Can't believe it.

What do you mean?

[nagpo]

Creed brought the Beatles back together one last time. Can't believe it.

What do you mean?

it was a joke because the last beatles song came out around the time creed came back

[Andy92]

I don't think the audience at the venue would be able to tell the difference, especially given the fact they'll be playing in big arenas where the folks standing at the back won't really feel 'analog gear pushing air through a speaker cab'. But yeah, as long as Mark feels the difference and guitar players are extremely particular about their gear, I don't we'll ever hear Mark use digital stuff.

Right, in a live setting the audience for the large part can’t tell. Now if you’re on the rail in the pit area, the PA speakers are generally over your head, so fans standing there typically do need to have guitar cabs on stage to get a good sound. I’ve heard Misha Mansoor from Periphery say this is why their band routes their Axe-Fx signals both to front of house for the PA as well as through power amps on stage through guitar speaker cabs to help fill out the stage sound for people standing near the front.

The sound quality part is there in the digital world. The response of how the guitar feels under your fingers is still a little bit off though due to digital signals being rounded off from the original analog signal produced by the guitar, plus there’s some added latency on the digital side to convert everything. Usually guitarists who dislike using digital equipment today will mention the “feel” of it while playing rather than the sound quality.

The technology for digital guitar sounds has come such a far way though. The old Line 6 Spider amps were pretty crap sounding, but compare that to their Helix unit today and the sound quality is unreal.

[nagpo]

Creed is also responsible for the rangers winning the world series for the first time in ever. We're so back

[Schulzy]

My sister bought me a ticket as an early Birthday/Christmas present. Fifth Creed show for me! My first was in Phoenix in 2002. Only eight months to go!