Nickelback And Pop Evil Perform At Bridgestone Arena

Pop Evil opened for Nickelback on the Nashville stop of the 2015 “No Fixed Address” tour. The five-piece metal band owned the stage with its hair-whipping, pulse pumping metal. The crowd participation was lackluster. The performance was not. The only complaint was that the setlist was too short. Pop Evil really deserves to headline shows, not open them.

The sheer energy Pop Evil brought to the stage was impressive. Lead singer Leigh Kakaty was on-point vocally as he maneuvered through the band’s infamous raucous rock tunes, with the occasional ballad thrown in for good measure.

The rest of the band held the line with their respective instruments to produce a heavy-hitting performance that truly rocked Bridgestone arena.

The four members of Nickelback took the stage rather nonchalantly. With over 50 million albums sold worldwide, Nickelback holds a special place in music history as being labeled the most successful rock group of the decade (2000s) by Billboard. 

The group played a 90-minute set that included all the Nickelback radio hits of the early 2000s, along with a handful of covers.  The “No Fixed Address” tour hasn’t fared well with critics. Complaints have been made about the plainness of the set, lack of passion, and overall mediocrity of the tour. The fans, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy themselves and the musical performance before them.

While there wasn’t much in terms of stage setup, as there has been in past Nickelback shows, the band did perform well. And they played all the hits everyone came to hear.

The setlist for the night included:

1.     Million Miles an Hour

2.     Something in Your Mouth

3.     Photograph

4.     Hero

5.     Gotta Be Somebody

6.     Far Away

7.     Edge of a Revolution

8.     Master of Puppets /  Walk

9.     Too Bad

10.  Someday

11.  Animals

12.  Moby Dick

13.  She Keeps Me Up

14.  Take It Easy / Hotel California

15.  Rockstar

16.  When We Stand Together

17.  Hey Man Nice Shot

18.  Figured You Out

19.  How you Remind Me

Encore:

20.  Everlong

21.  Burn It to the Ground

The number of covers performed was a bit surprising. With such an impressive catalog of hits, I can’t imagine why Nickelback would need to rely on songs written by other groups. It got specifically cheesy as Chad Kroeger had the Nashville audience sing “Hotel California” in a massive karaoke setting. 

Even so, the crowd seemed to leave Bridgestone pleased, and that’s what counts.