BOSTON -- Sauntering slowly between exploding fireworks, riding on clouds of stage smoke that billowed behind him, Creed frontman Scott Stapp ran his fingers through his flowing locks and stepped to the edge of the small catwalk that jutted stagefront at his band's sold-out show last night at the FleetCenter.

"All of you that are out there are the reason we're here," he earnestly declared, and his words were greeted with screams from the assembled throngs.

Where they are at the moment is atop the rock world. For most of the last two months, Weathered, the Florida trio's third album, has reigned atop the Billboard charts. Last night's FleetCenter show sold out in mere hours when tickets went on sale a few months back, as have tickets to all of the shows on the band's current tour.

For the metal power poppers -- Stapp, guitarist Mark Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips (Virgos bassist Brett Hestla has joined up for this tour) -- the ascent to their current perch has come despite virtually unanimous critical disdain.

It's a sterling example of the public's appetite clearly not matching critical taste. The crowd at last night's show obviously has located something in Creed's music -- somewhere amidst the band's strange concoction of pseudo-metal, nouveau grunge and power prayer -- that speaks to them, critics be damned.

There were moments in the show last night when a non-believer could almost see what all the fuss was about. During the grinding title cut from Weathered, for example, when Stapp stalked the stage from end to end and guitarist Mark Tremonti's nimble fingers fired off a solo like they were dealing cards in Vegas, there seemed to be a real connection between band and audience.

But for much of the 17-song, 100-minute set, there was an odd detachment. Maybe it's the slipperiness of the band's sound, almost metal but not quite, almost angry but far from it, that makes for a choppy live show that never really finds a groove.

Even so, I suspect that very few Creed fans would complain about the set list. All but one of Weathered's eleven tunes were played in stridently faithful versions, including "My Sacrifice" and the latest single "Bullets." The two metal ballads that end the album, "Don't Stop Dancing" and "Lullaby" were part of a four-song encore, and each improved upon the recorded version.

Most of the hits that shot the band to prominence, like "My Own Prison," the tragically overplayed "Arms Wide Open" and "One," were included in the main set as well.

"One" provided one of the show's highlights, as Stapp spoke of how the anthem to unity has taken on added meaning in the wake of the September terrorist attacks, then turned the chorus over to the crowd during an almost jaunty singalong.

The band was a bit overwhelmed by the huge stage. And it was sometimes hard to take Stapp -- whose voice is strong but who looks a bit like Michael Bolton with straight hair and is unfortunately prone to pithy, serious rock star speeches -- very seriously.

But with three mammoth hit albums, Stapp and Creed have demonstrated staying power. Which only means that the question of what draws so many fans to them -- a question which surely wasn't fully answered last night -- will be left to ponder for the foreseeable future.

Austin O'Connor's e-mail address is aoconnor@lowellsun.com.