Nickelback

Nickelback presents Here and Now tour with special guest Bush, Seether, and My Darkest Days

Opening night for Nickleback started in Moline, IL and will run till the end of July across North America. While Nickleback gets a lot of unneeded hate from the music world, they know how to crank out the hits and put on one the best live shows out there, featuring a solid lineup of opening bands.

It was an early start time of 6pm featuring, My Darkest Days (who are on Chad Kroeger’s 604 record label) to kick off the show. Their newly released album, Sick and Twisted Affair got the crowd going with a very short setlist of about 4 songs that included their hit single, Casual Sex and ended with the party anthem, Porn Star Dancing. Being the first band up is always a challenge, but MDD set the table perfect for the rest of the night. Be sure to come out early and catch this exciting young band. You can check out their website at www.mydarkestdays.com

With a very quick turnaround time of about 5 minutes, Seether came on next. This tour fits Seether perfect, allowing them to showcase their talent and music that seems to fit the crowd perfect as they sang along with all the songs. Shaun Morgan has one of the greatest voices in rock and his guitar playing is just as tight to go along with Dale Stewart on Bass and John Humphrey on drums. They played hits, Tonight and Country Song off their last album, Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray as well as fan favorite, Broken. The set ended with a killer version of Remedy. You can check out Seether’s website at www.seether.com

Up next was Bush, who have been rejuvenated since their last album, The Sea of Memories and touring since last year. Gavin Rossdale has all the swagger and personality needed in a front man to go along with a great voice. Long time member, Robin Goodridge on drums, Chris Traynor on guitar, and Corey Britz on Bass round out the band. Opening with Machinehead got fans, who might have forgotten about Bush, right into it as Rossdale went on top of the speakers in front of the stage to play for the fans as they reached out for him. Playing only one new song, The Sound of Winter and a cover song by the Beatles, Come Together, the rest of the set was filled with their biggest hits. When they played Everything Zen, the band was able to show off their musical skills and Traynor and Rossdale joined back to back as they leaned on each other to tear into each note. At one point in the song, Rossdale came onto the speakers and played his guitar as if it was possessed as he shook his guitar uncontrollably, reminding me of when Santana played at Woodstock.

Having seen Bush last year I was glad to see the energy they had back then and it was still as strong now as they finished the night with Little Things, Glycerine, and Comedown. Nickelback has outdone themselves with having such a solid lineup of openers but Bush just takes to such a higher level.

After about 30 minutes, it was time for Nickleback to come on - start time was at 9pm and they played for over 1½ hours. If you have never been to a live show, just know it’s a party atmosphere where fans have a great time, and the guys in the band do the same. Having been around for over 15 years and selling over 50 million records, they have arena touring down pact. But with anything, you can always expect surprises on the first night of a huge tour, but Kroeger was able to laugh them off and keep the party rolling.

Opening with This Means War off the new album, Here and Now got the fans right into it, with pyro exploding and bursts of flames going off in the background; you could not help but get pumped. They have some of the best lighting I have seen for a concert event. My hat goes off to the production crew for putting together such a massive stage and props - like the small floating stage that has the member flying as the stage spins around giving a view for all the fans. The night was filled with all their hits like Something in Your Mouth, Never Again, and Photograph, giving the fans plenty of chances to sing along as they did with Far Away. As the floating platform came to rest on the stage, they played their new song, Bottoms Up, as they floated over the crowd making stops at different spots to where fans could almost touch the stage. It made a final stop in the middle of the arena as they played an acoustic version of Rockstar, Someday; at this point, the floating stage made its way back as they played Animals.

Once back on the big stage, Kroeger went to the side of the stage where the VIP tables were and scared one of the ladies who was too busy texting as she jumped out of her seat. He joked around with her and told the crowd he needed a little break because he was not in touring condition yet, that of which you could never tell.

As they played two more new songs, Lullaby and When We Stand Together, in which Kroeger missed his lighting mark and was singing in the dark, he once again joked about knocking the rust off. Ryan Peake showed off amazing skills on the guitar, along with bass player, Mike Kroeger but the star of the night was drummer, Daniel Adair who had his moment with his insane drum solo - producing chest pounding bass to go along with a very metal sounding double - bass sounding drum, all out of a single drum head.

They ended the night with, How You Remind Me and Burn It to the Ground, which started with the road crew throwing out cups of beer to the crowd and shooting out t-shirts and ended with huge plumes of flames shooting up. As the lights dimmed, the crowd knew it was time for the encore which was Gotta Be Somebody and Figured You Out that ended with a bang as everything was set off.

Nickelback will be heading back to Chicago and Milwaukee in May so be sure to go check them out. With such a solid line up and an amazing show put on by the guys, you can’t find a better tour out there at this time.

You can check out their website at www.nickelback.com for all the latest info.

All Photos provided by Peter Lizano