Lori

Benchmark Blog 17: The Dark Horse Tour, April 2009

So a little over a month ago, I attended the Nickelback concert with my friend Kim.  Chris refused to go with me because he thinks Nickelback is overexposed.  While I don't disagree, I enjoy too many of their songs to not attend a concert.  Since then, I have been busy with all manner of things and have not had a chance to blog the experience.  So I apologize if my blog is incomplete in the review.

The Venue, Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena:

The last time that I had been here was for the Evanescence concert in October 2007.  The venue has not changed noticibly since then.  The drinks are still overpriced, but that is to be expected.  The floor area is large and has adequate stadium seating in an oval shape.  The stage was set-up with an extension into the audience, which Chad so crudely called his "p*nis stage".  I personally did not like this set-up, because I push to the front and when they move, I can't see them.  I have to watch them on the large screens or watch the drummer.  I do have to applaud their security.  The facility had signs posted about the dangers of moshing, but apparently that meant "No Moshing Allowed".  Before Nickelback came on, a girl was trying to push through closer.  She and her friend had previously tried to get in front of us before Seether, so her arguments were falling on deaf ears.  Kim kept quiet, but I mouthed off and this other woman and I were discussing her lies.  When Nickelback came on stage, this girl started moshing.  It made Kim nervous, so I swapped out places with her.  I was pushing this girl as she moshed to keep things under control.  Security spotlighted her and immediately began moving her forward to get her out.  As she is being moved to the rails, she spots me and pops me in the mouth.  Both my lips are immediately busted.  Security already has hold of her and is ejecting her from the stadium.  Kim says I had a gleam in my eye, but I refused to be ejected to retaliate. 

Venue Grade: A

Crowd:

I was really surprised by this crowd.  I attend concerts with people that have more areas of their bodies tatted and pierced than not, not to mention hair styles and colors and are definitely not natural.  I am quite aware of how to handle myself around potentially threatening people.  I have had my toes stepped on, been shoved during crowd surges, and accidentally bumped with elbows, etc.  Never been truly injured before though.  Kim was a little nervous about going without our husbands, but I assured her that Chris would not let me attend if there was any threat level.  We got there and the crowd was 70%+ women.  Kim and I immediately go, no threat level here.  There was a drunk chic that was over 50 and had obviously lived pretty hard.  Kim was ready to take her out, because she kept bumping her.  She also said, we need to get all these little 12-year olds out of the way.  I turn around and she goes to Kim, oh is she with you, I'm sorry.   I go, honey, I'm 32, not 12.  She didn't say much after that and we ended up moving away from her.  Several people tried to push through.  Kim chose to ignore them, of course I would engage them and tell them no.  I was completely shocked when I got punched in the mouth by one of the girls that I refused to let pass.  It was truly appalling that going to the "safe" concert is where I got in a confrontation that drew blood. For some reason, the older the crowdand tamer the band, the more danger there is apparently.  I understand that is counterintuitive, but it seems to be true.  The attendants are also much more rude. 

Crowd Grade: D 

Opening Act One, Saving Abel:

I love "Addicted" and "18 Days" and had listened to the CD a couple of times before this.  The first two songs, I did not recognize, but they were much harder than either of their radio hits.  The third song was "New Tatoo".  I recognized this one from the album and really enjoyed it.  It was even better than the album in concert.  They proceeded to play "Facedown", "Addicted", and "18 Days" between some of the other songs that I did not recognize.  The lead singer delivered on all the vocals.  Both guitarists were solid in their performances, as well.  They did a really great job and much more of a crowd turned out for them than what is usual for an opening act.  They did a good job of energizing the crowd.  This band has a lot of potential and needs a little polishing is all.  They are definitely worth seeing and may become a much better band with more practice. 

Grade: B+

Opening Act Two, Seether:

I have seen Seether before and they were really great.  They take the stage and the lead singer from Saving Abel comes out to play guitar.  I didn't realize that he also played guitar.  Anyway, the crowd is extremely unfamiliar with Seether songs, which was quite surprising.  Seether has been around for 10 years and has had hits since 2002.  It was like attending a Seether's Greatest Hits concert.  I knew every word to every one of their songs.  They played "Gasoline", "Fine Again", "Remedy", "Fake It", a bunch of other hits and an awesome acoustic version of "Broken".  I normally don't like "Broken" without Amy Lee, but you could feel his heartbreak in this stripped-down version.  They also played "Careless Whisper", yes the George Michael song, that is their latest release.  They did an awesome job on all of these songs.  Then he launched into an Alice in Chains cover.  It was not good.  Kim said that all 4 of the band members were playing different things by the middle of the song.  It was obvious that Shaun was high on something.  I could not even identify which song it was.  Turns out it was "Nutshell", which I am quite familiar with, especially since Staind has an awesome version that we listen to all the time.  The fact that I could not identify it at all should tell you how bad it was. 

