Nickelback
November 5, 2014
House of Blues- Los Angeles, CA
It’s been three years since the last album, and the band that people love to hate are finally coming back to release their 8th album, No Fixed Address on November 17, 2014. If you haven’t guessed it already, that band is Nickelback a target and punch line to many jokes. Nickelback have been together for almost 20 years and have been made criticized since the beginning of their career for a “lack of creativity” and their “repetitiveness rather than innovative” style. But the 6 time Grammy Nominated, 12 time Juno winning, 2 time American Music Awards winning, 20 million Facebook fans band is more than just the punch-line of jokes and they proved themselves once again at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, CA on November 5, 2014.
The venue was packed to capacity around 1:00pm as anxious Nickelback fans, who believe it or not look just like you and me, awaited for the rockers to come out and perform a special, intimate set. Cameras floated above fans’ heads as the concert would stream live on Yahoo!. 30 minutes after the band was supposed to go 
on stage, a short film started to play on the House of Blues screen which covered the stage. It played snippets of Nickelback songs, new and old whilst listing all of the band’s accomplishments and awards. The video ended with the announcement and showing of the 2015 tour dates and the fans went wild as Los Angeles flashed on the screen. As the video ended, fans were more excited than ever. The screen lifted up and the four man group walked on stage, all smiles. They instantly went into Animals off of their 2005 release All The Right Reasons. Fans sang along to lead singer and guitarist, Chad Kroeger who constantly smiled into the crowd. Throughout the 14 song set, Nickelback did two live debuts of their songs, Edge of a Revolution and What Are You Waiting For. The songs were more hard rock than some of their others, which fans thoroughly enjoyed. Guitarist, Ryan Peake was also loving performing the new songs as he would aggressively strum his strings and sway with his guitar.
Kroeger would interact with the fans after almost every song the band performed. He encouraged them to drink and gave a shout-out to the ladies for dressing up and putting on their make-up early in the morning. The band continued their set, performing a majority of the songs from their 2005 release, All The Right Reasons as well as fan favorites including Rockstar, When We Stand Together, Photograph and set closer How You Remind Me.
The intimate show didn’t have the usual Nickelback stunts including great pyro and great lighting, but the stripped down performance was even better because fans could focus on the music more than the production. Yes, Nickelback will probably continue to be hated for really no good reason, but far more people enjoy their music than not enjoy it. The guys were all good sports throughout the show and were all smiling and enjoying every minute of it, almost as much as the fans enjoyed it, both live and watching the online stream. If I were you, I would stop following the pact of people hating Nickelback and actually listen to their music and watch their videos and check out a concert, because your opinion might change. But hey, that’s just my 5 cents.
Review by: Nicole Lemberg
Is Nickelback coming to your area? Find out below:
2/15 — Allentown, Pa. — PPL Center
2/16 — Manchester, N.H. — Verizon Wireless Arena
2/18 — Montreal, Quebec — Bell Centre
2/19 — Ottawa, Ontario — Canadian Tire Centre
2/21 — London, Ontario — Budweiser Gardens
2/22 — Toronto, Ontario — Air Canada Centre
2/24 — Grand Rapids, Mich. — Van Andel Arena
2/25 — Louisville, Ky. — KFC Yum! Center
2/27 — Columbus, Ohio — Nationwide Arena
2/28 — Moline, Ill. — iWireless Center
3/2 — Kansas City, Mo. — Sprint Center
3/3 — Sioux Falls, Iowa — Denny Sanford Premier Center
3/5 — Omaha, Neb. — CenturyLink Center
3/6 — Minneapolis, Minn. — Target Center
3/8 — Winnipeg, Manitoba — MTS Centre
3/10 — Saskatoon, Saskatchewan — Sasktel Centre
3/12 — Calgary, Alberta — Scotiabank Saddledome
3/13 — Edmonton, Alberta — Rexall Place
3/15 — Vancouver, British Columbia — Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
3/22 — Nashville, Tenn. — Bridgestone Arena
3/24 — Charleston, S.C. — N. Charleston Coliseum
3/25 — Jacksonville, Fla. — Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
3/27 — Tampa, Fla. — MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
3/28 — West Palm Beach, Fla. — Cruzan Amphitheatre
4/1 — Houston, Texas — Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
4/3 — Dallas, Texas — Gexa Energy Pavilion
4/4 — Austin, Texas — Austin360 Amphitheater
4/7 — Tulsa, Okla. — BOK Center
6/19 — Portland, Ore. –Sleep Country Amphitheater
6/20 — George, Wash. — The Gorge
6/23 — Wheatland, Calif. — Sleep Train Amphitheatre
6/24 — Mountain View, Calif. — Shoreline Amphitheatre
6/26 — Irvine, Calif. — Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
6/27 — San Diego, Calif. — Sleep Train Amphitheatre
6/30 — Albuquerque, N.M. — Isleta Amphitheater
7/1 — Phoenix, Ariz. — Ak-Chin Pavilion
7/3 — Las Vegas, Nev. — Mandalay Bay Events Center
7/5 — Salt Lake City, Utah — USANA Amphitheatre
7/7 — Denver, Colo. — Red Rocks Amphitheatre
7/10 — Tinley Park, Ill. — First Midwest Bank Amphitheater
7/11 — Indianapolis, Ind. — Klipsch Music Center
7/29 — St Louis, Mo. — Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7/31 — Cincinnati, Ohio — Riverbend Music Center
8/1 — Clarkston, Mich. — DTE Energy Music Theatre
8/4 — Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio — Blossom Music Center
8/5 — Toronto, Ontario — Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
8/7 — Darien Lake, N.Y. — Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
8/8 — Hershey, Pa. — Hershey Park Stadium
8/11 — Saratoga Springs, N.Y. — Saratoga Performing Arts Center
8/12 — Burgettstown, Pa. — First Niagara Pavilion
8/14 — Wantagh, N.Y. — Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
8/15 — Uncasville, Conn. — Mohegan Arena
8/18 — Mansfield, Mass. — Xfinity Center
8/19 — Bangor, Maine — Waterfront Park
8/21 — Holmdel, N.J. — P.N.C. Bank Arts Center
8/22 — Camden, N.J. — Susquehanna Bank Center
8/25 — Bristow, Va. — Jiffy Lube Live
8/26 — Virginia Beach, Va. — Farm Bureau Live
8/28 — Charlotte, N.C. — PNC Music Pavilion
8/29 — Atlanta, Ga. — Aarons Amphitheatre at Lakewood
Nickelback
