Live Review: Nickelback, Bad Wolves

LA-based metalcore group Bad Wolves burst onto the stage with an explosive performance to make the arena shake with their brutal energy. Lead singer Tommy Vext has a lot of pain and emotion behind his vocals and understands the importance of living in the moment. He sings about recognising the importance of appreciating the people around us and asks us to turn to the those next to us and tell them we love them even if we don’t know them.

It’s their first Australian tour and they hang the Aussie flag over one of their amplifiers during a call-and-response shoutout before playing a cover of No One Knows by Queens Of The Stone Age and Chop Suey! by System Of A Down. They encourage all the ladies to get up on their partners' shoulders for a love song that they reckon is a better move than Tinder. “Make some noise for the women who love rock‘n’roll and heavy metal," he screams. They dedicate a heavy metal song from their debut album Disobey to a recent fallen hero (Vinnie Paul from the band Pantera) and perform an emotionally charged cover of the iconic Cranberries track Zombie to hail the late Dolores O’Riordan. “Light this motherfucking arena up,” he screams, as the crowd jumps around in a frenzy. 

Visuals of a live-wired machine charge the stage screen as Nickelback powers up with the title track from their latest album Feed The Machine. “May I remind you that it’s Saturday night,” lead singer Chad Kroeger shouts. “I’ve got the day off tomorrow so I’m going to be consuming a lot of alcohol this evening,” he adds. The audience encourages this behaviour and it seems that most of the crowd are doing the same. “The larger the buzz I have, the longer I wanna stay and play,” Kroeger continues, and downs a Jägerbomb to salute the audience.

After a fewer slower-paced hits, Nickelback play What Are You Waiting For and a rarity called Hangnail. It’s unclear whether Kroeger needs to keep drinking to get through this set or if he’s actually having a good time. Nevertheless, he does another shot knowing very well that the hangover on his upcoming flight to Singapore is going to be rough. He teases the lyrics of Something In Your Mouth that he admits are very silly – but he loves the crowd singing it along with him. 

They throw in a song (Hero) that made its way into a superhero movie (Spider-Man). He continues to bag out his own lyrics with Figured You Out. The band then brings an audience member onto the stage for Animals and they throw a guitar around her shoulders to jam alongside them. The lucky fan surprisingly knows all the chords, so it almost seems as if this was rehearsed. In contrast, the next bit of Nickelback karaoke for Rockstar - featuring an audience member who didn't know the words and falls on stage - is one of the most cringe-worthy moments of the show. “We might have to start using a breathalyser before bringing people on stage because we never know what’s going to happen,” Kroeger jokes.

“Melbourne, we’ve been coming here a long time and we’ll keep coming back to play for you if you keep watching us,” Kroeger announces to his devoted fans, before encouraging them to get their devil horns up for final track Burn It To The Ground.