Nickelback

Okay let's get this out of the way to begin with, Nickelback appear to be one of those bands that some individuals have an instant dislike to whenever they hear the name Nickelback.  

So off we trundled to Sheffield Arena to watch them live to see if we could discover why Nickelback are so hated. It must be linked to their live performances because Nickelback's album sales of 50 million must mean people like their recorded material, right?

So with great anticipation, the stage was set for the arrival of Nickelback. Nickelback arrived on stage with short hair (the days of Chad (Vocalist) having long hair disappeared many years ago). Chad and bandmates kicked the night off with 'Edge of a Revolution', a groovy rock anthem to get the crowd fist pumping into the air. Then straight into a tongue in cheek quip about being one of the few bands to get away with a song called 'Something in Your Mouth'.  

Do people hate Nickelback because Chad can't sing live? Nope, Vocally Chad was on the money, sounding just as good as they do on their recording from their 'No Fixed Address' album.  Ok, so people can't hate Nickelback for the vocals as they can hold up to scrutiny.  

I wondered if people hate Nickelback because of their stage show, is it really boring? Nope, throughout the show there was comedy, improvised bits, cover versions, as well as their own material which included some number one hits. Lots of entertainment, laughter, great music, and interaction. So it's definitely not the show that people dislike.

Maybe they are disliked because they have too many costume changes? Nope, the band were able to play without costume changes, the only thing that changed were their instruments, but even that was done effortlessly and in such a slick fashion that it didn't break continuity.  

Is it because they are only able to play in one style? Nope, Nickelback throughout the evening shifted tempos throughout songs ranging from the moderate tempo of 'Photograph' to the slow acoustic melodic cover version of 'Mistake' by Big Wreck.  

I started to wonder if people dislike Nickelback because if you are stood at the back of the arena it's hard to see anything? Nope, Nickelback provided fans with great music that could be heard all over the arena, and a light show that would put Jean Michel Jarre's show to shame. So wherever you are situated in the arena, you can hear and see the band also the big mammoth screens either side of the stage meant you had sight of the band.

Are Nickelback disliked because the haters think the band members will end up giving up? Nope, Chad and the band are fully aware of the hatred towards them, Chad even made a quip to the audience when he made a slight error- "oh no, hope someone on the internet doesn't publish it and hate us." So the band are fully aware and just really don't care. Why don't they care? Well, when they can sell out arenas and play night after night to genuine fans. They don't care about the odd hate campaign.

By the time Nickelback had ploughed through almost two hours of music including hits such as 'Too Bad', 'Photograph', and 'Someday' as well as picking two lucky fans to join the band on stage to sing 'Rockstar'. Chad even made fun of himself when one of the fans on stage said they don't know the lyrics. Chad retorted “"don't worry, we don't either, we make a living night after night of bluffing our way through the songs."

Chad also mentioned that they enjoy being able to karaoke Nickelback songs night after night, which lead into the opening guitar riff to 'How You Remind Me' being echoed through the arena, whilst the sell-out crowd sang the opening verse without Chad singing. At this point it would have been easy for Chad to let the crowd sing the entire song, and I honestly was beginning to feel cheated that lots of fans had paid good money to hear them sing this track and yet Chad was letting the audience do the work. Thankfully, after the first verse, Chad smiled and sang the entire song from the beginning so that the fans go to hear it fully.  

The band then left the stage and then came back to do the obligatory encore. Nickelback chose to do a cover version of the Foo Fighters' 'Everlong' and finish the night of with 'Burn It to The Ground'. 

What a great way to spend a Saturday night!  As I walked away from Sheffield Arena scratching my head trying to work out why people hate them so much, it suddenly dawned on me. Possibly the reason comes down to this simple thing- Nickelback are so consistently good at what they do that people are either jealous or afraid of them and feel they need to breed hatred towards them. It can't be any other reason as when it comes to recorded material Nickelback have proven they can shift millions of albums. It can't be anything to do with their live shows as they sell out arenas and sound awesome. At least they are hated for all the right reasons (only Nickelback fans will get that pun).