Nickelback, the band that the press historically doesn’t want you to like, return to Birmingham in support of their first album in five years, ‘Get Rollin’’. And after a big run of dates in the US, there was a full house in the Utilita Arena to greet them, and boy did they, and the merch desks were very busy indeed. Kicking off with ‘San Quentin’ from the latest album, quite a heavy start, it was difficult to know which way this gig was going to go, as over the years they did get heavier. Not that it was a bad thing, but hardly the tunes you would hear on most radio stations. But most of the crowd tonight obviously knew them any way but to the few here tonight without that knowledge not to worry, they brough out the big guns of hit singles, ‘Someday’, ‘Photograph’, ‘Rockstar’ and ‘How You Remind Me’, which kept the crowd very happy and sore throated, with some very loud singing. It was obvious that Chad Kroeger and the gang were absolutely loving this night, even having a poke at the press, saying “after 20 years we’re still here”.

There was a nice little cover, if you can do a little cover of Oasis’s ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, performed with the support band, The Lottery Winners, which nearly raised the roof off. Kroeger laughing that, “now we have to compete with f***ing Oasis” – and they did not disappoint their fans. Nickelback never do to be honest, and sadly it was encore time with ‘Gotta Be Somebody’ and a rocking ‘Burn It To The Ground’. What a cracking gig, by a cracking band, press, like it or not.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe