"Creed Live" DVD Review
 

http://blogcritics.org/music/article...ew-creed-live/

It's sometimes hard to remember just how insanely successful Creed once were. Their first three albums, My Own Prison, Human Clay and Weathered, sold 6 million, 11 million, and 6 million copies respectively. All told, they shifted over 35 million records, yet you'd be hard pushed to find anyone admitting to owning one, or a critic with a kind word to say about them. Which is peculiar, because they actually wrote some excellent songs.

For sure, the whole Christian rock-band thing seems to alienate some people. And that's also peculiar, because I'd rather have a band who appear to be seeking some kind of spiritual resolution than yet another Motley Crue wannabee banging on about how many groupies they've had and how many ants they've snorted. Yes, Hinder, I'm referring to you. But the career of Creed seemed to have been blown out of the water when singer Scott Stapp took a left hand turn into the world of the party-hard rock star and, in 2004, the band ground to a halt.

Afterward, they brought back their old bass player, hired a new singer, and continued on a similar path as Alter Bridge. They were reasonably successful, with both albums going Top 20 in the USA, as did Stapp's sole solo record. So it was a surprise when Creed announced they were getting back together, spurred on by Stapp apologizing to his former bandmates. Their reunion album got to Number Two on the US charts—with only the late Michael Jackson keeping them from the top spot—and they headed out on tour, resulting in this Live DVD. A rather good one it is too.

Filmed in front of a sold-out crowd in Texas, Creed haven't stinted on the production values, with 239 cameras in play, capturing the born again band in fine fettle. Naturally, it's the classics that people want to hear, and there's plenty of them on this 17-track DVD, from the high octane opener, "Bullets" through to an encore that includes "One," "One Last Breath" and "Higher." It's fair to say that the fan favorite is still their Number One hit, "With Arms Wide Open," but there's a good reception as well for new material like "Overcome" and "A Thousand Faces" from the new Full Circle album, which slots easily and comfortably into the classic Creed, post-grunge sound.

They've brought in the legendary Andy Johns to mix the concert audio, and it really leaps out of the speakers. For the techy folk out there, there's 5.1 Surround Sound as well as Standard 5.1, Stereo and DTS audio streams. They've even used the "Big Freeze" special effects gimmick, first developed for The Matrix movie.

However, the bonus features are a bit on the skimpy side. There's the obligatory Behind the Scenes documentary from the tour, a photo gallery, and (here's the giveaway) a trailer for the upcoming deluxe box set. Yes, they're plugging the special edition on the regular edition, something guaranteed to annoy even the mildest-mannered fan.

That version will, apparently, include a full feature-length film about the history of Creed, a live audio CD and special collectors' items such as a T-shirt, poster and a backstage pass from the tour. So, regardless of how good this release is—and it is an excellent concert—you may want to save up your Christmas gift tokens for the fancy schmancy deluxe version.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Nice to see a positive review, however most of it was based around the history of Creed, and there was very little mention of the DVD itself.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

a pretty bad review...

http://geeksofdoom.com/2009/12/06/dv...ew-creed-live/

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

"Creed is not a rock and roll band"

What are they? Rap?

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Haha. One of the best ways to enjoy this DVD is to "not watch it." Classic.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Review FAIL

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Bought the DVD this morning and just finished watching the concert and the updated documentary. Big Freeze is not included in this DVD, and actually for what this is, I'm glad. The video presentation is just outstanding, in my opinion. I think that is the payoff for having over 200 HD cameras at hand. It was awesome to play it on our 46" HD TV with the surround on! We went to one of the live concerts, and I'm glad that they were able to capture the intensity and stage effects well. I would have liked to see just a little bit more of the overall stage view at times, including the beautiful backdrop screen, but they did manage to show it quite a bit in the video. It was just so amazing to see it live behind them on every song. The trade-off for that was all the fantastic closeup shots! I've obviously never seen Creed like this so closeup, and it is great to see them up close and personal during the performance. There are some really great closeups of all the guys at some point. I also got a big kick out of ERock, too. He adds such a great aspect. It also reminds me even more about how much energy they all put into this live show, too. I loved every minute of the whole thing.

