Nickelback - By Andy Squire
I’ve been to many a gig in my time, and some have been better than others, but on Friday night as I watched Nickelback kick rock music’s ass in the MEN Arena, I realised that this was more than just a gig, it was a full on show.
For the opening night of their Dark House tour to coincide with the realised of their new album by the same name, Chad Kroeger, Ryan Peake, Mike Kroeger and Daniel Adair pulled out all the stops to make this night one that we won’t forget in a hurry.
Taking over most of the floor space in the MEN, the band brought with them a colossal stage which extended into the audience by about 50ft, meaning that, as none of the band ventured down it whilst the photographers were stood at the end, you’ll have to use your imagination when it comes to the epic-ness of this event.
Playing most of the tracks from Dark Horse, as well as a spattering of live favourites such as Rockstar (on stools at the end of the giant runway), How You Remind Me and Figured You Out, the guys showed that the credit crunch hadn’t hit them in the slightest by over using the pyrotechnics they had collected along the way, and crowd favourites, the ‘T-Shirt Sniper Rifles’ that the crew fire t-shirts into the crowd from whilst the guys take a little rest.
At times you couldn’t help but feel a little choked at how colossal this band were, and as they flashed up emotive images and stories during If Everyone Cared as well as memories of their lives and careers throughout Photograph, I found myself really having to chock back the tears as it hit me how privileged I was to be sharing this experience with thousands of other people who just stood there in awe of what was happening.
Other than a 10-minute drum solo courtesy of Daniel - which saw him hoisted up into the air then twirled around as he pounded on his kit, the highlight of the night had to be when Black Stone Cherry frontman Chris Robertson joined the guys on stage for a near-perfect rendition of AC/DC’s Highway To Hell.
In all I learnt a very important lesson on Friday night, and that is that Nickelback are one of the finest rock bands around at the moment and deserve far more credit than they seem to get, and secondly, that you don’t need to be Girls Aloud or Kanye West to commend thousands of fans in an arena tour - sometimes all your need is a couple of guitars, a bass, drums and a passion for music that can never be altered.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
Photos By Andy Squire
Tagged in Nickelback