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I had a few reasons to suspect that this particular Nickelback concert at the Entertainment Centre would be far less than a sell out show. Firstly, it seems that Nickelback are on our shores on a regular basis so surely everybody who really loves this band has seen them at least once already. Also, being so close to Christmas, and with the astronomical price of concert tickets lately and all which comes at the tail end of an economic crisis…Surprisingly, I was very wrong. The largest indoor concert venue in the state was absolutely packed to the rafters.
Due to a little ticketing issue which kept me outside the venue for longer than expected, I arrived just in time to see the exit of support act Sick Puppies. This gave me just enough time to join the beer queue before the headliners made their entrance. When the band exploded onto the stage, the roar from the crowd was awesome. Despite the fact the day had been hotter than hell at forty-plus degrees, it seemed that the thousands in attendance still had the stamina to really cut loose at a rock show and have a great time. It would have actually been difficult not to have a good time at this show.
This was about the fourth time I’ve seen Nickelback live, and with each and every tour, their show has grown substantially bigger and better. The only part of the Nickelback live experience that hasn’t really changed is the band itself (apart from becoming a tighter and more professional unit with each tour). The band members have always and probably will always look like your local neighbourhood tradies. With their simple jeans and T-shirt style, they wouldn’t look out of place down at the pub after work on a Friday night. They certainly don’t look like hugely successful rock stars. This unassuming look is worlds apart from the style of their stage set up. If you’re gonna fork out over a hundred bucks for the cheapest seat at a concert, you want it to be something special, and from the look of Nickelback, you wouldn’t expect that this show was one of those shows. This show had it all. From the opening chords to the final encore, there was fireworks, explosions, giant flames, huge jumbo screens, intelligent computer lighting, a drum solo complete with rising and rotating drum platform, T-shirts shot out of cannons…even cocktail shooters for those lucky enough to be in the front row. As a Kiss fan, I’ve seen all of this done before but it’s so refreshing to see a modern band put the excess and the show back into rock. I’m personally sick of bands trying so hard to be taken seriously. The fact that this show was a huge production was really just a massive bonus though. If Nickelback didn’t have the songs, they wouldn’t get the huge crowds and therefore, make the money to put on the huge production.
Practically every song in the set was a commercial radio hit. From their current album Dark Horse, the hits included the anthemic Gotta Be Somebody and the laidback If Today Was Your Last Day and of course, there was also all of the hits from their previous albums including their first mega hit How You Remind Me. In fact, every song in the set was perfectly suited to the huge arena concert stage. Their songs could either be categorised as arena rock anthems or arena rock power ballads if you really wanted to simplify things. Despite the heat, the crowd appreciation did not wane for the entire show. There was dancing in the aisles, thousands singing along to the big choruses, and the loudest roar for an encore as you could ever hope for. Although there was wasn’t a dull moment, the highlights for me would have been when the band ventured out onto the extended walkway at the front of the stage as a smaller drum kit magically appeared from beneath the stage to momentarily turn the set into an intimate performance right in the middle of the audience, and my other highlight was at the close of the set when it seemed that all of the remaining fireworks had to be used up as the Entertainment Centre was turned into an indoor skyshow. For anyone who loves a big rock spectacular, despite their humble appearance, Nickelback put on one hell of a fun rock show which I would highly recommend as worthy of forking out the cash to witness. I just hope that they can keep up their run of successful albums with another one next year so that I get the chance to see Nickelback for a fifth time.
