1st Concert of the Season

Went to see NICKELBACK last night in Manchester. It was a fun show. Trapt and Chevelle opened for them, and Trapt was WAY better (in my opinion). Chevelle is the kind of band that has good music and a good singer, but they don't go together - their music is very Metallica/Megadeth-like but then the singer starts, it just doesn't work, plus you can't understand one work of what he sings and screams a lot. Unfortunately, neither band did a good job warming up the crowd - which is what opening bands are supposed to do. Finally, Nickelback came on about 10 pm and played until about 11:30. Set list follows:

Animals
Woke Up This Morning
Photograph
Leader of Men (which Chad informed us he wrote while out of his mind on 'shrooms)
Someday (extended with guitar and drum bit)
medley of rifs from the Curb album
Never Again
Savin' Me
Side of a Bullet (very nice video tribute to Dimebag Darrel)
drum solo - AWESOME!
Follow You Home (Chad changed one of the lines in the last chorus to Duchess of Manchester - on the album it is Duchess of Detroit)
How You Remind Me (crowd did a fairly good job singing along)
Too Bad

encore:
Rockstar (Chad and Ryan playing acoustic)
Figured You Out (crowd also did well singing along to Mike)

It was the last show of this leg of the tour and now they have a break until the end of April when they go to Australia. They have been touring pretty much for the past month with sometimes a few days, sometimes no days between shows and you could tell. Chad's voice was very tired although he still was able to pull off the songs, he just sounded a bit more gravelly (is that a real word?) than usual. I think all the guys were happy to be playing, but mostly happy because they were finally going to get a break.

The pyro at the show was amazing - lots of flames, fireworks falling from the ceiling, sparks everywhere. Everytime I am at a show with pyro, I am amazed that the people on stage just don't spontaneously combust or melt into nothing because we can feel the heat half-way back from the stage so they must just sweat like crazy up there.

I have only seen Nickelback once before (I think it was in 2001 after Silver Side Up came out) in Providence at the Prov. Performing Arts Center. It was a GREAT show - it was their first "major" tour and they had so much energy, sounded phenomenal and really solidified me as a fan. It was nice to see that Chad and Ryan have learned to share the stage and play off each other for a good show. Mike (bass) still doesn't do much, but the new drummer (Daniel Adair, formally of 3 Doors Down) was amazing as proven by his rockin' drum solo, his set moved out to the middle of the stage and he pounded for about 15 minutes.

It was funny when Chad introduced that they were going to play a medley from the Curb album (their first album) and practically no one knew what he was talking about. I thought it was great though. I know there are some people who think Nickelback sucks and all their songs sound the same, but I would like to differ and say there is nothing wrong with writing a hit song that is catchy and has good music, singing and lyrics behind it. And, not all their songs sound the same.

The crowd was amazing - there were very young kids there (about 7 yrs old I would guess) to the oldish (about 60s) crowd. Not as amazing at an Aerosmith show, but I was surprised at how many yound kids were there.

All in all, it was a fun night, and considering it is probably going to be my only concert this year, I am glad we went.

I also want to send a message out to Steven Tyler who is having throat surgery sometime soon - take care Steven!

3 days till OPENING DAY!!!!