Nickelback, the band that so many people love to hate. They’ve sold over 50 million albums, had numerous Top 10 hits, number one albums and yet people love to hate them without a legit reason. I think hating on Nickelback was the equivalent to a Tik-Tok challenge like eating Tide pods. You know it’s stupid, but you did it anyway. Here we are in 2023, 28 years after the group formed and nearly 20 years after “Photograph” became an earworm almost impossible to get out of your head. The guys have released a new studio album called Get Rollin’ and they’re out on the road promoting it. They’ve brought along Brantley Gilbert and Josh Ross with them to open up the shows. The tour has been very succesful adn packing venues all across the U.S. They made a stop on September 14, 2023 at the Coastal Credit Union Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, North Carolina. Traffic was crazy for this one because it was close to being a SOLD-OUT show. After highly entertaining and engaging sets from Ross and Gilbert.the lights went down adn the video screens came out showing a police chase that resembled a scene out of the Grand Theft Auto videogame series. The cops were chasing the van on front of the band’s new album. At the end of the video, the screen showed the overhead freeway sign that said “RALEIGH” and then the band hit the stage. They kicked the show off with “San Quentin” from their new album. That led into “Savin’ Me” and then a huge sing-a-long to their massive hit “Far Away.” That was the first of many when I say that the fans at this show were ready to sing, they were ready to SING! I’ve been to well over 1000 shows in my lifetime and this crowd ranked as one of the loudest The setlist spanned the band’s entire career and a copy of that setlist follows our photo gallery. The lightshow was amazing and the large video screens were used very creatively. The band sounded so good as well as lead vocalist Chad Kroeger. No wonder this show is packing out venues all over the U.S. It was one of the best all around shows that we’ve seen this summer. No, I take that back. It was one of the best all around shows that we’ve seen this year!
Review & pix: I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price