[AliceInChains]

Greetings, all! I signed up a few minutes ago with the express purpose of commenting on Stapp's show at the Norva tonight, 2/25. Let me preface this by stating I am a huge fan of the triumvirate: Creed, AB and Scott Stapp. I saw Creed three times and caught Alter Bridge at the Norva last year and at the 9:30 Club in DC. Why am I rambling? I'd like you to know I am an unbiased observer and a fan of both Creed and AB. I love AB and had a ball at the shows...but this forum is about Scott, is it not? On then with the review. Perhaps it's best that Scott and the others are apart, because on the Human Clay and Weathered tours, they didn't seem to be having the best of times. Alter Bridge seemed to enjoy each other's company, and Stapp tonight? I haven't seen that much smiling since that Gedeon dude on American Idol. Ok, seriously: Scott seemed to have a fantastic time, and his voice rose to the occasion. I sing a lot of Creed in my band (poorly, compared to Scott, I might add) and I was hanging on his every note. His one miss? The "six" in One Last Breath, as in "I'm six feet from the edge"--it was strained. Of course, he made up for it by nailing both the "Sad eyes FOLLOW ME!" and the "Please come STAY WITH ME!" flawlessly. Admittedly, my one worry was his voice, and he was really pretty impressive. He smiled in abundance, banged his head in true "Fight Song" fashion, thanked us aplenty and spoke at length about personal insight regarding his lyrics and his life--even touching on his spirituality (surprised?) when he said, at the closing song, "I don't have to justify my relationship with Him" and pointed ot the sky. Scott's certainly had his issues, but he made you want to root for him tonight. As far as him playing the Creed songs? Well, he wrote the lyrics, they're a part of him, and frankly, I'm happy if I get to see them played live at all. On that note, his backing band are no slouches. The lead axeman may not be Mark, but he was admirable and on point, and Scott made the show--and the songs--his own. The set list was as follows (I hope I get it right--I had some Newcastle Ale and my ears are still ringing...)

1. Reach Out
2. Fight Song
3. Bullets
4. My Own Prison
5. The Hard Way
5. What If
6. One Last Breath
8. The Great Divide
9. Let Me Go
10. Higher
11. Sublime
12. My Sacrifice (this ended the first set on a massive high note)

For the encore, they came back with 2 acoustics and played:
13. With Arms Wide Open
Then they came back as a band and finished with:
14. Surround Me (FANTASTIC!)
15. Justify

He gave shouts out to Jagger and his wife before WAWO, and mentioned Creed as well, in the context of "I'm blessed to have been with them before because it allows me to be here with you now." (I'm paraphrasing that one, but you get the idea).
The crowd was really into it, which I was happy to see--lots of singing along, even to the material on TGD. Stapp definitely still has what it takes to be a captivating frontman, and he even noted how "wonderful and lucky he felt to be back after four years." Amen, brother.