 Rock's Monsters
Let's be honest here. We are not the biggest Nickelback fans but we were so curious as to why 20,000 people are. To sell out the Gorge is a big deal, there has to be a reason why they sold it out. Matty and I hopped in the VW and headed off to Geroge, WA. To shuffle 20,000 people into the Gorge takes some time. We got off the exit at 5:20pm and didn't get parked in the venue until 6:40pm. I have never waited so long to get in. Since we were in traffic we missed Saving Abel, but we have seen them before. Papa Roach was next on the lineup and like before they ripped the crowd to shreds. "You mother fuckers came to rock n roll today I can feel it," said the front man of the band. From here on out every other word spoke to the crowd had Fuck before or after it. It gets the kids excited.
I say kids too because I think one of the reasons it sold out was that the music appeals to both young kids who hear it on the radio and their parents. I saw multiple families ranging in ages five to seventy-five. On the line-up Papa Roach is my favorite group, I remember listening to them when I was kid and thinking I was a badass. They played all the hits song after song. The crowd was jumping and people were flying over the security rail like ocean waves. Papa roach was conducting the crowd into rock madness. They closed out their set with "Last Resort," a group bow and the classic throwing of drum sticks into the crowd.
 Hinder... as Matt said "these kids definitely grew up listening to Crue." During Hinder I realized that the show was the biggest game of Simon Says I have ever witnessed. The singers would say Jump and they jump, scream and they scream, you name it they did it. It was cool to hear 12,000 people sing every word of "Lips of an Angel," and half of the set list. At this point I understood why it sold out. You had three very big rock bands that get played on at least two radio stations in each city - ta da. Before "Get Stoned" the singer yelled "that smell is fucking phenomenal!" Everyone was lighting up and I don't mean cigarettes. They didn't need to go home to get stoned they just need to go to the gorge.
All the sudden I am lying underneath the stars in one of my favorite places ever. Even if we don't like the artists or know much about them it is still fun to go to the show and it is always worth the drive to the Gorge. Meanwhile I am listening to kids yell the lyrics to "Killing In the Name Of," that was being played on the house speakers when all the sudden the biggest bang happened. I about tinkled myself. A minute or two later some more pops, this time they had my attention and Nickelback came out on stage like they were on top of the world.
Everyone went bananas when they took the stage. The crowd rose to their feet and it was a sea of wild monkeys; all drunk and ready to rock. Yikes. There were a lot of pyrotechnics which is odd to watch when back at home in Spokane you need sprinkles in your building to have 50 kids stand inside. I guess it doesn't matter when there are 20,000 people on a cliff outside.
My favorite part of the night was when the front man was saying how high school was the glory days when you didn't have to pay taxes. I agree that part of life is nice. Then notes that the kid coming over the rail was a probably a freshmen in high school, and he should go all the way up the hill and try to find a girl to have sex with. After talking about high school they went into "Photograph" and they had cool photos playing in the background of high school times. They even had a bit with Washington schools.
 For their genre of music they are the kings and on top of it. It was worth the drive, I can see why if you like rock music you would go see the show. They even went back in the day of rock and played a little AC/DC. Nickelback made it worth your time and money by being on stage for around two hours. I am sure everyone got to hear every song they wanted to and that is respectable. I remember when they came out in 95' and look here they are in 09' selling out the Gorge. Good for them, that's impressive. I also liked the all the fire - it's pretty on stage!
Check out more photos from the show here!
Andrea@checkitoutmusic.com
|
