Nickelback have the misfortune of being labelled as somewhat ‘naff’, to want a better word. Maybe it’s because half their audience consists of beefy long-distance lorry drivers, lanky blokes with long, frizzy hair and leather-clad women on the wrong side of 30. It could also be due to the music press’ laziness to make the four-piece from Vancouver their favourite scapegoat. Pin the tail on the donkey? Why? We’ve got Chad Kroeger now. The man don’t give a shit, though.

Tonight’s a one-off low-key show in support of a new single, new album and with a new band-member. The Kroeger brothers (Chad and Mike) and guitarist Ryan Peake are joined by Daniel Adair, formerly the drummer of 3 Doors Down who was only recruited in January this year following the dismissal of Ryan ‘Nik’ Vikedal.

A brief moment of bewilderment ensues when Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ booms through the stacks of speakers with Chad Kroeger and his axe-wielding buddies standing aloft on the clumsy looking pyramid-like scaffolding set. See, Canadians do have a sense of humour.

Kicking off with the raucous ‘Flat On The Floor’ from their last LP, The Long Road, the only piece missing tonight from the Nickelback jigsaw are the pyrotechnics that would expectedly be blasted out. Perhaps such things would infringe the health and safety policy of the Empire. What we do get is a small podium on either side of the stage allowing the walking band members to climb on freely, which Chad relishes in, thrusting out guitar solos with a contingent of females returning the favour by dampening their knickers. 

Previewing new material mixed with old favourites, Nickelback charge through the pick of the bunch with ‘Someday’, ‘Too Bad’, ‘Never Again’ and yes, ‘How You Remind Me’, which thankfully they’ve realised sounds stale as an encore after all these years. New single ‘Photograph’ slows the pace down, an autobiographical and upbeat rock ballad, indicating a change from the bitterness and anger Chad usually spits.

He’s in high spirits tonight, which is nothing new but even he didn’t expect the power to cut out twice after the first riff of ‘Because Of You’. Promising to give every punter their cash back if it happened again, a third attempt proves to be lucky.

Signing off with what Chad describes as “a dirty little number”, ‘Figured You Out’ seals a somewhat surreal set not particularly with its lyrics of “I like your pants around your feet…I like the dirt that’s on your knees…I like the way you say ‘please’…I like the white stains on your dress…I like my hands around your neck”. Cringe? No way. This is proper ‘Cock rock’. At its finest.
(4/5)

 

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