Nickelback/Hinder/Papa Roach/Saving Abel
Fiddler's Green Ampitheatre
August 25, 2009

Well…we all just wanna be big rockstars……..

Amazing night last night!  Denver couldn’t have been more energized and ready for the Colorado leg of the Nickelback, Hinder, Papa Roach and Saving Abel Tour.  The night began with the Backstagedirt team revving up with some grub.  Gearing up for another night under the stars – rockin to some of our favorite bands!!!  The energy was amazing and we were all ready for some serious music, despite being a little rough on the edges from the prior night’s Def Leppard, Poison and Cheap Trick show.   We settled into the venue – to a sold out crowd – early enough for some primetime people watching and some liquid libations from the VIP lounge.  Pit pass wrist bands strapped on, prime spot in front secured – bring on the ROCK!

First up, Saving Abel.  If you know the band, then you love the band.  They have an amazing dynamic.  The lead singer Jared Weeks has a great voice – youthful and ALIVE!   Scott Bartlett, stand out guitar player – also standing out as a big 230lb rocker - impressed me a lot! This massive guitarist has some amazing arms to play those riffs with.  You can’t help but notice the tats on both arms that are proudly “horns up” whenever his horns are UP!    My favorite song of the night was “Drowning”.  The radio right now is loving this band.  If you missed them last night because you were only there for Nickelback or some of the other more well-known bands, then you have to catch these boys somewhere down the line, YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED!

The next band and one of my personal favorites was Papa Roach.  Give me a minute to compose myself…… Ok…. that’s better.  I LOVE THIS BAND……OMG!  I hate to use texting verbiage in my reviews but I may have to when it comes to Papa Roach! First of all OMG what a F**KING amazing band!  I have seen them several times so I was pretty sure of what to expect.  They blew me away! The band takes the stage and immediately the crowd is amped up!  The pit suddenly feels very tight with anxious PR fans ready to jump, rock their fists and horns and belt out their own choppy renditions of PR’s latest and greatest songs.  I told myself I couldn’t dedicate this review to my favorite part of Papa Roach but I can’t help but let my true feelings show – this is MY f**king review right?     Jacoby, Jacoby, Jacoby!  This man has the crowd by the throat immediately!  He demands everyone’s attention and gets it!  Past Papa Roach shows have sent me into oblivion, craving and wanting more of the amazing energy that Jacoby possesses! This night was not different.  He continues to perform, sweat drenched by song two, running out into the crowd so that even those on the lawn can see the passion and craziness in his eyes.   I can totally overlook his spitting and “farmer-blowing” snot to sound and hear better, totally.   Awe Jacoby……  My next usage of texting verbiage is WTF? Why is the amazing band not bigger than they are? There is a fine line, I feel, in rockNroll where you are small and new, big and bold and WAY TOO F’N BIG….. and everything in between.  I feel like Papa Roach would be considered big and bold.  For my own selfish reasons, I would like them to stay that way, but still have to ask WTF?  In closing my take on PR, I have to say Jacoby – you are amazing.  You have such a great voice and passion for this business!   You make me feel like a giddy school girl, not afraid to jump around in inappropriate shoes – enough said.

Warming up for the big show ahead was then Oklahoma’s own Hinder.  I have seen Hinder many times and they also continue to impress me.  These boys have a great connection to each other and their fans.  Austin Hinkler – despite the ridiculous rumors of his untimely death a few years ago - took the stage in his hot red pants, scorching the fans with his vocal talents and signature hair gripping, sexy lead singer antics to thrill the chics and give the guys some ideas on how to be cool.  Hinder continues to impress me and slowly but surely our nice little spot in the pit is becoming packed with more and more fans – now rockin to Hinder’s latest songs.  I was thrilled when they played one of my “newer” favorite Hinder songs – “Up All Night”.   This song hot and dirty  - exactly what every housewife dreams could possibly happen to them if they just might slip out of suburbia and run into themselves a rockstar.  We can always dream right girls? The hits commanded the fans to sing along and when “Get Stoned” was up – some of the fans, took them up on the song’s title and lyrics.  What else can you expect from rockNroll?  Overall Hinder’s performance was to be expected - Phenomenal!!!  I am looking forward to them doing some headlining of their own soon.  A lot of Hinder would not “hinder” me at all – head back to Colorado, we would love to showcase you any time on backstagedirt.com.

“How the hell did we wind up like this” is what I was saying just before the event that we all were waiting for was about to begin…NICKELBACK.   What I mean by that, is that by this time, the pit is so packed that you couldn’t get out unless you could “crisco your ass or crawl on your knees”, according to one of my colleagues.  We made many friends in this crowd, as we all knew that up close and personal in the pit could mean just that, your face plus an armpit.  Despite the close proximity of many Nickelback fans, we were ready!  The show started with some amazing pyrotechnics that blew us away! Holy sh*t, the heat was intense from the stage.  Pyro plus Chad Kroger results in a sweltering night of music!  One fortunate backstagedirt colleague enjoyed the NB show from backstage and reports that watching from that angle was amazing and seeing the crowd react to the bands obvious control was intense!   Nickelback played all of their best – I was thrilled to see songs from older albums as well as brand new stuff make the set list.  It's amazing how many hits they have. They rocked the hell out of the crowd!  The only real complaint I have is that Chad Kroger really can talk it up! I heard one concertgoer state that she wished he would shut up and just sing the damn songs.

HC