Nickelback back and it's a blast

Nickelback

Birmingham NIA

Concert review by Ian Harvey

Just eight months after they rocked the LG Arena, Nickelback were back in Birmingham but this time at the NIA.

And they wasted no time in shaking the venue to its foundations as they literally exploded on to the stage, launching into Something In Your Mouth amid a shower of pyrotechnics and smoke.

Back on tour to support their new album, Dark Horse, the Canadians are in the strange position of being hated by many critics yet able to consistently pack out the world's arenas.

Singer Chad Kroeger may have been joking when he said recently that Dark Horse was nearly called Sex and Drinking, but it's this celebration of the sleazy side of life that the fans lap up and the critics can't stand.

This is a band that knows when a rock show should be big and dumb and loud. But for all the bombast of songs like the multi-million sellers Rockstar and Animals there were quieter moments too in songs like If Today Was Your Last Day and How You Remind Me, a chance for the fans to add their voices.

During If Everyone Cared the giant video screens urged fans to 'question, engage, participate and organise' as they showed images of Nelson Mandela, Bono and Amnesty International.

And after showing family and childhood images of the band members during the ballad Photograph, it was the turn of some Midland icons to be flashed up on the screens in the shape of the Cadbury factory, a pint of Banks's, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath . . . a nice touch.

Elsewhere it was just a case of turning up the music, blowing things up and creating a huge rock spectacle, including an elevating drum kit and sniper rifles that fired T-shirts out into the crowd, even up into the balconies.

There were even a couple of cover versions to enjoy, in the shape of Highway To Hell, with Chris Robertson of support act Black Stone Cherry taking over vocal duties, and then later when Nickelback guitarist Ryan Peake took to the mic for a version of Use Somebody by Kings of Leon.

Black Stone Cherry themselves did a fine job of warming up the NIA crowd with a well-received 40-minute set drawn from their two albums.

One of the hardest working bands around at the moment, there are further chances for new fans to catch up with the band in the Midlands, with appearances at JB's in Dudley on June 2, Download Festival on June 14 and then Birmingham Academy on October 10.