Live Review – Nickelback | Ovo Hydro, Glasgow
The Hydro in Glasgow has hosted a long list of huge sold out shows and tonight’s show joins the list of record sales – Nickelbacks ‘Get Rollin Tour’ rolls into Glasgow for the opening night of the UK leg of their European run.
A what seems to be a never ending queue surrounding the venue as a sea of cowboy hats nestled on top of the eager fans waiting to get through they doors – on the plus side it was nice to see blue skies and sunshine reign over Glasgow for a change. The bowl filled very quickly and shortly after doors opened it was time for tonight’s first and only support band. A huge slot and salute to what this band have achieve so far – it’s Yorkshire high flyers, The Lottery Winners. When they were announced for this tour, it just felt right and the status they have gained over the years merits them being on this run – the musical talent paired with on stage comedy makes this band what they are and adds that extra bit of fun to what you get in any venue.
Being their biggest run of shows yet, this tour was set to bring something special and kicking off things tonight they certainly achieved it. The set was the perfect time to showcase their number one album to people who they aimed to win over and within a few songs it seemed to have worked. The confidence by all on stage gave that extra edge with the crowd who were drawn in with what they were seeing with a set that brought both old and new material, a nice healthy balance of what they had to offer. Singles ‘Worry’ and ‘Letter To Myself’, a song that saw an outstanding collab on the recording with Frank Turner made their cut for the show. Between songs the chats to the crowd & comedy was regular from singer Thom Rylance – it’s something that comes with every live show and just makes you want more and more from the band in terms of laughs and of course their songs that bring out so much happiness. The set saw the closing with a phone recording on stage from Thom – a moment he wanted to capture to show the world while at the same time calling out former classmates who were, well let’s just say some choice words. Burning House of their recent album ‘Anxiety Replacement Therapy’ saw us out in style with the crowd singing and jumping along. Whether you were a fan before or not, it’s safe to say The Lottery Winners achieve what they came to do and also gain fans in the process.
From arena new comers to tonight’s headliners who have been taking to the big stages for years – Nickelback return to Glasgow for the first time since 2018. A jam packed room from the floor to the seating around the bowl are ready and waiting for tonight’s powerhouse to emerge. The sound of Pantera’ ‘Walk’ ripples around the venue before the lights turn the place to darkness. An interesting intro appears across the screen spread across the back of the stage – a futuristic movie type feel to it as a camper van drives its way through a torn up desert building up to the explosive of ‘San Quentin’.
Chad and co are looking at their sharpest, one song in the seating section is almost entirely on their feet. The catalogue this band has must make it a challenging task to pick a setlist – with how things have started it’s obvious they went big. What did however come as a surprise was a cover song added early in the set as The Lottery Winners joined them on stage with a cover of Oasis’s ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, which produced one of the biggest singalongs of the night and quite an experience to witness coming from a band like Nickelback. Whether it was a Brit pop classic or playing their own iconic hits, they had the crowd in full voice for the duration, the acoustic rendition of the song that made the ‘graph’ meme, ‘Photograph’ was greeted with a sea of phone lights sparkling around the room paired with a sing-along that would bring a tear to a glass eye.
The fun of a t-shirt cannon came during the bridge of ‘Figured You Out’ setting off a few high jumping fans across the floor. Prior to setting into a major crowd pleaser, Chad invited a fan on stage to help sing along with ‘Rockstar’, the dream opportunity for the girl invited on was greeted with a major Glaswegian cheer – opening her stage time with “I can’t really sing”, to the laughs of Kroegar. Sitting that aside, she rose to occasion and performed her heart out on her big moment. More classics close off the set with ‘How You Remind Me’ being introduced as the biggest they have, mid song they had to stop due to some crowd issues at the barrier – making sure the safety of their fans was priority was greeted with more cheers from the crowd. ‘Gotta Be Somebody’ and the nice and heavy ‘Burn It To the Ground’ closed off what was an exceptional performance. Tonight has shown exactly why this band are at their level they are at. Kicking off their tour in style and setting the standards of what will come for each city in the coming weeks.
Words by Craig McInnes
Photos by Catching Light Photography