I wanted to also mention that the updated tour documentary is 45 minutes long and way better than the one that came with the FC deluxe set because they have added more to it from the entire tour, including the awesome guy that was hyped up on Red Bull. :) He is hilarious!

I'm sure I'll also be buying the Deluxe box set when it comes out, but I had to go ahead and get this now. I'm sure the Big Freeze will be pretty cool, but it's also nice to have this video that is pretty much the concert straight up as it was.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

this isn't a review or anything but I work at Best Buy and we are sold out of all the Creed Live DVD's and we got a lot of them in so that's a positive note I thought I would share

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

I noticed this too. I purchased the it the day it came out and I got the last copy at Best Buy. Hopefully this is a good sign.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

I guess I'll post my little review...

First of all, everyone pretty much knows how much I hated the performance that night...so I'm sorry if I come off highly negative or mean, I'm just trying to be honest & give constructive criticism.

The one thing that made me happy was the artwork and packaging, when I first saw the cover I didn't know what the heck they were thinking but after seeing everything up close & personal it's not that bad & they did a very good job putting it together. The message from Scott inside the booklet was very touching. (The DVD menus are also nice)

Performance wise, it was again hard to listen to... vocally other then "Never Die" Scott was struggling. I'm not going to rant on Scott because I know he's trying his best & the passion is still there but in all honesty I cringed on every song. I give a little credit to pitch correction, but imo. they didn't use it enough throughout the show, also whoever edited the audio is a moron...they totally shifted Scott's vocal off time in "One Last Breath" & in "A Thousand Faces" which really ticked me off seeing as it's one of the best performances on the DVD. I also noticed the solo was replaced which was odd, it's not the cd version though, Mark must have overdubbed it.

Musically, again some of the songs were hard to listen to, tempos of course are WAY TOO FAST...Flip needs to seriously improve this on the next tour. (Unforgiven especially was horrible.) other then that the other guys nailed it as usual, a lot of energy! EROCK what else can you say, the guy is incredible...vocally, his guitar playing, tone, stage presence etc. he deserves to be on that stage. My favorite songs on the DVD were probably Never Die, A Thousand Faces, What If & One.

Production/editing was awesome, very well shot! Quality was also better then expected.

The bonus features were ok, the Documentary was great...mostly consists of the Full Circle bonus dvd & other cool behind the scenes stuff.

So in closing, it was what I expected... overall I give it a 7/10 which is being generous in my book. I have to admit this is not the live Creed DVD I longed for since 1999 but I have hope that they can improve & hopefully the next dvd will blow this one out of the water.

(BTW "Big Freeze" what a joke. lol)

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

If you don't mind me asking, what do you mean by that last "Big Freeze" comment? I only ask because "Big Freeze" isn't included in the standard edition, only in the deluxe edition.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

^How do you know that though? I'm pretty sure it will be the same as the standard... anyway the only "Big Freeze" was the drum intro to "Higher" which was nothing special, it did a half turn into the background & that was it haha I seriously laughed out loud when I saw it.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

From what I understand Big Freeze is used for like one quick moment during "Higher" I believe but it was only done around Flip's drum set.

EDIT: Damn, you beat me.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

So then it's like the music video?

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Somewhat I guess... but it's lackluster, very poorly done.

Also I forgot to mention I miss Mark's signature clean tone, especially on "Say I" & "What If" (intro) & also one positive about Scott's voice the GROWL and grit is definitely still there!

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Yeah....

I doubt I'll buy the deluxe version now, as much as I want to...
I can stomach the problems with the performance....but the freakin' editing is absolutely unacceptable. Screw their 239 cameras.
Sure, Dan, it was nice to have all of that. But we don't need to see every one of them every few seconds...pick a frame and stick with it for more than a second or two. Having the camera switch positions so much was kind of annoying, imo. Also.....seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY?

