So first off, I probably have to start this story by defending Creed. I was in middle school during their heyday in the early 2000s, and was absolutely obsessed with the band and have always defended them to the many haters I've encountered over the years. As I've gotten older, I get it - Scott Stapp could be a total douche sometimes and is definitely not the most likable rock star on the planet. But whatever, they will always have a nostalgic element for me and one thing that will never change is my opinion of Mark Tremonti. Say what you want about Creed, but he is undoubtedly one of the best guitar players of the last 20 years, and his work in Alter Bridge and with his own solo project (simply called Tremonti) is just light years beyond what he did with Creed from a technical standpoint.
So now that that introduction is out of the way, I was able to meet Mark at a random meet and greet at Sam Ash Music Store in Manhattan yesterday. It was completely spontaneous, I found out about the meet and greet scrolling through Instagram on my way home on the train and realized, "holy shit, this place is right next to Penn Station, and I can easily get there by 7 PM before the event ends!"
So before you know it, I'm in line to meet Mark and get my picture taken with him at the music store only about an hour after I found out the meet and greet was going on. I was pretty nervous initially, but was still able to speak coherently enough to say that I had been a huge fan of his work throughout his entire career and that it was a dream come true to meet him. He was so friendly too, and could tell that I was a really big fan that couldn't be happier to meet him. He really took the time to speak to everyone who met him, as opposed to just quickly taking a picture and moving on to the next person. I was also able to get a signed promotional picture of him too, which was a nice touch.
An even better touch was that because the line to meet him was pretty short, me and some other big fans stayed behind to see if he would hang around once the line had dissipated. So sure enough, it was 6:30 and he still had another 30 minutes of "meet and greet" time so we watched in awe as he browsed some of the guitars on display and proceeded to take one off the wall and fiddle around with it before joking that he couldn't buy it because he didn't have any more room for guitars.
Before he left he shook everyone's hand again and I was able to thank him again for the opportunity to meet him. All in all it was just an amazing experience - I've met a decent number of famous athletes in my day, but besides getting a picture with Richard Patrick after a Filter show, I've never really met a famous musician and for me, Mark Tremonti is one my all-time musical heroes. Just simply something I will never, ever forget.
