🤘 Nickelback Concert Review 🤘

Show Date: 09/21/2023

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐*

🪨 I drove all the way to Tulsa, Oklahoma to see a goddamn rock'n'roll show, and I'll be damned if Nickelback didn't serve up a fat helping of rock AND roll for this Midwest dyke to enjoy!!!!!!

I know a lot of folks don't take their music seriously, but they play stadium shows for a reason... just saying. So my wife and I decided to buy tickets because they weren't really that pricey, and it sounded like a fun time whether they were good or bad. So we hopped in the car and on down to Oklahoma. My immediate first thought hearing them play was that they had a pretty damn good sound team. It's hard to make their type of music sound good in any space, especially a big ass fuckin' hockey stadium, even when you've been playing together and gear experimenting for 30 years. So good for them. I also loved that they brought a fan onstage to sing a duet of "Rockstar" with Chad, which was definitely not as painful as you might think. The lanky little yeehaw dude they picked was awesome and he really slayed it, albeit he'd had about a dozen too many Coors Lights and damn near fell off the stage..

Aside from the music ripping hard, the visuals accompanying the songs were really cool to look at, as well. They were different for each song, and honestly, the art style and rendering were executed really well. They must hand pick a lot of their employees or something, or their record company is just really good at hiring little queers to do the music production.. I also thought it was perfect "beer dad humor" that they had red and blue lighting for their rendition of Chad's finest work, "Hero" for the Spider-Man (2002) soundtrack.

*My only caveat to my "5 star" rating was the opener, 👎Brantley Gilbert.👎 I don't know what hick-hop hellhole they pulled that guy out of, but while he was playing I felt like I was at an alt-right church service. His band was louder than Nickelback, which if I were Nickelback, I'd be a little bit upset about. Their sound was also mixed terribly, which was probably on purpose so the sound guy didn't have to hear this shit. You couldn't hear anything but the faux Kirk Hammett guitar soloist the entire time, and I could barely distinguish between the different songs.

You'd think thrash metal guitar featuring Fred Durst (if he had less stage presence and was country artist from the Deep South -- I'm looking at you, Kid Rock) would be pretty entertaining, but it turns out that the charm wears off after about 30 seconds. Suddenly you realize, even though you're wearing expensive ear plugs and are sitting in front of a million dollar sound system run by industry professionals, your ears are somehow still ringing. At least Kid Rock has some good songs, and you can probably hear him singing at his concerts.

I try to be non-judgmental about music because I know it's hard to perform your art in front of a bunch of people, but I simply did not get the hype. A lot of other folks around me looked confused or bored when 🚫Mr. Gilbert🚫 started his act, as well. I just don't understand why he got picked out of all the possible bands they could've hired. It just felt like an out-of-place choice, and it definitely didn't hype me up to see some goddamn rock'n'roll.

❤️‍🔥 Despite my qualms, I still think Nickelback put on a hell of a show that was worth the price of admission. They shredded every single riff, they played all their popular singles and it sounded better than the studio recordings, and their visual show and stage banter was entertaining as hell without being cringy. Just be prepared to suffer through the opener if you're not into the whole "Florida Georgia Line if they got into QAnon" shtick.