Nickelback, Seether & Saving Abel – Wachovia Center – Philadelphia (A PopEntertainment.com Concert Review)

PopEntertainment
Mar 11, 2009
3 min read

Updated: Apr 3

Nickelback – Wachovia Center – Philadelphia, PA – March 9, 2009 – Photo by Jim Rinaldi © 2009

Nickelback, Seether & Saving Abel – Wachovia Center – Philadelphia, PA – March 9, 2009

It’s sometimes a little easy to forget how many Nickelback songs you know and how ubiquitous their music has been on the radio for the last several years, simply because so many of their songs kind of sound alike.

However this long – closing in on two hours – set shows that while it is easy to take their meat-and-potatoes rock for granted, this Canadian group has put themselves together a pretty neat set list. Even if you aren’t a fan, you probably like more of these songs than you ever realized.

From the moment that they shot out of the gates with the funny/sexist anthem “Something in Your Mouth” the group had the crowd in his hand – making jokes about dive bars, half-jokingly asking the women in the audience to see their tits, cannoning t-shirts into the crowd – Nickelback has the blue-collar rock star role down pat.

Whether doing an acoustic guitar version of their admittedly funny music biz parody “Rockstar” to slamming down a fiery version of “Figured You Out” to the sensitive balladry of “Far Away,” the band was hitting on all cylinders.

The group also kept an interesting show going behind them on the big screens. For example, they made a virtual slideshow video for their nostalgic hit “Photograph,” giving the audience a Polaroid snapshot history of the band members – growing up, partying, in school, in concert, backstage and back street. They also kissed up to the local crowd, mixing shots of the recent World Series parade, the Eagles, the LOVE statue and the Phillie Phanatic.

Nickelback played pretty much every song a fan would expect – though they did skip over lead singer Chad Kroeger’s side project hits like “Hero” which he did for the first Spider-Man movie with Josey Scott of Saliva and his Carlos Santana collaborations “Why Don’t You & I” and “Into the Night.” Even without those songs, it is a pretty perfect night of Nickelback.

But, please guys, knock it off with the fake gunshots explosion sound effects in the middle of the sets. I know you love loud noises, but you scared the shit out of me several times.

Rounding out the bill were a couple of bands that are quirkier but every bit as rock. South African band Seether kept the audience rapt with their hardcore hits like “Remedy” (which sounds disturbingly like Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” in spots) rocked out seriously, as did the acidic “Tongue” and their rather surprising cover of Wham featuring George Michael’s “Careless Whisper.”

However, the band sounded best when they slowed down the pace a bit, particularly in their shattering ballad “Broken” and the poppier “Rise Above This.”

Singer Shaun Morgan also returned to the stage with Nickelback to do a shredding cover of Filter’s “Hey Man, Nice Shot.”

Opening act Saving Abel also gave a strong short set – with the standout performances being their hit single “Addicted,” the soldier’s tribute “18 Days” and the pissed-off rant “Out of My Face.”

Jay S. Jacobs