NICKELBACK — MANCHESTER, UK.
Nickelback at the AO Arena, Manchester, UK (20/05/2024).
with support from The Lottery Winners!
Images by: Dylan Maggs.
NICKELBACK
THE LOTTERY WINNERS
Nickelback are one of the best-selling bands of all time. However, despite that they manage to remain one of the most divisive bands of the past twenty plus years. Some people love them, some people love to hate them - I however love them. Their big hits ‘Rockstar’, ‘Photograph’ and ‘How You Remind Me’ were incredibly important for forming my current music taste - being a gateway into rock, and I knew as soon as I had a chance to see them - with The Lottery Winners supporting - I couldn’t miss them.
The Lottery Winners are one of my favourite current bands, and this is my fourth time seeing them this year and I feel proud to see them playing to a packed out hometown crowd. Frontman Thom Rylance has this natural charisma that draws you to his every word as he frantically paces the stage. Opening with ‘Worry’, it didn’t take long for the crowd to be on side. Thom’s long ramblings between songs can sometimes be tedious but it just makes him human - his joy at playing to the band's hometown arena, or the sheer joy he gets from being on tour with Nickelback. Their 45 minute set only consisted of 6 songs but included some of my personal favourites like ‘Much Better’ and ‘Start Again’. They're destined for big things and watching the crowd bounce along to ‘Burning House’ proved they can handle the big stage.
Nickelback’s set was a roaring affair of both newer fan favourites and classics. An animated video depicting a police chase set the scene for the boys to walk on stage and waste no time getting into opening song ‘San Quentin’. Chad sounded on point live, growling along to every word as the crowd belted them back to him. Their seminal album ‘All The Right Reasons’ was shown a lot of love on the setlist, hits like ‘Savin Me’ gaining the same crowd response as ‘Far Away’ and the absolutely roaring ‘Animals’.
As the set rolled on, the energy never faltered. Slower songs allowed a reprieve between the high octane hits however the true highlight came about halfway through the set. Chad Kroeger tells a story of how he discovered The Lottery Winners on TikTok a few years ago - before introducing Thom, Katie and Rob to the stage to perform with them. Thom soaking in the adoration from the 18k strong in Manchester Arena before leading arguably the loudest crowd i’ve heard in a rendition of ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ - dedicated to the 22 Manchester Bees. If there’s one way to bring a Mancunian crowd together, it’s getting them to sing along to an Oasis classic.
The back end of the set was loaded with the big hits, ‘Photograph’ might be one of the most meme’d songs of all time (Chad even joking about this on stage) but it’s a classic singalong live. A young fan called John (I think, he was quiet on the mic) was brought on stage for ‘Rockstar’ as he was the spitting image of young Chad, long blonde hair and goatee, even down to the early 2000s fashions. The penultimate song for the main set was ‘Those Days’ before Chad led an acapella chorus of ‘How You Remind Me’ before the rest of the band kicked in for a full rendition. There was a short break before the two song encore. Kicking straight into ‘Gotta Be Somebody’ before Chad and Co closed with the roaring ‘Burn It To The Ground’.
Finally being able to tick Nickelback off my ‘Bands I’ve Seen Live’ list felt like a proper full circle moment. Combined with seeing one of the best new bands opening in the form of The Lottery Winners felt like a winning combination. Nickelback may be over twenty years into their career but they show no signs of slowing down, sounding as good as they ever have.
You May Also Like:
