On a beautiful late September evening, Creed brought their Summer of ’99 tour to The Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The show was originally scheduled for 6 August, but was postponed at the last minute due to inclement weather issues. Tonight, Tonic were in direct support, with Tim Montana replacing Finger Eleven as the opening band as Finger Eleven could not make the rescheduled date.
Creed – Summer of ’99 Tour
Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater, Bridgeport, Connecticut – 30 September 2024
Words And Photography: Jody Wilk
Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater is situated along the train tracks near Long Island Sound and was built over the former ballpark at Harbor Yard. It has a 5700-seat capacity and opened in 2021. This boutique amphitheater has a beautiful and accommodating backstage area for the artists and hosts many local food trucks and stands from local restaurants.
Creed
After being apart for eleven years, Grammy Award winners Creed decided it was time to get back together and go out on a headlining tour in 2023, and Bridgeport ended up being the last stop on this leg of the tour.
Scott Stapp heated up the night with his passionate stage performance and inspirational ramblings in between songs, with the air filled with smoke and pyro throughout.
Mark Tremonti tore it up on the guitar and was sporting a cool Thin Lizzy shirt. Bill Marshall is a staple on bass, as is Scott Phillips on drums. Eric Friedman, touring member for Creed, rocked the rhythm guitar and backing vocals and is also a member of the rock band Tremonti. 
Before What If, Tremonti came to the front of the stage and told the crowd they would be giving away a guitar to the person who showed the most excitement and energy during the song.
When the song was over, Mark addressed the guy in the banana costume as being a contender. However, they ultimately decided to give it to a young boy named Myles, who was sitting on his father’s shoulders, citing him as being the next generation of rock. Myles was brought on stage for the presentation.
Although flames, smoke, and CO2 cannons were the theme of the night, they were non-stop during their hit song, What’s This Life For. Scott let the fans know that he expected everyone to show up at Madison Square Garden on the next leg of the tour as they would be playing a bunch of songs they did not play this time around.
The crowd was on their feet the entire set and singing along to just about every song. However, there were also a few times Scott would stop to listen to the crowd, and they were almost deafening. Scott responded with a smile.
Creed saved With Arms Wide Open and Higher for the last two songs in their regular set before taking a brief pause and coming out for their encore performance. This included fan favourites, One Last Breath and My Sacrifice. 
Creed will be back out on their Are You Ready Tour starting in early November and going through the beginning of December across the United States. This tour will feature 3 Doors Down, Mammoth, and Finger Eleven on a select few dates.
Tim Montana
Tim Montana was first up, and at 7:00 pm he brought his unique blend of hard rock and southern rock to the stage for a packed crowd. Tim gave us a brief history of his career, letting us know he grew up off the grid in Butte, Montana and learned guitar by candlelight. Montana also let us know that Evel Knievel was also from Butte.
Tim recently finished up a tour with Jerry Cantrell and just played Louder Than Life Festival in Kentucky this past weekend. He has had the likes of Kid Rock and Billy Gibbons collaborate with him. 
Tim played a six-song set of music from his Savage album, performed with his band referred to as the Shrednecks. Just prior to the third song, Die Today, Tim brought out a friend and Butte native, Robert J. Oniell, a former Navy Seal Team 6 member who is credited with killing Osama Bin Laden. Robert was featured in Tim’s 2016 video for Hillbilly Rich. Tim saved The Devil You Know, for last, a song that has gotten a lot of great praise in the rock community.
You can catch Tim Montana on tour through the end of October or in January and February, opening for Myles Kennedy throughout the United States starting on 17 January in Joliet, Illinois.
Tonic
Tonic, a rock band formed in 1993, best known for their hit song If Only You Could See from their platinum-selling album Lemon Parade, were next to take the stage. They have also had six Top 10 singles and two Grammy nominations.
Opening up their twelve-song set with Open Up Your Eyes, Emerson Hart, lead vocalist and guitarist brought his non-sugar-coated, no-frills rock ‘n’ roll band to Bridgeport to a near sold-out crowd. This four-piece band wowed the crowd with a host of songs off of Lemon Parade, as well as several songs off of Head On Straight and Sugar. 
The band featured touring musician Graham Whitford of Tyler Bryant And The Shakedown on lead guitar, and Dan Lavery on Bass, as well as Bon Jovi drummer Rich Scannella, who has been touring with Tonic since 2008.
Emerson told us a little about the song Mountain. He said it’s about doing things that you should not be doing but still do since you are in your early twenties. During Come Rest Your Head, they went into a snippet of Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion, a nod to Graham’s father, Brad Whitford.
Emerson asked the crowd if everyone could sing the last chorus of You Could Only See since it was the last night of the tour, and they readily obliged. They ended the set with Casual Affair, which led to a snippet of Led Zeppelin’s Dancing Days.
If you missed Tonic on tour with Creed, you will have to wait to see what is up next for them as they do not have any shows scheduled as of yet.
