Alright, I'm going to try to post as much as I can remember and if I leave anything out, hopefully Kerri or Linda will fill in the blanks.
Submersed was up first (I was actually disappointed that Silvertide didn't go first because IMO they were less than average, but more on that later). Don't ask me what their set list was because I'm horrible at remembering that stuff. But they came out blazing! Donald had us all working out, arms in the air the entire set. Donald was so happy to be back in Philadelphia and said that the Electric Factory was their very favorite venue to play in the entire country. That got a huge ovation from the crowd. During their set, in between songs, he announced that it was one of the Silvertide guys' birthdays, so he brought out everyone from Silvertide and Creed along with the crew and everyones' families and we all sang Happy Birthday to Brian from Silvertide. Then, going along in the same vein with family and how important loved ones are, Donald brought his girlfriend Whitney to center stage, got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. It was awesome, Mark was holding the ring for him and after Mark handed him the ring, he asked her to marry him, she happily (and in shock!) accepted. It was fantastic!!
They continued on with their set and rocked the house completely. I said it before and I'll say it again. They have come so far since NYE in Philly, last stop on the Weathered tour. They are so relaxed now on stage, so at ease. Eric is a monster on guitar, as is TJ. You could tell they were all having a blast and enjoying themselves and wanted the crowd to enjoy it as much as they did. Our arms were raised in the air during the entire set. If no one has heard their stuff yet, I HIGHLY recommend doing so.
Silvertide came on next, and since they are a local band from N.E. Philly the crowd was their hometown crowd and there were lots of kids (young kids) who were friends and family of the band. So when the lead singer came onstage and yelled something to the effect "Hey motherfuckers, let's get fucked up!" and then proceeded to sing a lot of songs laced with the word fuck, I was a bit turned off. I didn't warm up to them at all, especially after he continued to call us 'motherfuckers' during their entire set. Linda said something to the effect that they were like frat brothers, which was dead on to describe them. Their lead guitarist (who looked JUST like a little girl that plays on One Life To Live) was pretty decent but he wasn't enough to make me appreciate their less than average music. To add insult to injury, there was a young girl of about 17 next to me with long blonde hair. I know this hair intimately because it was flipped into my face during their entire set. Lucky for her she left the rail after their set because had I brought scissors along, she'd be sporting a buzzcut today.
Now onto Alter Bridge. These guys get more awesome everytime we see them. (Steve, I said hi to Michael for you). They came out hard with One Day Remains and slammed into Watch Your Words. Phenomenal doesn't even begin to describe how great they sounded. We were on the rail by Brian this time and he's such a cutie. Man that man plays a mean bass. Flip, as usual, busted his ass on the skins. Mark was a guitar maniac!! It's such a treat to watch him enjoying himself blasting out all the solos and
just letting loose. They did Zepplin's Rock And Roll, and they brought out Nick Perry, the guitarist from Silvertide. Mark, Myles, Brian and Nick all lined up and the 4 of them NAILED it. Myles was perfect on vocals and the guitars just blew us away. At one point, Myles said he wanted to see all of our arms in the air. Most of us happily complied with his request, and he said there were some in the back that didn't have their hands up. He ran to the side and grabbed a spotlight, obviously to shine on the crowd in the back without their hands up. Slight problem though. It came unplugged. So here he is, shining a dark spotlight out onto the crowd. It was pretty funny.
After one of the songs, Myles said something like: "I wanna hear some more guitar, Mark, play some more for us will you?" and Mark was more than happy to oblige. I immediately thought to myself, I think those are words that probably would NEVER have come out of Scott Stapp's mouth. Anyway, Mark's fingers moved so fast and furious on that guitar I started to get warm.
I can't say enough about how great he sounded.
After the show, Mark and Myles came down to the crowd and shook our hands. I don't mean they just touched or high fived us, they physically took our hands and shook each one. I honestly felt touched by that, because it seemed to me that it was truly genuine, that they were honestly happy to have us there and glad that we enjoyed being there. Mark put a pic in Kerri's hand and afterwards, Michael was cool enough to hand Kerri a setlist that was taped to an amp.
I'm sure I am missing several other things that happened but it was all so great it's hard to get more specific. During In Loving Memory (which brought tears to my eyes) I had a moment with Brian. Last time at this venue, during the song, I waved to him and he smiled and gave me the peace sign. This time, during that same song, he was right in front of us and I smiled and waved again. He flashed me a great big smile and it made my night. Kerri and I also ran into Mark on the street when we were coming back from getting a bite to eat. He's so down to earth and easy going. I love these guys.