Creed, Imagine Dragons, Bruce Springsteen highlight August's top Pittsburgh concerts

For the first time in eight years, Bruce Springsteen will be in Pittsburgh for a pair of shows — pushed back almost a year because of illness — while the Pavilion at Star Lake will host another busy month of concerts. Here’s a look at the top shows coming to the area in August:

Top concerts

Aug. 3: Creed, Three Doors Down, Finger Eleven at the Pavilion at Star Lake

Although Creed sold millions of records on the strengths of songs like “Higher,” “My Own Prison” and “My Sacrifice,” they were never a critic’s darling.

As the band is in the midst of a reunion tour — their first together in 12 years — singer Scott Stapp said they were caught off guard by the derision at the time, but they’ve shrugged it off now.

“I think the initial backlash, some of it was just part of being so big, so fast — eight straight No. 1 singles. I mean, we were all over the radio. You couldn’t escape us. I think the initial narrative was completely created by kind of the elite, critical media, kind of the cool guy club, who liked bands that didn’t sell a lot of records,” Stapp told consequence.net. “So it was a narrative that was kind of generated by that niche of the media and then propagandized out there to make people think that that was the voice of the people. Again, it was a media-generated narrative. And once that kind of gets out there and just gets hammered home, you’ll always have the fringes that come out on both sides, but it didn’t represent the people, and Creed has always been a people’s band.”

Aug. 14: Imagine Dragons, Jacob Banks at the Pavilion at Star Lake

Imagine Dragons will be bringing their Loom world tour to Star Lake, with their catalog of hits like “Radioactive” and “Believer,” full of big hooks and choruses.

“Imagine Dragons is not a subtle band. It’s love or hate,” singer Dan Reynolds told Rolling Stone. “It’s just Vegas. It’s right in your face, and it’s from the get-go. Our first record ‘Radioactive’ was the first song on ‘Night Visions.’ It’s kind of following in that, where it’s just like, ‘Here we go!’ You’re either going to love it or you’re going to hate it, but I’d rather that than to feel indifferent or feel vanilla.”

Aug. 15 & 18: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at PPG Paints Arena

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were supposed to play two shows last September in Pittsburgh, but his medical advisors recommended a break because of symptoms of peptic ulcer disease.

He returned to the stage with one performance last November, but he’s going strong this year with more than 30 concerts already. His three-plus-hour shows span his career including his album, “Nebraska,” which returned to the charts after a CBS News feature on it.

“I knew what the ‘Nebraska’ record was,” Springsteen told CBS News. “It was also a signal that I was sending that, ‘I’ve had some success, but I do what I want to do. I make the records I wanna make. I’m trying to tell a bigger story, and that’s the job that I’m trying to do for you.’”

Sold-out shows

Aug. 23: Koe Wetzel, Treaty Oak Revival at Stage AE

The outlaw country singer — born in Pittsburg, Texas, that is — just released his latest album, “9 Lives,” on July 19.

Other highlights

Aug. 2: Dan + Shay, Jake Owen, Dylan Marlowe at the Pavilion at Star Lake

Aug. 2: Debbie Gibson, Color Me Badd at Stage AE

Aug. 2: Micky Dolenz at South Park Amphitheater

Aug. 2: The Commodores, The Spinners at Rivers Casino

Aug. 5: Chevelle, Tigercub at Stage AE

Aug. 7: Slipknot, Knocked Loose, Orbit Culture at the Pavilion at Star Lake

Aug. 8: Primus, Coheed and Cambria, Puddles Pity Party at Stage AE

Aug. 9: Brian Kelley at No Offseason Sports

Aug. 10: Jason Aldean, Lauren Alaina, Chase Matthew, Austin Snell, Dee Jay Silver at the Pavilion at Star Lake

Aug. 10: Shaggy at Hollywood Casino at the Meadows

Aug. 15: Midge Ure at Jergel’s

Aug. 16: James McMurtry at South Park Amphitheater

Aug. 17: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Margo Price at the Pavilion at Star Lake

Aug. 20: Childish Gambino, Willow at PPG Paints Arena

Aug. 20: The Doobie Brothers, Steve Winwood at the Pavilion at Star Lake

Aug. 21: Dweezil Zappa at Roxian Theatre

Aug. 23: Joey Fatone, A.J. McLean at Rivers Casino

Aug. 24: The Gaslight Anthem, Joyce Manor, Pinkshift at Roxian Theatre

Aug. 28: Melissa Etheridge at Stage AE

Aug. 30: Living Colour, Nash.V.Ill at Crafthouse