This was my first time seeing Nickelback and with two openers that have each been out about ten years, I thought this would be a pretty packed house. But as I always check in when I arrive to see how many seats were sold, I was shocked to hear that only 11,500 were sold when it can hold 25,000. With the high ticket prices and the fact that Nickelback was just around in March, Papa Roach was just here at the same venue in May and Hinder was here last summer as well, I guess people are just saving their money for someone they haven't seen yet. This show was also cool ‘cause I got to meet some OC locals: Brenda Golden's daughter Colleen, who has deserved a much needed rock show, and west OC's very own SteveO! After I shot the bands I would venture out to their seats and hang with them for the rest of the bands’ sets.
        Papa Roach up first, with Jacoby Shaddix on lead vocals, Jerry Horton on lead guitar, Tobin Esperance on bass guitar and Tony Palermo on drums opening their 40-minute set to "Getting Away with Murder", Wanna Be Loved", and Lifeline" to a dark stage with minimal lights and a backdrop sporting the band’s name. Jacoby is one tough guy to shoot; he never stays in one place. Their overall performance was pretty stellar. The highlight for the crowd is always when he jumps off the stage and runs through the venue singing to the crowd during "Forever". And a nice treat for Colleen and SteveO as he would come in the row in front of them and just a few seats down from them. Then back on stage came "Scars", and then playing their new single "I Almost Told You That I Loved You" before ending their set with "Hollywood Whore" and "Last Resort."
        After a quick set change, Hinder was up next, with Austin Winkler on vocals, Joe Garvey on guitar, Mark King on guitar, Mike Rodden on bass and Cody Hanson on drums. They opened their 40-minute set with "Use Me", "Take It To The Limit", and "Heaven Scent" with a much more lighted stage and a drum riser and steps and ramps that looked like they had just come out of a sheet metal plant. I have seen and shot these guys before and I really like them and their stage presence. They kinda remind me of a very young Aerosmith band and even Austin has a Steven Tyler look to him. With a short set time, they ran through mostly all of their hits including "Lips of an Angel", "How Long", "Up All Night", "Without You" and the crowd favorite "Get Stoned."
        After another quick set change, out comes Nickelback, with Chad Kroeger on lead vocals and guitar, Mike Kroeger on bass guitar, Ryan Peake on guitar and Daniel Adair on drums opened their hour and forty-five minute set with "Something in Your Mouth," "Because of You," and "Photograph" to a never ending display of pyro and flames shooting up from the many pipe-looking devices onstage and two huge video screens behind the set. Then as they played "Figured You Out," "Savin' Me" and "Far Away," and I made my way back to sit with Colleen and SteveO, we heard Chad ask his pryo tech what the "bleep" he was blowing up onstage as the singer got a piece of burnt-out pyro in his eye. He asked someone in the pit if they had any eye drops, which someone generously gave him onstage and he continued to use; but it didn’t look like it was working well and, at one point, I thought that he could not finish this night at all. But he did, and for the next song he invited both singers of Hinder and Papa Roach onstage as they did an excellent cover of AC/DC's "Highway To Hell." Then came the slow, mellower, radio singles part of the show with "Gotta Be Somebody," If Everyone Cared," and "If Today Was Your Last Day." After that they picked it back up with "Rockstar" and "Burn It To The Ground" and then a drum solo from Daniel Adair. Now I have to admit, I've seen many drum solos in my time, but I have to give Adair credit for doing one hell of a job, rating him right up there with Neil Peart of RUSH! During "How You Remind Me", they brought out the road crew who fired T-shirts cannons all over the venue. They ended their set with "Too Bad."
        After a short break they returned to the stage to play their two-song encore with "Someday" and "Animals" accompanied by a pretty impressive display of pyro effects to end the night. Lights, production, music and super talents added up to one great concert.