Hate all you want, Nickelback are amazing. Now that that is out of the way, yes, we had the absolute pleasure of heading down to Birmingham’s Utilita arena the other night to see the powerhouse Canadians on their Get Rollin’ world tour. Considering I’ve been a fan of them since I was a child, for as long as I can remember, I had somehow never seen them live until this point. However, despite the hate, I’d heard how much they deliver live, and I was more than hyped to finally be seeing them. And they were joined by recent indie superstars Lottery Winners, another band I’d heard are good live. So, it all looked to be great night, but was it?

I have to admit, after checking out a bit of the Lottery Winners’ stuff prior to the show, I wasn’t all too fussed heading in. However, they completely won me over, and barely two songs into their set at that. The sheer charisma of frontman Thom Rylance is magnetic to watch and was enjoyable from the very first minute he stepped on stage, having the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout. However, that certainly didn’t take away from the rest of the band. Both Robert Lally and Katie Lloyd work their asses off on stage, having awesome stage presence, playing some awesome guitar and bass lines (respectively), and both proving some incredible backing vocals.

And as a band, they were so tight, too. The professionalism was off the charts, only adding to the amazingness of the show they put on. And, what’s more, they actually looked like they were enjoying themselves. They were having a blast, constantly smiling, and showed and said just how appreciative of the crowd they were. Any band that looks to be enjoying themselves is instantly more enjoyable to watch. And, to my surprise, I got into their songs quite a lot live too. I felt like they translated over better into a live setting, especially one where the sound was surprisingly good for such a big venue. It’s honestly made me go away and listen to some of the songs I heard since, making me a new fan. They did their jobs as a support band to perfection!

Then we reached the headliners, the main event, the mighty Nickelback. What is there to even say about this band any more. Of course it was amazing, they’re fucking NICKELBACK. Opening on their heavy newer single, ‘San Quentin’, the band rattled through an hour and a half of hit after hit after hit. Whether it was other up-beat tracks like ‘Figured You Out’ and crowd favourite ‘Animals’, or more ballad stuff like ‘When we Stand Together’ or ‘Gotta Be Somebody’ or ‘Far Away’, it was varied, amazing set list. Heck, we even got deep cuts like ‘Where Do I Hide’ and even going as far back as 1999’s The State with the Tool-like ‘Worthy to Say’. And closing on the incredible ‘Burn it To the Ground’ was also an amazing choice. Every track was performed to perfection too, sounding just as good as they do on track, amazingly. It was loud too, one of the loudest sets I’ve heard at an indoor venue, making it sound pretty heavy at times for a generally softer rock band.

And, just like Lottery Winners, the performance was awesome. I was kinda shocked we didn’t get any pyro, but honestly they didn’t need it. They had big screens as a backdrop, either showing them or videos that enhanced the tracks, it working so well. And once again, they all looked like they were having huge amounts of fun up on stage. They were laughing and joking and interacting with the crowd and each other plenty between songs. It’s easy to see why they have such a good live reputation. And both Chad and Ryan’s vocals more than held up live, as did all four of their playing. I hate that it’s taken me so long to see them, it my god was it worth the wait!

So, overall, what a fantastic night. Two of the best live bands around today coming together for one hell of a show. Both bands blew it out of the park and, while I went in thinking just one support wasn’t enough, I enjoyed both sets and it felt like they were over far too quickly, despite them being pretty long. I cannot recommend either band enough, and would jump at the chance to see both of them again as soon as I can. And, as a musician myself both are honestly pretty inspirational as to how to perform. I’d happily tell anyone reading this to go see the bands next time they are near you, you certainly will not regret it!