Creed Fans Sue For Refund After Disappointing Show

04/24/2003 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Billy Johnson Jr

(4/24/03, 3 p.m. ET) -- Creed is being sued by four fans who want their money back after a disappointing Creed show in Chicago in December. The lawsuit, filed in the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, charges that during the December 29 show at the Allstate Arena, singer Scott Stapp was "so intoxicated and/or medicated that he was unable to sing the lyrics of a single Creed song." The fans are asking for reimbursement of their ticket charges of $56.75 each plus parking charges, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The plaintiffs are also looking to turn the action into a class-action suit, and if everyone who attended the show got a refund, the total could be close to $2 million.

Also named in the suit are Ticketmaster and management company JHMP. The suit claims that those parties as well as fellow bandmates Mark Tremonti and Scott Phillips knew Stapp wasn't able to perform, but decided to go ahead with it instead of canceling and offering refunds.

Creed did offer an apology in January, after fans on Internet message boards bashed the band for its performance. "We apologize if you don't feel that the show was up to the very high standards set by our previous shows in Chicago," read the apology. "We also understand and appreciate the fact that there has been much concern about Scott [Stapp]'s health and we want to assure everyone that he is doing very well and is taking a much-needed break at home in Orlando after a very long and rigorous touring year." The letter concluded, "For now we hope that you can take some solace in the fact that you definitely experienced the most unique of all Creed shows and may have become part of the unusual world of rock 'n' roll history! Again, we apologize if you didn't enjoy the show but remember, 'It's only rock 'n' roll but we like it!'"

Despite the knocks, Creed vocalist Stapp has told us his job can be fun. "Some days it is, some days it isn't," he said. "Is your job fun every day? OK, it's no different. We're just like everybody else."

The Cook County Circuit Court said they didn't have any record of the case, due to delays in processing it in the computer. The Chicago Sun-Times and Creed's record label had not returned calls press time.

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