Canadian rock band Nickelback performed their first gig in Singapore on 20 February 2019 at ZEPP@BIGBOX, leaving fans both old and new wanting more! The band – consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Chad Kroeger, Ryan Peake on guitars, Mike Kroeger on bass and drummer Daniel Adair – made a stop in Singapore as part of their Feed The Machine Tour, titled after their newest album.
Fans started to queue for the free-standing event from as early as 2pm and filled the queues by the evening. Once the doors opened, fans started to enter in droves – many with a cup of Trooper beer in hand – almost completely filling up the black box.
The band took to the stage at around 8.30pm, starting off the set with their title song Feed The Machine. Fans started to huddle closer to stage, shouting along to the lyrics. The combination of heavy drums and bass, as well as slick guitar riffs instantly gripped the attention of every fan present – and Chad’s charismatic singing only served to bolster the charged whir of the crowd.
Nickelback then went on to perform Woke Up This Morning, to the surprise of many. As everyone later realized, only the first song was from their newest album and the rest of the setlist consisted of older songs – some even dating back to Silver Side Up (2001). Perhaps the band wanted their diehard fans to have a taste of the older songs being performed live as well, seeing as they have never performed in Singapore in the 23 years since the band’s inception in 1995.
The rock quartet performed some of their greatest hits such as Photograph, Far Away and How You Remind Me, as well as some of their earlier works; Hangnail, Figured You Out and Someday.
In between every two or three songs, Chad would take a short break to engage with the crowd and joke around his bandmates. Chad and Ryan would also each drink a glass of Jägerbomb during each break, which somehow riled the crowd as everyone roared “Cheers!” with them each time before they downed their glasses.
The band made sure to engage with their fans during songs as well. For instance, Chad requested that everyone sang along to the “ridiculous song” they were going to play next. Surprisingly, fans obliged and sang along to Something In Your Mouth, despite the many apparent innuendos in the lyrics. Chad also gave two lucky fans to join him and the band up on stage to sing Rockstar together. One fan was so elated that she scurried about the stage to greet every member before Chad had a chance to explain the ‘karaoke’ session. Another fan got so riled up during the song, he let his inner showmanship shine and stole the limelight from Chad himself.
Towards the end of the set, there appeared to be a slight technical issue with the lighting. As explained during the encore, Nickelback was completely unaware of this issue either — when the lights went off just as Chad was about to play his guitar, he pointed out that he won’t be able to see his chords if he was left in the dark.
Nickelback ended their concert at a high with Burn To The Ground, which got everyone headbanging or jumping to the beat. Overall, the band’s heavier numbers which also include Hangnail, Million Miles A Hour and – of course – Feed The Machine were more resounding when performed live, as compared to the recordings in their albums.
Once the concert was over, some cheeky fans tried their luck by heading to the front of the barricade and asking the stage crew if they could receive the leftover guitar picks as a memento – which turned out to be fruitful. Honestly, I felt it was a concert worth every dollar; and hopefully it won’t be another long, agonizing wait before they return to Singapore.
Nickelback Feed The Machine Tour – Live in Singapore Concert Setlist
1. Feed The Machine
2. Woke Up This Morning
3. Photograph
4. Far Away
5. What Are You Waiting For?
6. Hangnail
7. Something In Your Mouth
8. Hero
9. Figured You out
10. Someday
11. Lullaby
12. Animals
13. When We Stand Together
14. Rockstar
15. Gotta Be Somebody
16. How You Remind Me
Encore:
17. Million Miles An Hour
18. Burn It To The Ground
Visuals courtesy of LAMC Productions.
