Nickelback w/ Seether and Saving Abel
4-7-09
By: Joe Toeben
Being that this is my second time seeing Nickelback live I can’t help but assume that I am going to be more critical in reviewing them. Let it be known early in this review that I was only there to see Seether, one of my favorite bands. I got there late so I missed about half of Saving Abel’s set but they closed with the radio friendly “Addicted” that we have all heard and I can say for my sake, are sick of hearing over and over again. Saving Abel from what I have heard and seen is your generic, regular mainstream rock band, a chip off the block of Nickelback if you will. They play music that is similar to Nickelback, Papa Roach and Buckcherry. Their sound ranges from the ballad of “18 Days” to their big hit “Addicted” and finish off nicely with a hard rocking hit in “New Tattoo.” The only problem with this band is that they are a mainstream rock band but when they play live I think somewhere inside they think they are playing heavy metal because I haven’t see people jump around like that since I saw AC/DC a while ago. Nice job on picking the opening band but next was the one I was there for, Seether. Seether is a four piece collective that originally hailed from South Africa.
Formerly known as Saron Gas, Seether was signed by Wind-Up Records and made their move to America soon after. They were asked by their record label to change their name because Saron Gas was too similar to the deadly but never used Sarin Gas of World War II. Seether has been one of my favorite bands since I discovered them a number of years ago. I’d say that my love for them came from their post-grunge sound mixed with the metal I was listening to at the time. Heart wrenching lyrics, heavy guitar work and superb drumming made this one of my favorite bands ever. Being that Seether was the second act of the night I knew I was only in for a 5 or 6 song set tonight. They played their most charted songs such as “Breakdown”, “Fake It”, and the famous “Broken” which was originally a duet with Amy Lee Evanescence. They also played their cover of the Wham! song “Careless Whisper” which even for fans that did not know who George Michael is could still enjoy the song. The best song in their set in my opinion was “Rise About This” which is a song written and later dedicated to front man Shaun Morgan’s deceased brother, Eugene Welgemoed who committed suicide about 3 months before “Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces was released”. Troy McLawhorn did a fantastic job taking over on lead guitar after Seether’s former lead guitarist Pat Callahan left the band due to unknown reasons. Seether put on a great pre-show for Nickelback as the main band. Shaun and the gang left with “Fake It” and after Shaun swung his guitar a few times and ended up throwing it into the microphone stand the stage went black.
Ah Nickelback, at last you are here to entertain us. There are a lot of people in this world that love Nickelback and then the rest hate them. A slogan I have heard many times is either you love ‘em or you hate ‘em. Nickelback is a band that was born to write catchy, generic rock songs. Nothing they write is astounding but it’s not terribly unbearable either. They write songs that they know will chart on the radio and that is their prerogative. They have always been known for their rowdy, hard rocking party music with that soft side of caring and heartbreak when you’re looking for it. Their sound ranges from the hardest rock you’ll ever hear in “Side Of A Bullet,” “Because Of You” and the most notable new single “Burn It To The Ground” to their pop rock imitation in “Something In Your Mouth”, “Animals” and “Rockstar.” Along with these songs they also performed their oh so known ballads of “If Everyone Cared”, “Gotta Be Somebody” and “Savin’ Me.” They even venture to a new but familiar pasture of country rock with the album closer on “Dark Horse” with the song “This Afternoon” which is essentially a song about being a bum and getting drunk when you have nothing better to do.
This brings me to the atmosphere of the concert itself. Amidst the pot smoke lingering in the air, Chad Kroeger, Nickelback’s front man managed to get a mother to hand her kid over to the security guard so he could sit on stage with the entire band while they sang their song “Rockstar.” But before that he took a few minutes to play funny man again, just like he does at every show he performs. He cracked a few jokes about Seether’s front man and his supposed activities at a bar during the first leg of their tour. The rest of his jokes relied on his infatuation with ice cold beer. During the show he mentioned how much he’d like an ice cold beer until he got one towards the end of the show. He continued to make jokes about the little boy going on tour with Nickelback, how he could open beers for “Uncle Chad” as he dubbed himself, after saying that his drinking and partying were the reason he couldn’t have kids because they would all get taken away.
Nickelback had a good selection of their songs to play but it still needed some zazz to it. When it was time to play the song “Too Bad”, one of their biggest hits, he asked all the fans to jump up during the chorus with their f*cking devil horns in the air (that’s the rock on hand sign to those of you who don’t know what I was referring to). It just stunned me that he needed to ask his fans to jump up and actually *gasp* god forbid get excited that they are seeing one of the biggest bands in the world perform right in front of them. My favorite song to see them rock out to was “Burn It To The Ground” which is one of the “heaviest” songs that they have ever written. All I got out of this concert was a repeat performance by Nickelback and a better understanding of what Seether is like to see live. I look forward to seeing Seether live again and I hope they will get to headline their own tour soon so I can see them and not have to cut the rest of the crap out. Worth $90? Seether’s performance was worth every penny but next time I am going to save my money for when Seether comes around by themselves, or with some decent supporting act.
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/nickelback
