Creed Why Their Fans Sued Them Over Scott Stapp's Performance

Creed: Why fans of the band sued them following a concert in Chicago, Illinois in 2002

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#creed #scottstapp #marktremonti

Have you guys ever went to a rock concert and been so unimpressed that you lierally wanted your money back? Well that's what happened in 2002 at a Creed show in Illinois. Not only that but a group of fans banded together and filed a class action lawsuit against the band and it made national headlines in the US and everywhere else in the world. What happened? Stay tuned for the full story.

In the late 90's and early 2000's Florida band Creed were one of the biggest rock acts on the planet. Starting out in 1994 Creed signed a record deal a few years later and by 1997 they released their debut record my own prison, which went 6x platinum in the states. They followed it up with 1999's Human Clay which was certified diamond selling over 10 million copies in the US and 20 million copies worldwide. Their follow up was 2001's Weathered, which didn't sell quite as well, but still went 6x platinum. While the band was on tour to support weathered Creed struggled largely due to frontman Scott Stapp's substance abuse problems, which were made worse by a car accident that saw the singer get addicted to pain medication. It all came to ahead in Rosemont, Illinois at the Allstate Arena in December of 2002.According to Stapp's 2012 biography he revealed at this point in time he was heavily using pain medication and drinking everyday. A group of fans were so upset with Creed's performance that night, specifically Stapp they sued the band for millions of dollars as part of a class-action lawsuit.
According to the chicago tribune the lawsuit claimed that Stapp was i quote intoxicated and/or medicated that he was unable to sing the lyrics of a single Creed song. Stapp left the stage on several occasions during songs for long periods of time, rolled around on the floor of the stage in apparent pain or distress and appeared to pass out while onstage during the performance” It was also widely reported that guitarist Mark Tremonti even apologized for the singer’s behavior to fans that night.
The plaintiffs in the case were two men Philip Berenz and Chad Costino’s whose lawsuit claimed that Creed owed refunds to all of the 15,000 members of the audience that night.The tickets cost $50 each but the lawsuit estimates that with service charges, parking and other fees, the estimated 15,000 fans are owed around $2 million.
Stapp would end up defending his performance as he would leave a series of voicemails for the paper the Orlando Sentinel claiming that he thought he gave a great over the top performance. He claimed he was seen lying onstage because he was offering an over-the-top, dramatic performance meant to convey the difficulties he was facing in his personal life at the time. He claimed some fans mistook it as him passing out onstage. He would also go on to say that he was fighting an undisclosed illness at the time. Some concert goers following the show wrote into MTV calling the concert everything from "horrible" to "the worst show they have ever seen," but one concert attendee goer criticized the fans who filed a lawsuit against the band calling it ridiculous.
Creed ended up getting so much backlash they put out statement apart from Stapp and took responsibility for what happened that night and send out an email to their fans.

The plaintiffs lawsuit claimed that there already was a precedent set in a previous case whereby a man sued a painter who had been hired to paint a portrait of his wife. The man claimed the painting looked nothing like his wife and was able to recover his fee, but the judge in the trial disagreed.
Ultimately the the lawsuit got thrown out of court in late 2003. The ruling judge would claim that at a concert there's no contract between artist and ticketholders. The ticket is just a lic

Sources:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/creed-fans-sue-band-over-show-235005/

https://www.mtv.com/news/1478673/creed-fans-upset-over-sloppy-show-lose-suit-but-fight-on/#:~:text=%22He%20absolutely%20gutted%20their%20lawsuit.&text=The%20suit%20asked%20the%20band,fans%20have%20come%20to%20expect.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2003-04-22-0304220298-story.html

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/judge-throws-out-fan-suit-vs-creed-69042/

https://www.mtv.com/news/1471485/sloppy-creed-show-has-fans-suing-for-refunds/

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