Scott Stapp Chicago HOB Review

Scott Stapp from Chicago HOB

On December 6, 2016, there was proof that Scott Stapp is alive and doing well! Scott Stapp and his bandmates blazed into the Chicago House of Blues and scorched the venue with an outstanding performance.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, it is close to 8 o’clock and not one band is on the clock. Shortly after 8:00 p.m., Manafest finally hit the stage and Citizen Zero and Adelitas Way followed them before Stapp mesmerized the audience with their performance.

While the perfect entry at 10:16 of Scott Stapp and his bandmates would have been “Are You Ready?,” they chose to kick-off their performance with “Bullets.”  During the song, the instruments slightly strangulated Scott Stapp’s vocals and the strangulation continued, at times, on “Say I,” “What If,” “Torn” and “Jesus was a Rockstar.” Unfortunately, the periodic vocal strangulation is the sacrifice that seems to occur at every rock show.

As “Bullets” concluded, and Stapp was about to perform “Are You Ready?,” Stapp remarked, “Are you ready?” Scott, yes the audience was ready!

The House of Blues’ energetic enthusiasm coupled with the vociferating vocals rose Stapp’s performance to a higher level. It started with “One” and reached the pinnacle conclusion of Stapp’s set list on “My Sacrifice.” The audience sang their little hearts out on Creed’s biggest hits in “With Arms Wide Open,” “Higher,” “What’s This Life For,” “Don’t Stop Dancing,” “One Last Breath” and “My Sacrifice” while eliciting cheerful ovations as each song concluded. Scott Stapp even felt the need to mention the audience’s enthusiasm as “Jesus was a Rockstar” ended, when he remarked, “I always feel so much energy in Chicago.” Scott, the enthusiasm of the audience was because you were killing it vocally on stage, brother!

Although the Stapp tour was billed as the Proof of Life Tour, Stapp only performed one song from the Proof of Life album, which was “Jesus was a Rockstar.” Instead, Stapp performed the bread and butter of Scott’s career by performing mostly Creed hit songs.

During “With Arms Wide Open,” an audience member was so struck by Stapp’s performance that he opened his arms wide open to the World.

After the encore cheer, the audience was raised even higher as Stapp performed acoustically “What’s This Life For” and “Don’t Stop Dancing.” Stapp then performed a stepped down electric version of “One Last Breath” before they concluded, their performance with an electric ensemble of “My Sacrifice.”  As the crowd sang the chorus one last time on “My Sacrifice” and the song roared to its final curtain call, Scott Stapp started clapping, fist pumping and said one final goodbye, “Thank You Chicago!”

As the Proof of Life Tour concluded, the one thing that stood out is the breath of life that Scott Stapp brought out vocally in his performance; and it is one of his best vocal performances in Chicago!