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| Concert-reviewBerlin, Dec. 16th, 2003 | ||||||||||||||
| BACK to Interviews | ||||||||||||||
| Read this interview in German |
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| This is a concert-review of the concert in Berlin on December 16th 2003, which includes a short interview with Mike. It was partly German, partly English, so I translated the German sentences into English. The quotes are the original ones from the Interview and not changed. The review is told by a reporter, I guess. That's why it's told by an I-narrator. | ||||||||||||||
| When I arrive at the arena at around 6pm�to talk to Mike Kroeger, bass player of the band Nickelback, I have to struggle to get through a bunch of teenagers who are, already two and a half hours before the concert actually starts, standing in line in the freezing cold. Who would have guessed that when Nickelback started to cause a stir only two years ago?! | ||||||||||||||
| Since back then, there is nothing that did not change for the four guys from Vancouver. After all, they became much more self-confident, says Mike. | ||||||||||||||
| �"We kind of reached a level of success which we're quite proud of and now when it comes to playing music live or making an album we got this confidence behind us to know that we can do things that people like. That helps a lot." | ||||||||||||||
| And it's not that you couldn't hear that on their new album "The Long Road". Their sound now is heavier and a little more experimental. Nevertheless, the first single-release "Someday" is rather soft. How comes? | ||||||||||||||
| "Nickelback is a mainstream rock band. We wanna be on the radio. It's not even about what the people want, it's about what the radio-establishment-institution-system or what the f*ck you wanna call it, that's what they want. And that's why whenever Nickelback releases a single they have to release the song which sounds like 'How you f*cking remind me', because the other things would never get played. I think it's really important to know what you're trying to do. Are you trying to be on the radio or are you not. We have to be realistic about what we wanna do. And what we wanna do is to get as many people listening to Nickelback as we can. | ||||||||||||||
| Honest words. But you can't really offence them for this, because they don't deny it. Nickelback want to be successful and not scare off their fans; and this consequently means that they have to keep up that way. | ||||||||||||||
| That's actually one of the reasons why Chad Kroeger got to work together with Carlos Santana ("Why Don't You And I"): | ||||||||||||||
| "Chad had this song and we said, let's hear it and we heard it and we said, 'We think it's too far away. We don't think it's a Nickelback-Song. You can do it by yourself if you want to.' And then Carlos Santana became interested." | ||||||||||||||
| And it could be a worse train to be on. Their current album already went double-platinum in their native country Canada even before it had been released thanks to advance orderings. | ||||||||||||||
| But life as a star also has its shady sides. Especially for front man Chad: | ||||||||||||||
| "The guy can't go anywhere. He can't go out for dinner, anywhere, he can't go to a movie theatre, he can't go shopping in a super market. I mean, he does, but he always has to take a security guard with him." | ||||||||||||||
| Tough thing. | ||||||||||||||
| Later during the concert, I was a little bit astonished. It seemed every single family from the area had gathered at Arena Treptow [Berlin]. So Nickelback indeed achieved what they wanted to achieve: there is no age group between 14 and 50 which cannot be found among the audience. | ||||||||||||||
| At first, [German band] Deadline heat up the crowd. And the four guys from Berlin are doing a good job - although I personnaly would have preferred to see Last, the other band of singer Marek. It's too bad that Last's future has been put on ice in favour of Deadline. | ||||||||||||||
| When the light finally turns low-key in the hall after a long break of stage reconstructions, it still takes a while until Nickelback enter the stage. They introduce their show with helicopter-sounds and the excitement grows. And with a big bang and pyros, the huge black curtain falls and Nickelback break through with the first song of their current longplayer: "Flat On The Floor". I personally don't really like those big effects, but the fans love it. And since nobody else except of me seems to consider the fireworks as way too loud, there's nothing else to complain about. The set doesn't show up any big surprises and doesn't leave any wishes unfulfilled: it includes everything from "Someday", "Leader of Men" and "Too Bad" to "Never Again". "Hero", Chad's part on the "Spider-Man"-Soundtrack, actually recorded with Josey Scott, and "Should've Listened" from the new album are both played acoustically, while Chad leaves his guitar in "Should've Listened" to his tech Timmy, who already accompanied the band during "Someday" with an acoustic guitar. | ||||||||||||||
| After 15 songs, the guys let their fans wait for quite a long time until they finally return back on stage to make a furious leaving with "How You Remind Me" and many explosions, fire and glitter. | ||||||||||||||
| All in all, a nice concert. The sound could have been a little bit clearer in some of the heavier songs, but the great lighting system did a very good job which made it all up for. | ||||||||||||||
| By the way, Mike Kroeger has got the most beautiful teeth I've ever seen. | ||||||||||||||