Mainstream music popularity tends to be cyclical, with fans’ general tastes and the style that is “en vogue” going through peaks and valleys as the years pass by. For a while up until recently, bands of the late 90s / early 00s were almost dismissed as a phase in music, despite the fact that many enjoyed the songs. At the end of the day, music is meant to evoke emotion. And if you feel joy from songs that are played, forget about the snobby music elitists’ takes and just enjoy it.

And we can definitively say that as Creed performed to a packed State Farm Arena in Atlanta in December, the fans were all fully-captivated and no doubt enjoying it. After the band announced the Summer of ’99 tour alongside 3 Doors Down and Mammoth (including Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen’s son), the summer dates sold so quickly they had to scramble to add more winter shows.

It was indeed an exhilarating live show, filled with pyrotechnics, chuga-chuga metal guitar riffs, and fans belting familiar choruses ‘with their arms wide open’ in the air. It felt like a fun and cathartic show, and the band no doubt still has the powerful spark that made them one of the biggest bands of the 2000s. Scott Stapp‘s voice alongside Mark Tremonti‘s powerful guitar stylings is something to behold.

The cool thing was not only was this clearly kids who grew up with the band now in their 30s and 40s and able to afford tickets, the crowd also featured a ton of younger generations. It could be that in the social media age their insanely viral clip of playing Cowboys’ Thanksgiving halftime show has entered them into the younger music lexicon, or perhaps a cool parent or uncle sprinkled in their music as they were growing up.