It’s hard to believe that Nickelback formed nearly 30 years ago and broke out 25 years ago with the album The State. Over that time the Hanna, Alberta 4some has performed dozens of times in Calgary, from bars to headlining the 2013 Flood-Aid concert at McMahon Stadium. Add in multiple Saddledome shows including just a year ago, and fans know what to expect when the band shows up. 17,000 fans showed up for the final night of Stampede for an explosive evening of hits, hits, and more hits.
The success of Nickelback’s live shows ties in to two things – 10 albums of songs that have become ingrained in pop culture, and the banter between Chad Kroeger & Ryan Peake. F-bombs flowed as freely as the Saddledome beer as Kroeger encouraged the audience to sing along – and sing they did.
The show didn’t vary much from the 2023 tour, kicking off with San Quentin from 2022’s Get Rollin. Savin Me, Far Away, Animals, and Someday followed as drummer Daniel Adair, an absolute machine, and a shirtless Mike Kroeger on bass contributed to the wall of sound. Peake took over vocals on Worthy to Say from The State and later the band added a surprise, a rare live playing of Leader of Men from the same album. Another highlight was Albertan Brett Kissel joining the band for a raucous edition of Rockstar.
Nickelback is this generations Motley Crue or Kiss. You know what you’re going to get – walls of flame, bursts of pyro, a charismatic front man, and songs that everyone knows and many love, even those that won’t admit it. We can remember when How You Remind Me which ended the main set, was everywhere on the radio. We can recall singing in the car to Photograph or seeing the band live for the first, fifth, or twelfth time. It’s comfortable – and that is not at all a bad thing. Many of the biggest bands on earth have followed the same formula, because with the right combination it works.
If there is one aspect to be critical of, the show was brutally short at around75 minutes. With ticket prices being expensive for arena shows and a big catalogue of songs there is no reason for a band the level of Nickelback to not play at least 2 hours. Classic songs like Never Again or playing more than one song off their most recent album would have taken the show from great to extraordinary.
While it wasn’t groundbreaking, it was a straight up rock show. For 17,000people, that was exactly what they wanted.
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Contributor Jason Clevett |
Person Nickelback |
Topic Concert Review | Calgary Stampede |
