There are some nights when the music is everything, others when the atmosphere takes control and still others when the two elements collide to create a near perfect storm. This third option is fortunately what took place at The Echo Arena Liverpool as two of Canada’s finest, Monster Truck and Nickelback, made the place their own and rocked the roof off it.
Monster Truck took the 2013 Download Festival by storm on the back of the debut album release, Furiosity. Now with their second album Sittin’ Heavy receiving yet more acclaim, the band from Hamilton Ontario made their inaugural gig in Liverpool count, with some high velocity playing incorporating everything that’s great about Rock Music. IE: it’s out of this world,fun and – above all else – loud. With the lighting rig above quite possibly being visible from space, this quickly turned into an event rather than a gig and was all the more enjoyable for it.
Jeremy Widerman’s guitar work is extraordinary. Fast, free, unorthodox and very, very good,his riffs and shreds make tracks such as The Enforcer and Sweet Mountain River really rock. Then there’s the more subtle, yet nonetheless beautifully honed. For The Sun and its laid back blues feel marks the band out as something other than being just another rock outfit.
Jon Harvey’s electrifying vocals and searing bass work are the foundations upon which Monster Truck are built, however. Take a listen to For The People – here joined wonderfully with Nickelback’s own Ryan Peake – and you get the full extent of the front man’s armoury. Harvey’s deep voice resonates as much as his thumping bass but when something more understated is required, as on New Soul, then clearly he more than has it within his capabilities to produce the goods.
Highlights were the entire 45 minute stint, from which Don’t Tell Me How to Live will sit easily for a very long time to come. A fantastic set all round and one which sets the tone beautifully for the headliners.
Nickelback are quite often – and quite unfairly – derided for their light approach to rock. However on the evidence of this gig, such contempt should itself be treated with disdain. The band – and in particular lead singer Chad Kroeger, who is clearly up for it from the off –simply melt time and offer two hours of the most superb entertainment imaginable in the process.
Edge of a Revolution from the 2014 album No Fixed Address kicks things off magnificently and rarely does the pace drop. Animals is superb and Woke Up This Morning has a kind of depth that the Silver Side Up version lacks. Lullaby, too, is sung with such a sense of emotion – and with Ryan Peake’s superb mastery of the guitar, Mike Kroeger’s superb bass work and Daniel Adair’s pulsating drumming all contributing to the sum of the whole – and a freedom that often gets lost on stage.
These are four guys who are clearly enjoying themselves.
Intermittently toasting the crowd with Jaeger Bombs, taking the mick out of each other and grabbing delighted audience members from the massed ranks of admirers to participate in Rockstar karaoke, the joy tipples from the stage to ripple through the audience like a determined wave intent on wiping out all before it once the breakers hit land.
And hit they do. Photograph, Gotta Be Somebody, a storming How You Remind Me and an impromptu Where Do I Hide – along with a spontaneous version of Twist and Shout – are really quite stunning.
Finally, Burn It to the Ground brings proceedings to a tumultuous halt and Nickelback send their audience out into the chilly night air with a smile on their faces and a warmth in the belly, having experienced what ranks as a tremendous night of music and not a few surprises.
Nickelback with Special Guests, Monster Truck
The Liverpool Echo Arena
October 22nd, 2016
PR Rating: ***** Gold Side Up!