Nickelback

Live At Sturgis 2006 DVD

Written by: PP on 02/01/2009 19:04:02

Sturgis is a tiny city in South Dakota with a population of just below 7,000, but it also houses the world's largest biker rally which brings more than 500,000 bike enthusiasts to the city for seven days in the first week of August. In conjunction with the event, a three-day rock festival has been attached to the festivities to diversify the alternative-type of crowd a bit more, where the headlining bands draw a crowd of 40,000 people, as Nickelback did with their 2006 headline performance of the festival. The band had a wide array of cameramen to record the entirety of the performance for a live DVD release, "Live At Sturgis 2006", with loads of angles covering every aspect of the show including a dude hanging from a helicopter for some overview shots as well as the usual front line crowd camera.

The DVD features a full 75 minute set of the band shot from various angles, a reasonably interesting 17 minute documentary featuring interviews with the band in the midst of short clips from Nickelback's world tour 2006, a picture gallery and the video for the band's hit single "Rockstar"; rockstars are what Nickelback are, as they put on a surprising performance making the band a definite Roskilde Festival Orange Stage candidate for the next year.

What surprised me the most is how tight and passionate the band is on stage despite their commercial image, with vocalist Chad Kroeger drenched in sweat already after the first song. The entire band puts on a great rock show complete with explosions and pyro-effects that are used rarely enough to spark interest each time they are used, not forgetting about the insane amount of bare-breasted women on the shoulders of people everywhere. To quote Mr. Kroeger directly: "now I should try to be a gentleman and not comment on this but the wonderful amount of naked breasts out there that we just can't help but pay attention to, ladies you're looking fantastic this evening let me tell ya", and let me tell you, if this is what you get for selling out in a rock band, then count me the fuck in. Anyone else who tells you otherwise is either gay or delusional. Selling out also means 40,000 people screaming along to the lyrics of every line of your song, and when Mr. Kroeger doesn't resort into blanking out of the mic to hear the crowd sing the words, he earns my respect because I fucking hate it when my favorite songs are destroyed by egoistical rock stars who want to prop up their ego through the crowd's roar. That being said, you can hear both things really well on the recording mix here, which is particularly important considering this is pretty much a best of Nickelback set from start to finish. Of course Mr. Kroeger throws out some useless (but mandatory) comments like "how are you guys feeling!?" / "Lets put a hole in the fucking sky!" and that sort of stuff, but he also pays his respects to late Dimebag Darrell by dedicating "Side Of A Bullet"--the song that features a solo from Darrell's unreleased material--to him with lights cut out and the video screen behind the band playing interview clips from Dimebag Darrell shortly before his death.

After the 75 minutes of singles and singalongs draws to close, the pyro-effects provide a grand finale with synchronized fireworks exploding everywhere on the stage to the rhythm of Adair's drumming - it looks spectacular to say the least. With the focus of the entire DVD being the entirety of the Nickelback show from the moment they step on stage, the DVD earns its place within the better live DVD's that I've seen. There isn't any bullshit or useless micro-information about the band included, just the basics, a full set, and an interesting interview-documentary hybrid to top off the pie. Because of this, "Live At Sturgis 2006" is a thoroughly enjoyable DVD for any rock fan out there.

8

Download: N/A
For the fans of: Nickelback, post-grunge, Mainstream rock
Listen: Myspace

Release date 01.12.2008
Steamhammer/SPV
Provided by Target ApS

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