Friday
Jun082012
Nickelback In Houston -- Live Review
Friday, June 8, 2012 at 12:01AM 
At the tail end of my U.S. trip, I flew in to Houston to see Nickelback. I bought a VIP ticket, which meant early entry, so I could get to the barrier. When I posted on my Facebook about going to Rock on the Range, lots of people were positive. When I mentioned Nickelback, they said "Who are you, and what did you do with Christian?" More on this later.
The opening band was My Darkest Days and they were pretty good. Second up was Skillet, perhaps the second worst live band I have seen (after Down). Bush were OK, although I did not know their songs.
Finally, it was time for Nickelback. Their stage show is immense. They have tons of pyro, moving walkways on the sides of the stage, and a big round stage that they go up in over the crowd for four songs, which rotates. They played for 90 minutes and although I have all their CDs, I was still surprised at how many songs I knew. Although I've been to a lot of shows, I can't think of one that had as many flames, screens, and other effects. I'm sure their detractors would say this is to hide the lack of substance, but I'd say it's in keeping with who they are, which is a really good arena rock band.
I was trying to work out why it is that people hate them so much. When challenged, a lot of the people on my Facebook page admitted they have never even heard them. In the show, some guy was even abusing singer Chad Kroeger from the seats. Why even go to a show you hate? Looking around me, I saw a lot more girls than I would expect to see near the barrier of a show. And then I realised: Nickelback are the Poison of their age! They play good, fun arena rock. They are good at what they do. They are very entertaining and certainly slick. Girls like them. Therefore, the guys hate them without even listening in. But, there's a twist. Poison continued to do well on summer tours until Bret Michaels decided to run their integrity in to the ground with Rock of Love. I wonder if this bodes well for the future of Nickelback? Certainly, I would see them again in a heartbeat. They put on a great, fun show, and I had a great evening with them. And yes, I got right to the very front.
Reader Comments (36)
Good for you Metalboy! For knowing all those Canadian rockers. I knew about half of them. My hat's off to you.
I'd say my fave Canadian band is Ana Black (as I said, check out "Sex Ride Suicide" on YouTube -- Thanks, Chris, if yer readin', for turnin' me onto 'em). I think Ace Steele has said he used to see 'em play on The Sunset Strip back in the day. Lorraine (indy) and Brighton Rock are also killer (Check out their version of Clapton's "Cocaine"!), along with all of the others listed.
I've been at the Hair Metal CD collecting since they invented the format (CDs, not Hair Metal, hahaha!!!) but it's only over the last five years that I've really gotten into it beyond the boundaries into which Christian and many others have boxed themselves. Ask Allyson. She's totally onto it AND into it. This site got me SERIOUSLY into collecting Hair Metal more and more with Allyson's every post about a killer band I'd never heard of (old AND new) and that's what lead to me not only wanting to know everything but WANTING everything.
I'm really just eggin' ya on, Christian to bust out and really get into the REAL sh*t! There's so much out there you'll totally think is killer when you discover it! Go to heavyharmonies.com and begin unearthing the treasures now. You owe it to yourself because you have such a passion for the music!
Plus, they got a whole separate sister site devoted to Christian Metal ya just gotta check out! I am amazed at the amount of incredible 80's and Early 90's Christian Metal there is and a lot of it is on that site. There's a direct link to it in the upper right hand corner of the homepage of heavyharmonies.com.
But before y'all go on heavyharmonies.com...
Go back 2 Posts on here and check out The Cheap Trick Hair Metal All Star Jam! What a mind blower! Even though these guys are just sloppily jammin' out Hard Rock version of Golden Oldies, it blows away anything Nickeljoke ever did (except, of course, "Animals".
What's with you people, anyway? All these comments debating over Nicklef*ck, one of The Lowest Common Denominations in Rock History, when ya could be going' back to one of The Greatest Moments in Hair Metal History of many of our old faves jammin' together in video footage that really hasn't been seen since 1988. Cheap Trick is headed to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Nickleback is not.
p.s. And Christian! Though I think it's fabulous you've got 3,000+ CDs, you'll never touch me unless you start gettin' REALLY serious about collecting. I've got nearly 12,000+ CDs, all genres, of which I'd say over 7,000 are all Hard Rock and Metal from the 60's, 70's, 80's and Early 90's. I do keep up with the new stuff, too, but mostly in the form of MP3s, unfortunately. Happy Hunting, Bro!
p.s.s.t. Even tho I come off like a pompous know-it-all, the truth is, I've barely scratched th surface. Certainly, there are many of you who REALLY have a much BROADER knowledge of Hair Metal -- particularly regarding Glam Metal -- Allyson, Ace Steele, Dana Strum (based on two conversations I had with him) and certainly even more so: the Hardcore Indy Traders I've encountered over he last couple of years who damn near know everything -- Major Label, Indy Label and No Label and everything in between!
My list a few comments back on the thread for this post bear out there are INCREDIBLE bands from Canada, just as there are from anywhere else.
You want REAL Kick-A*s Rock and Roll? Go back a couple of posts to Al's thing on Cheap Trick's Hair Metal Jam from 1988. Almost all the dudes on stage -- Nielsen & Co., Coverdale, Neil, Lee, Sarzo, Sambora, etc., have more Kick-A*sedness in their pinkies, even while they're just half-a*sedly runnin' through covers of Golden Oldies, than most bands, especially Generock bands like Nicklebore, have on their "best" day playin' their totally uninspired originals.
On another note - I was just listening to my 16 songs or so from Ana Black a few days ago. They were a pretty good live act also.
Of course, I'm now convinced it's all because Allyson mentioned my name in the post. Maybe I should just shut up and not comment anymore. That's it! I'm going to spare everyone until I start seeing a fair amount of comments about Al's post 2 posts back titled "Just Because This Is Awesome".
There, if ya ever want to hear from me again, ya better give your opinion back there, good or bad!
Rock-It! Yeah, I was headin' to Dewey for Kix, too, Bro! My bud's actually got a condo right on the beach 2 minutes walking distance from the Bottle & Cork! At least that's where I thought I was gonna be on the 12th until I got Pit Tix AND VIP Deck Passes for Scorps, that is -- My rationale in choosing Scorps is we might not see them ever again or not for awhile and chances are more than likely we can see Kix at least 525 more times, hahaha!!!
But if ya want to get together for a beer at Merriweather during Tesla opening for Scorps on the 12th, you better comment on Al's post two back on Cheap Trick & Bon Jovi!
p.s. C'mon Christian, here's your chance to show some of that brotherly love! What do YOU think about the Cheap Trick All Star Jam?! I ain't puttin' another comment on this site 'til I start seein' comments on THAT post! Now gimme some L-U-V, LUV!!! (New York Dolls reference -- a REAL Rock'n'Roll Band!!! Hullo? Hullo?!!!)
Addendum to last Metalboy! comment on this post:
"You could split it into two sites. One could be called 'Bring Back Prog' for all UNROCK bands like Rush, Maiden and Queensryche and another that I mentioned in another very recent post, 'Keep Modern Rock Alive' for UNROCK bands like Nickelcrap! But what do you do for your other crap like Midnite Oil? It's time to ROCK! Also, what you afraid of? You just can't go back and comment on Trick/Bon Jovi. I guess you really do want me out of the way so you can commandeer this site into a Non-Glam Metal site, maybe "Keep Mediocre Metal Around" for Sam Dun and Eddie Chump disciples like yourself."