Nickelback - Glasgow - Hydro - November 2013
I first heard of Nickelback in Australia back in 2001 where their song ‘How you remind me’ was a huge hit. Such was my liking of the song I treated myself to the album Silver Side Up. I enjoyed the album and in particular the song Never Again. On my return to Scotland I noticed Nickelback were playing the Barrowland and whilst I did not get tickets the scathing review of the gig by Billy Sloan in left me wondering .Since then, I have added the albums All the Right Reasons, Dark Horse and Here and Now to my CD collection and when I read the band were doing a Greatest Hits tour decided this would be an opportunity to finally check the band out for myself.
On onto the gig... after a dynamic support slot by Skillet (Skillet photos here), there was a short void filled by many rock classics being played over the PA system. During this time, a gig-goer turned to my mate Colin and I and asked if we had been to see Nickelback before. Neither of us had and she informed us we were going to be in for a “good one” tonight. Seconds later Nickelback took to the stage and wasted no time cranking up the audience by opening their set with the rockin ‘Animals’ from All the Right Reasons. This was followed by ‘Woke Up This Morning’ and ‘Photograph with the band then taking it up a notch again with one of my own favourites ‘Something in Your Mouth’.
Being promoted as Greatest Hits tour to coincide with the release of Best of: Volume 1 the set included many of the big hits from the back-catalogue including ‘Too Bad’ and ‘Someday’ as well as many of the big international hits including ‘If Today Was Your Last Day’ ‘When We Stand Together’ and ‘Gotta Be Somebody’.
The introduction of the massive UK hit ‘Rockstar’ resulted in a huge sing-a-long, with front-man Chad Kroeger leaving many of the vocals to the vibrant crowd who willingly obliged. Other highlights included the mysterious ‘Timmy’ joining the band on-stage on numerous occasions with the crowd chanting his name with increasing intensity each time he returned. Chad joked that maybe the next tour would be “Timmy featuring Nickelback”. Chad, bassist brother Mike and guitarist/keyboardist/singer Ryan Peake worked the stage well engaging and entertaining the audience throughout and with the many guitar changes accompanying the set there was no let up. Drummer Daniel Adair treated the crowd to a memorable solo and the concert delivered a first for me when Chad stopped the show to give a potential groom in the audience the chance to propose to “Katie”. Thankfully, Katie said “Yes” and Chad and Ryan toasted the couple with one of the many shots they enjoyed throughout the set.
Towards the end of the end of the pre-encore set the band played another favourite of mine ‘Figured You Out’ and then unleashed the epic ‘How You Remind Me’ and then left the crowd in a frenzy returning from a brief break to chants from the audience of “Here we, Here we, Here we f**king go”. Chad and the band appeared to enjoy this Scottish show of appreciation throughout the gig and temporarily delayed their final songs as they joined the crowd in a rendition of “Here we”. The high-energy finale included Ryan taking leading vocals on a fantastic version of the Elton John classic ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’. Fittingly, Chad then brought the show to the close with the aptly titled ‘Burn It to the Ground’.
Leaving the Hydro my mate Colin (a Hydro virgin) commented he thought the Hydro was in a different league to the SECC and we both agreed should Nickelback or ‘Timmy featuring Nickelback’ be back in town then we would most definitely be attending.
I first heard of Nickelback in Australia back in 2001 where their song ‘How you remind me’ was a huge hit. Such was my liking of the song I treated myself to the album Silver Side Up. I enjoyed the album and in particular the song Never Again. On my return to Scotland I noticed Nickelback were playing the Barrowland and whilst I did not get tickets the scathing review of the gig by Billy Sloan in left me wondering .Since then, I have added the albums All the Right Reasons, Dark Horse and Here and Now to my CD collection and when I read the band were doing a Greatest Hits tour decided this would be an opportunity to finally check the band out for myself.
On onto the gig... after a dynamic support slot by Skillet (Skillet photos here), there was a short void filled by many rock classics being played over the PA system. During this time, a gig-goer turned to my mate Colin and I and asked if we had been to see Nickelback before. Neither of us had and she informed us we were going to be in for a “good one” tonight. Seconds later Nickelback took to the stage and wasted no time cranking up the audience by opening their set with the rockin ‘Animals’ from All the Right Reasons. This was followed by ‘Woke Up This Morning’ and ‘Photograph with the band then taking it up a notch again with one of my own favourites ‘Something in Your Mouth’.
Being promoted as Greatest Hits tour to coincide with the release of Best of: Volume 1 the set included many of the big hits from the back-catalogue including ‘Too Bad’ and ‘Someday’ as well as many of the big international hits including ‘If Today Was Your Last Day’ ‘When We Stand Together’ and ‘Gotta Be Somebody’.
The introduction of the massive UK hit ‘Rockstar’ resulted in a huge sing-a-long, with front-man Chad Kroeger leaving many of the vocals to the vibrant crowd who willingly obliged. Other highlights included the mysterious ‘Timmy’ joining the band on-stage on numerous occasions with the crowd chanting his name with increasing intensity each time he returned. Chad joked that maybe the next tour would be “Timmy featuring Nickelback”. Chad, bassist brother Mike and guitarist/keyboardist/singer Ryan Peake worked the stage well engaging and entertaining the audience throughout and with the many guitar changes accompanying the set there was no let up. Drummer Daniel Adair treated the crowd to a memorable solo and the concert delivered a first for me when Chad stopped the show to give a potential groom in the audience the chance to propose to “Katie”. Thankfully, Katie said “Yes” and Chad and Ryan toasted the couple with one of the many shots they enjoyed throughout the set.
Towards the end of the end of the pre-encore set the band played another favourite of mine ‘Figured You Out’ and then unleashed the epic ‘How You Remind Me’ and then left the crowd in a frenzy returning from a brief break to chants from the audience of “Here we, Here we, Here we f**king go”. Chad and the band appeared to enjoy this Scottish show of appreciation throughout the gig and temporarily delayed their final songs as they joined the crowd in a rendition of “Here we”. The high-energy finale included Ryan taking leading vocals on a fantastic version of the Elton John classic ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’. Fittingly, Chad then brought the show to the close with the aptly titled ‘Burn It to the Ground’.
Leaving the Hydro my mate Colin (a Hydro virgin) commented he thought the Hydro was in a different league to the SECC and we both agreed should Nickelback or ‘Timmy featuring Nickelback’ be back in town then we would most definitely be attending.