Member Review: Nickelback

Here's BPD member 24x7's promised review:

Working a stage whose floor resembled the insides of a grandfather clock, Nickelback started with This Means War (not the far better AC/DC song of the same name) with three video screens behind them and the near-capacity audience on its feet. From there the suggestive, hard-charging Something In Your Mouth had the lyrics onscreen for some massive karaoke.

Or perhaps in the event lead singer/guitarist Chad Kroeger, dressed in black from head to toe, turned his back to the audience.

“Thank you,” Kroeger said, adding the group brought a rock and roll show back into town and would throw a few surprises later. One non-surprise though was Photograph, the first of a handful of ballads which put things in cruise control. The same could be said for the crowd-pleasing Far Away which had an additional guitarist brought on stage.

Using lasers and flames to drive home the hard-rock, radio-friendly numbers, Nickelback tore into the meaty Never Again off 2001's Silver Side Up. The group would then play a mini-set on a rotating stage which rose up and slid over to a landing pad at the venue's rear. Beginning with the crunchy Bottoms Up the band (aboard “Nickelback Airlines”) offered up Rockstar with Kroeger drowned out at times with one fan holding a sign reading “4 Shows, 12 Days, Priceless.”

Returning to home base during Animals as Kroeger held out a small camera which showed the crowd, Nickelback opted for an artsy moon backdrop for Lullaby with guitarist Ryan Peake tickling the ivories.

“Everybody having a good f—king time?” Kroeger asked before the warm, roots-riddled When We Stand Together which was the evening's high point. However the ensuing How You Remind Me (after a Daniel Adair drum solo) came out without much of a hitch and much fanfare.

The encore consisted of the power pop Gotta Be Somebody before concluding in a blaze of pyrotechnical glory during Figured You Out with flames, fireworks and explosions galore like the olden days.

Backstage, the band was really friendly. There were 8 BPD members there and we all had one helluva time.