Nickelback Allstate Arena Review
Saturday, March 3, 2007
By Aaron Keker
ALLSTATE ARENA, Rosemont – Last night Nickelback played for a sold out arena at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL.
The night started out with a performance by Breaking Benjamin and was followed by Three Days Grace. After Three Days Grace played, the crowd cheered them off the stage.
Approximately fifteen minutes later, the lights dimmed and the crowd began to cheer extremely loud awaiting the arrival of Chad Kroeger and the guys from Nickelback.
All of a sudden we heard some pyrotechnics and the first verse to “Animals” from All The Right Reasons, “I, I’m driving black on black.”
After “Animal” from All The Right Reasons, Nickelback sang “Woke Up This Morning” from Silver Side Up. After “Woke Up This Morning” the crowd began to cheer profusely.
Then Ryan Peake was given an acoustic guitar and Chad Kroeger talked about the next song being about friends. Everyone knew what song was being played. “Photograph” from All The Right Reasons. Everyone in the arena was singing along with Chad Kroeger and Ryan Peake as “Photograph” was played semi-acoustically. After “Because of You” from The Long Road, Nickelback played another hit song from All The Right Reasons.
Chad Kroeger said, “This song is for the ladies” and he started into the first verse “this time, this place” of Far Away from All The Right Reasons. Once again, the entire arena was singing Far Away with Chad Kroeger. Timmy Dawson assisted Nickelback with playing Far Away semi-acoustically.
After “Far Away,” Nickelback played an Elton John rendition of “Saturday Night’s Allright for Fighting” from Elton John: Greatest Hits. During Nickelback’s rendition, an individual threw what appeared to be a towel on the stage. The next song Nickelback played was their current hit.
Nickelback played “If Everyone Cared” from All The Right Reasons. The crowd cheered extremely loud after the song. I heard several individuals shouting Rockstar from All The Right Reasons.
After Nickelback sang Never Again from Silver Side Up, they played semi-acoustically Savin’ Me from All The Right Reasons and Someday from The Long Road. During Savin’ Me, Timmy Dawson switched between piano and guitar. Once again the crowd sang along and cheered profusely after each one of these songs ended.
One song later, Nickelback sang “How You Remind Me” from Silver Side Up. Chad Kroeger said, “This song is what put Nickelback on the map!” Nickelback ended the concert with “Too Bad” from Silver Side Up that had a pyrotechnic conclusion.
When Nickelback walked off the stage there was a roaring encore with cell phone lights going all over the stadium. The roars became louder and louder until Nickelback finally came back on stage.
They played semi-acoustically “Rockstar” from All The Right Reasons with the crowd singing along and closed the concert with “Figured You Out” from The Long Road. As “Figured You Out” was coming to a conclusion their pyrotechnics were going off crazily.
So, what is my final opinion of the show?
From the pyrotechnic explosions to the arena singalongs, the entire show was amazing. The sold out arena came, heard and enjoyed some awesome rock and roll by Nickelback. “Far Away,” “Savin’ Me,” “Someday” and “Rockstar” was played awesome semi-acoustically. One of the coolest things, besides the music that night, was Timmy Dawson switching back and forth between piano and acoustic guitar on “Savin’ Me.” Nickelback are one of the bands that will be around for more years to come. In fact, I am looking forward to seeing Nickelback the next time they are in the Chicagoland area. Hopefully, this time my executive producer and I will be able to meet and greet with Nickelback.
In the meantime, if you have never heard of Nickelback’s music, check out their website at www.nickelback.com or their Myspace page at www.myspace.com/nickelback. After that research and you still would like to purchase their album, you can pick it up at any music store or iTunes, etc. If you can afford to splurge on import albums, I would recommend purchasing Nickelback’s import albums at www.eil.com.
Finally, I would like to congratulate Nickelback on finally getting recognition for their music by winning The Billboard Music Awards for Rock Album of the Year, Duo/Group of the Year and Hot 100 Artists-Duo/Group. Guys you deserve it!
Here is the Chicago set list:
(1) “Animals”
(2) “Woke Up This Morning”
(3) “Photograph”
(4) “Because of You”
(5) “Far Away”
(6) “Saturday Night Allright for Fighting”
(7) “If Everyone Cared”
(8) “Never Again”
(9) “Savin’ Me”
(10) “Someday”
(11) “Side of a Bullet”
(12) “How You Remind Me”
(13) “Too Bad”
(14) “Rockstar”
(15) “Figured You Out”