SRSLY?!?!?! DUBYA TEE EFF WERE THE PRODUCERS DOING?
WHY DID THEY SCREW UP THE SHOW?

I mean, really, a 10 year old could have done better work getting the audio and video synched up. They almost completely screwed A Thousand Faces with the way they sped Stapp up, they killed One Last Breath, (and I thought it couldn't get much worse..), after they OBVIOUSLY had Stapp's vocals not even matching what he was physically saying.
There's parts where Stapp is talking where the words don't even match his lips at all. Seriously. FAIL. Horrible. I've actually never seen a video released with this kind of problem with it. It's like they got tired of work, said "eff it", and put it on the shelf.

This is what happens when you speed things up, and don't take the proper time to work on them. I really feel bad for the guys, and can't help but wonder if they even noticed the problems at the premiere.
Either way, too late now. What's done is done....and it's permanent.
I am seriously disappointed in the way things are turning out.

I'll be the first to tell you, I absolutely love this band.
Them being back, is amazing. The new album, is amazing.
But there are problems with the album that could have been avoided if they had taken more time, and there's damn sure problems on the DVD that should have been avoided, IF THE FREAKING IDIOTS WHO EDITED IT, WOULD QUIT CONCENTRATING ON CHANGING THE CAMERA ANGLE EVERY FEW SECONDS, AND FOCUS ON GETTING THE PERFORMANCE PUT ON VIDEO C-O-R-R-E-C-T-L-Y.

The documentary was decent. It was pretty much the same documentary in the walmart exclusive deal, but with a bunch of added stuff to it.
Overall, I give the performance a 6/10. The band, as a whole, was good.

I give the video quality a 10/10. Very nice picture and audio.
But I give this DVD a 2/10, because putting that kind of BS on a shelf for a fan to buy, is a personal insult to Creed fans.
If you're going to do something, do it well, or don't do it at all.
No need to ruin a "world record breaking DVD" with sloppy editing.

I have better things to spend my money on, like Looney Tunes, which I can honestly say.....has never had an audio/visual synch problem.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

^lol I agree for the most part. it's really sad...editing stuff like that isn't hard to do & whoever tuned it did a poor job. I'm hoping the Deluxe has some corrections, but who knows.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

I am scared to buy the DVD this week seeing all these so-so reviews. I want to show it off to the world but with Stapp's vocals and poor production it seems it might be embarrasing..guess Ill just have to watch it by myself...

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

I'm not gonna say it's the worst live DVD I've ever seen, the music is great other then it being 10x too fast but IF you know what pitch is and what you're listening for I can't understand how anyone can say Scott sounds great...he's just consistently flat the whole show & that's not an opinion, that's a fact. I don't say that to bash him, it's just the truth...I want him to improve, and that doesn't mean him sounding like he did 10 years ago because I'm not stupid, but I'm confident he can definitely sound like he did in Delray (if he dedicates himself) which is pretty darn good.
The editing on the other hand is sketchy in spots, Dan did a pretty good job of capturing each member though...but after building up the hype of so many cameras it wasn't anything special. It's very similar to AB's "Live From Amsterdam" DVD.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

I gotta pose this question because i just watched the videos from delray for the first time:

Is it possible they are staging the crap vocals and that the world tour will be a complete reversal of what we've been seeing?

I know it sounds ridiculous, but i just dont see how his voice could have changed that much over such a short period of time barring some huge (as in physical) accident.

Drinking and smoking can't effect your voice THAT much over not even a one year period, there's just no way.

Scott smoked in the early days of creed all the way through weathered and it really only started wearing on him during the middle of the weathered tour and that was 6 years of smoking.

Unless it's this new way he's learned to sing that is doing it i don't see how this is even physically possible. He was both healthy and having absolutely no pitch problems in a completely unedited video, and now they're having problems getting him on pitch even with autotune and they're playing the entire set tuned down a step.

I just don't understand it. Anyone have any thoughts?

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Staging? nah. IMO. the smoking plus non-stop rehearsing, recording, touring has just caught up with him hence the hoarseness, either that or he has another problem we don't know about. He's been using these new vocal techniques with a coach for a few years now so that debunks the "holding back" theory.
I know he was heavily tuned on the AOL Sessions but even on that he sounded at least 80-90% and the Fox & Friends performance wasn't great but the songs were not tuned down a half a step. So something had to go wrong between then and the start of the tour.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

I don't get all this hoopla about Scott at Delray is, to me he still sounded like crap. For example hes flat on " I think they shoot cause they want it" in Bullets. To me he sounded the same then as he does today...

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Stapp was lightyears above his current performances during Delray.
He uses all of his range...most, anyway. He has ALL of his grit.
He sounds great. Not 1999, but great.


It is miles above what he sounds like now....so something is seriously wrong here, and I think the fans, (atleast, the ones who aren't in denial and want to know what's going on), should be entitled to an explanation.

If he were to up and say that his voice is shot and he will never be the same again.....I'd be fine with it, and I'd still listen all day long.

But pretending the problem isn't real, won't make it go away.
This issue needs to be addressed.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

This will probably be one of the first Creed releases that I will not buy. #1 It's not a priority, #2 I don't have the cash for it at the moment, #3 I'd probably only watch it once. Also, I've seen the previews, I know Scott's voice is flat. I'd rather listen to the recorded versions than cringe while watching a video. Anyway, just my opinion.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

I agree. Why listen to a DVD that does not sound good when you have the CD?

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

One thing worth mentioning is that Delray show was a one-off, special invite show apparently - i'm sure he put more into it and didn't have another show the next night, and the next, and the next (you get the picture). Probably sings at a 5 or 6, to sustain the length of the tour as opposed to a 10 for a one shot.

People say the album is all dubwork, but I don't buy that. you can't auto-tune emotion, the grit, that.."Stapp" feeling. But your albums are your legacy, so you give it your all. We've all moved on from the drunken stupor live shows, im sure we'll move on from the sub-par vocals at the live shows. However, this reunion would be short-lived if this new album sounded anywhere near as bad the live shows, ya know?

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

I just hope to God someone in the band or management has addressed it or brought it up to Scott, you would think they would say something.
IMO. he needs a new vocal coach, Jaime Vendera or Brett Manning (no offense to the one he has now)

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

All that is very true.
But Scott isn't even as good on the album as he was in Delray.
Not even with autotune. And most of that album is very produced.
Scott sounds his absolute best on Overcome, and there's heavy work on the vox. Even if he didn't belt it out live anymore...which he doesn't, and you can tell that much is intentional.....he should still be able to stay ON KEY and not be flat most of the time. So there's definately problems there.

Some is probably to do with his voice, some is probably breathing.
Smoking definately didn't help, and to be honest, with the band playing everything 534343495 times faster than it's supposed to be, it's really hard to breathe and hit the correct notes.

The Stapp we're hearing now can't even do what he did while he was overseas, so I REALLY hope that he recovers, and I hope they never record an album this fast again.....especially if his vocals could have been better.

Listen to "Fear" and start listening closely after the second chorus, right after Stapp whispers "change". When he sings "Leave the past behind", his voice actually cracks towards the end....sounded like he needed to clear his throat. (If you can't hear what I'm talking about, look up the WAAF Pool Party footage on youtube......meh.) His voice cracks alot like that if he's having problems. It seems like they were so rushed with the recording, that they didn't even bother taking time to do a retake. Something very un-Howard Benson like.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Eh, I think Scott's days are numbered. I LOVE the guy but given the fact that he can't sing shit anymore and Full Circle has more or less bombed then I can't really see why Mark & Co would continue with this. Creed will always be in my top 3 favorite bands. But i'd rather nothing then what we have now. Misfits fans will know what i'm talking about.

There isn't much that Scott can do I don't think. Either try or give up. But as i've said before I think if he went back to the retro look his shitty voice would be less prevalent. Also Mark needs to SLOW DOWN. This is Creed, Not your metal band.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Although I agree... Flip is the time keeper so Mark has nothing to do with slowing down lol for some reason he's become very sloppy over the past couple years, it's very disappointing seeing as he used to be one of the tightest drummers in Rock.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Creed will always be my #1-forever, but I had to close my eyes and scrunch my face when I listened to this. This was due in part to being hard to hear but also being afraid for new fans to hear this too:( Not up to par, I am so sad to say.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Oh yeah, the drummer is the time keeper. But Mark is the man in charge, he is the one that needs to bring it up. I should have clarified that. But the thing that I meant was I think Mark likes it this way.

In Alter Bridge I really like Flip's drumming but in Creed it is lackluster. It really is the same thing over and over again for him.

I really hope Creed can get amazing again. Mark, if you read this. BRING OUR THOUGHTS UP!!!

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

If Mark likes it 20x too fast then I definitely have to question him as a musician because it's seriously getting ridiculous lol imo. it's the same with Alter Bridge, sure you can speed things up somewhat live but not to the point where it destroys the song and loses the feeling & groove.

If you remember they played everything normal speed perfectly on AOL and Fox & Friends, then as the tour started it went downhill from there. The same with every AB tour, they start playing how it was supposed to be played like the records then several shows later it became faster & faster every night.

It's gone from a little nitpick of mine to something way beyond now because it's my biggest pet peeve as a musician, if you can't stay in the pocket then you need to stop everything & practice your butt off until it's super tight.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Weren't the aol sessions edited in the studio though?

I totally agree though, listening to them playing any fast songs like Bullets and What If live is brutal.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Yeah the vocals were tuned but they can't control how fast or slow a band plays lol

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

In the mixing/mastering process they can slow it down can't they?
In WAWO Mark seems to be playing really fast I noticed today.

Did anybody else not notice the autotuning then once people mentioned it they can't help but notice it? That's what happened for me. Sucks.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

I think its totally different when your infront of thousands of people, the guys probably have a huge bolt of adrenaline going through thier system. Look at other bands when they play live, i.e. Metallica. They play way to fast and sloppy. But its how they do their shows everynight and people still eat it up. I just ordered the DVD from amazon so I will post my LATE review soon, both the Best Buys by my house didnt have any copies!!!

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

Normally i'd agree here, but did you ever watch the VH1 live premier of creed's weathered tour?

If ever there was a time for them to get a bolt of adrenaline and speed the hell up, it would be the tour opener for songs they'd never played live before when they were at the pinnacle of their popularity with so many people screaming so loud.

Those songs were rhythmically almost perfect. They don't seem to start speeding up until a time that they should actually be getting used to playing in front of so many people.

It's also not always Flip, sometimes Mark starts the songs really fast as well.

I have to say there are some songs that are just incredible that they can even play them as fast as they do (there's a particular live version of One Day Remains that comes to mind that just didn't seem like it should be possible to any human), but some of the songs that really are more of a heavy pound out in the pocket at a slower speed get trashed by the increase in tempo, even if they play it dead on.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

^Exactly, the whole adrenaline thing is ridiculous because the guys have been playing live shows since 95 or so and played to some of the biggest crowds ever. They used to be one of the tightest bands in Rock, you can watch/listen to any live show they've done before they split & it was almost flawless timing wise.
& for the record comparing them to Metallica is funny lol I like them but Lars Ulrich might be the sloppiest drummer on the planet.

Re: "Creed Live" DVD Review
 

ok guys I see your points but...We dont know exactly why the guys aren't as tight or flawless Live as it used to be or whats going through thier heads, but when you sit down and watch it on a DVD or TV you can nit pick whats wrong. You guys know when your see them Live the experience and energy is totally different, alteast for me it was...