Photographs by Lee-Ann Richer.
Nickelback still going a “Million Miles an Hour!
On February 21st, Canadian rockers Nickelback were at London’s Budweiser Gardens supporting their November 2014 8th release, “No Fixed Address”. It was written and recorded in locations such as Berlin, Budapest and London. This album offers some changes to their “formula”. This formula allowed them to dominate the 2000s. They were ranked by Billboard as the top group of the 2000 decade and their song “How You Remind Me” was ranked the top rock song. Their continuing to play to sold out venues to the non-haters (fans!) shows they will be selling millions more.
Nickelback is probably one of the most picked on bands in Canadian history. It’s almost cult-like. I know you have heard it all, and so have I. Comments like, “the songs all sound the same”, “they suck”, “they are the demise of the rock industry” and “they are just a bar band with a big show”.
Most bar bands I have seen don’t have 50 million units in worldwide record sales. And saying they are demise of the rock industry? Are they that influential that they can accomplish that? Some went to the trouble of getting people to sign petitions to (unsuccessfully) ban them from playing half time at a Detroit Lions game. It’s almost like some feel they have to say they hate them because you are not in the “cool club” unless you do.
Let me make it clear that I am not asking you to love Nickelback, I am only saying dislike them for your own valid reasons. So having said that when I was approved to review the band (accompanying my wife who was approved to photograph them for Live In Limbo) I thought, let’s go see what the band has to offer!
Nickelback played four songs from their new release. They started their 19 song, one hour and forty-five min set off with “Million Miles and Hour”. “What Are You Waiting For” and “Edge of a Revolution” were performed part way into the set. “She Keeps Me Up” had a disco feel to it; the band all had silver sparkle guitars. Singer Chad Kroeger videoed the crowd. He had the images projected onto the three screens.
Their stage was clean, simple and set for a great rock show. There weren’t any amps in sight; however, that didn’t stop them from being a LOUD! You could feel Daniel Adair’s kick drum hammering you in the chest at points in the show. and if that didn’t give you that old 70’s aggression of sound, then you had Chad’s older half brother, bassist Mike Kroeger hammering out those extra lows on his 5-string bass guitar. He was responsible for the band’s name offering customers their change of, a nickel back, for a coffee when he worked at Starbucks. Ryan Peake, last but not least, kept the guitars cranked and driving, especially when Chad was on vocals and not playing guitar. Ryan also provided lead vocals in a couple of songs, in addition to backup vocals.
They band had a special guest, Timmy Dawson, popping in and out for select songs on guitar. Chad announced things are never the same without Timmmmmyyyy!
Cover tunes were seeded into the set. The first tune was “Master of Puppets” (Metallica) during their ever popular beer toss. First time I have ever seen dozens of beer cups, thrown into an audience, and everyone was screaming and laughing for more! Chad remarked that usually he is doing the jamming but tonight he got a chance to do the tossing, too!
After a few hits they played Moby Dick (Led Zeppelin) with the essential drum solo. Adair’s solo was short, direct and to the point. He did not try to imitate John Bonham, this was Adair’s solo. It was a pleasure that it wasn’t one of those solos that you say, “is it over yet?”
In the 1990’s when the band was formed they were called “Village Idiots” and did Metallica and Zeppelin covers, which is most like likely why these covers are in their set list.
There was audience sing along to The Eagles “Take it Easy” and “Hotel California”. Chad joked that all they have to do is play an Eagles’ song and the audience will sing along. At this point the audience howled with laughter! Then he said I wonder how many of you will know the words to one of our songs? The audience didn’t let Chad down and sang along to “Rockstar”. Their singing was accompanied by a Monty Python like video. Brilliant to watch on the large screen!
There was a huge amount of audience participation during the evening. Frontman Chad was happy, talkative, friendly and personable. The pacing of the set was impeccable. No boring spots. Their hits like, “Something in Your Mouth”, “Photograph”, “Far Away”, “Someday”, “Animals” and “How You Remind Me” had the audience pumped as the music that was being delivered to them. These songs from the Nickelback “formula” had the entire audience with arms in the air, singing along.
The evening was strong and ended even stronger with the first song of the encore being Foo Fighters “Everlong”. Guitarist Ryan Peake took over the Dave Grohl role on guitar and lead vocals. He was silhouetted on an elevated red stage. The closing song was “Burn It to the Ground”. Watching this encore was worth the 45 minute wait to get out of the parking lot. The flames on the screens and the pyro were a great accompaniment to the final song of the evening.
To sum it up, I found Nickelback to be a solid band with a solid show. They are a band which writes their own music. Music which pokes fun and jokes, just like the band members did on stage. And they sell this music! A LOT OF SALES!
The show was a great rock show and I would see it again. We ended up buying the new Nickelback CD today. The band delivered, and rumours and comments may or may not be true about the singer Chad Kroeger and his band. However I saw a show that was a 10, and a front man that was funny and knows how to command a stage. A lot of people hate or like to say they hate the band. But if you go see to see their show or have a chance to check out their bank account you will find, there are millions that don’t.