Overall, they kept the crowd energy up and they put on an awesome performance, other than the one cover.  They played all hits and there was nothing to be disappointed about with their set list.

Grade: A

Main Act, Nickelback:

By this time, Kim and I have made it 2-3 people back from the rails.  There is a guy with horrible body odor, but I am not moving to accomodate my olfactory senses.  As the lights go down, it sounded like gunshots.  They had a massive pyrotechnic set-up.  They take the stage and launch into "Something In Your Mouth", their latest hit.  By the chorus, I had a fist in my mouth from the girl that I refused to let in front of me.  All those around me were concerned, especially Kim, but I refused to leave just when they started.  My lips swelled and were bleeding, but they stopped soon enough and before the concert was over, no one could tell that I had busted lips.  They played some more hits, had a really nice slideshow that synched with "Photograph".  They switched to more hits and then threw in a cover of "Hey Man, Nice Shot" featuring Shaun from Seether.  That was an excellent version.  In fact, it was mush better than Filter's live version, which is the band that made that song famous. 

They play another hit and then go into "If Everyone Cared" with another synched slideshow.  They then transition to the "P*nis Stage", as Chad put it.  They say that they feel kind of funny and start playing some country sounding riffs.  Then they launch into Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places".  It was awesome.  Kim was appalled that I knew all the words, but I really could not have grown up in Texas without knowing all the words to that.  Plus it is a fun song.  He also did some  Zac Brown "Chicken Fried".  Then he launches into an acoustic version of "This Afternoon".  This was not a song that I was familiar with.  Kim said that she knows it and it is played all over the APE, not a channel I listen to.  Then Chad introes "Rockstar" and asks who wants to be a rockstar.  Kim and I both go, nah, not really.  It made the two twenty-somethings in front of us laugh. 

Then they bring out the roadies and these T-shirt sniper rifles.  They said at their last concert, the t-shirt cannons did not launch them far enough.  When they shot these rifles, it shot the t-shirt up into the second balcony.  They were incredible!  They play another song then the drummer launches into a 10+ minute drum solo.  It was incredible. 

They play "How You Remind Me" and the crowd is crazy.  They close with one more song and leave the stage.  The crowd is applauding and chanting.  All of a sudden, the emergency lights and siren come on telling us to exit.  They have played for over an hour and a half at this point, so I have no doubts that this could be the venue's ploy to evacuate everyone.  Nobody moves.  Nickelback comes back out and the mics and guitars are not working.  They stick it out until the sound is back on and then Ryan, the lead guitarist and back-up vocalist, takes the stage and does Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody".  He actually made the song better, because he has a much more pleasing voice.  The Kings of Leon guy whines that song, Ryan did not.  They play another song and then close with "Animals".  The crowd went wild.  It was awesome.  Their setlist was impressive and definitely did not disappoint.  I felt that I had seen the major hits that I wanted from Nickelback.

I was really impressed with how it was Nickelback that performed and not Chad and his bandmates.  I really expected him to have a huge ego and he was really quite a team player.  They chose a crowd-pleasing setlist and definitely delivered on all of their songs, even the ones that they covered.  They also played close to two hours, so they covered a lot of music.  The only complaint I had was that Chad talked too much.  It got to be annoying and it was like, start a song already.  Not to mention, he had bleached his hair and it looked awful.

I caught the drumstick at the end of the concert, but so did four other people that were together.  The fat girl and I were the last two and she wrenched it away by twisting over the rails.  I couldn't get enough torque.  Man!  Chris called me a double loser for getting popped in the mouth and losing the drum stick. 

Overall, a very entertaining show.  They definitely put on a show and not a performance.  I can recommend that you go see Nickelback once, but I do not have a desire to see them again. 

Grade: A- (A for the show, B- for the incessant talking, A for the setlist, A for the performance)

Overall, a great show, well worth the ticket price, and the pop in the mouth.

Overall Grade: A