Nickelback, Monster Truck @ Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne (15/05/2015)
Nickelback brought their “No Fixed Address” tour to Melbourne on Friday night and their devoted fans lapped up every minute of it. With a hit heavy setlist, the audience was treated to a good old fashioned rock show – entertaining banter, great visuals, high quality musicianship and infectious songs!
Support act and fellow Canadians, Monster Truck, provided an energetic, heavy rock warm up for the crowd. This up and coming band is already a Juno Award winner (Canada’s Grammys if you like) and they were well received by the rock music loving audience. Nickelback’s radio friendly heavy rock sound has resulted in them selling millions of albums around the world. However they are also great live party band and they had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand. |
Tracks from the latest album (No Fixed Address) went over a treat. Album opener Million Miles an Hour was also the in-your-face show opener, and the energy levels really didn’t let up from that first moment. The other new track that worked well in the live setting was crowd participation number Edge of a Revolution.
The bulk of the set was devoted to their back catalogue, and you were reminded of just how big an impact Nickelback have had on commercial radio, as song after familiar song was rocked out to a crowd ready to sing along with them all. Photograph, Someday, Too Bad, Rockstar, When We Stand Together, Figured You Out, Gotta Be Somebody, Far Away, Animals, and the song that kicked their career in to superstar status, How You Remind Me, were all great. There was no way that even the most casual of fans could not have grinned and sung their head off. Throw in a sing-a-long acoustic cover of the Eagle’s Hotel California, lead singer Chad Kroeger’s solo hit from the Spiderman soundtrack, Hero, and a piece of Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick (shout out to drummer Daniel Adair who laid on his best John Bonham pounding and bass player Mike Kroeger who provided punchy guitar riffs for this number), and quite simply you have yourself a great night out.
The night did consist of flat out rock but there were subtle variations with a touch of funk, metal and country rock blending with what was largely a great AC/DC like rock show. The encore saw the band trot out another energetic cover (Foo Fighter’s Everlong, sung by guitarist Ryan Peake) before finishing up with Burn It to the Ground which was both musically and visually stunning.
At the end of the evening, as the crowd left the arena, there was a feeling of exhilaration in the air. It rocked, it was fun, it was entertaining and it was great to be there! Cheers Nickelback!
Darren Parker
The bulk of the set was devoted to their back catalogue, and you were reminded of just how big an impact Nickelback have had on commercial radio, as song after familiar song was rocked out to a crowd ready to sing along with them all. Photograph, Someday, Too Bad, Rockstar, When We Stand Together, Figured You Out, Gotta Be Somebody, Far Away, Animals, and the song that kicked their career in to superstar status, How You Remind Me, were all great. There was no way that even the most casual of fans could not have grinned and sung their head off. Throw in a sing-a-long acoustic cover of the Eagle’s Hotel California, lead singer Chad Kroeger’s solo hit from the Spiderman soundtrack, Hero, and a piece of Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick (shout out to drummer Daniel Adair who laid on his best John Bonham pounding and bass player Mike Kroeger who provided punchy guitar riffs for this number), and quite simply you have yourself a great night out.
The night did consist of flat out rock but there were subtle variations with a touch of funk, metal and country rock blending with what was largely a great AC/DC like rock show. The encore saw the band trot out another energetic cover (Foo Fighter’s Everlong, sung by guitarist Ryan Peake) before finishing up with Burn It to the Ground which was both musically and visually stunning.
At the end of the evening, as the crowd left the arena, there was a feeling of exhilaration in the air. It rocked, it was fun, it was entertaining and it was great to be there! Cheers Nickelback!
Darren Parker