How You Remind Me Of My Roots

On Friday, the 23rd of September 2016, I went to the NICKELBACK concert in Munich.

I've been looking forward to this day since I bought the ticket - knowing that it would cost me a three hour drive to get to Munich, even from the new city I live in. But I didn't care. I hadn't seen Nickelback for three years and I wanted to go back to rock with them no matter the price.

I was nervous for weeks because I wasn't sure if I could be there in time; I just started my new job two days before the show. But my boss promised to let me leave early the first day I came in to work. So I was even more looking forward to the concert.

And then the most incredible thing ever happened.
I knew the band was giving away VIP upgrades via Twitter for every show, so I waited for the call to post a photo of me with my ticket and the hashtag #NBMunich. 

Then I received this:

I never won anything in my life, but - I still don't know how - I got the Nickelback Twitter VIP riser. So I went to the show, even more excited (actually just a second away from a heart attack) to stand right next to the stage, only about thirty centimetres between the band an me. 
At all three Nickelback shows I've been to before, I've never been able to stand anywhere near the stage at all. And now I could even see the whole audience. 
When the band finally came up on stage to start the show with "Edge of a Revolution", they set the whole arena on fire. They sent me back to my very first rockshow, when I was 14 years old, back in Oberhausen, when I saw them for the very first time - as the first rock band ever live. Still I know this was the best decision ever because it was the beginning of what is my passion and love today. And Nickelback was that beginning as they were the first rock band I ever listened to; the first rock band that I ever saw live. Just because they were so incredible back then, I wanted to go to more rockshows.

The setlist was awesome: Edge of a Revolution, Something in your Mouth, Too Bad, Someday, How You Remind Me, Trying Not To Love You, Animals, Figured You Out, Far Away, Burn it to the Ground, Lullaby, Hero, When We Stand Together, Dirty Laundry, What Are You Waiting For, Gotta Be Somebody, Photograph, Rockstar (not in this order). 
But the show was even better.

I never laughed so much at a rockshow!
Chad Kroeger just knows how to entertain people. He just takes that mic, starts to talk and it's hilarious. It's so different from the other rockshows I go to. Everything is just relaxed and funny, the music is amazing and even though they are so big and they fill this arena, you feel close to them. 
I love how all the bandmembers are included in the show, how all of them interact with each other and the audience. 
They did this beer-toss-thing they did before (where they actually throw beer into the audience, this time done by the support act: Monster Truck) and they had a Rockstar-Karaoke where they picked a guy from the audience to sing this song with them.
They also did a cover version of Foo Fighters' "Everlong", sung by guitarist Ryan Peake. That was basically one of my favorite things during the show because I really like the song and I was one of the only persons who knew all the lyrics. Chad saw that and sung to me (without a mic, he played the lead guitar during the song). Ryan did the whole song and he has an amazing voice.

We stood on the left side of the stage (if you're looking from the band's perspective), so on Mike Kroeger's side. It was just so sweet how much he cared for the two children who were with us. They were maybe seven years old and he always checked if they were ok, gave them shirts and his picks and looked at them during the whole show. 

The drummer, Daniel Adair, didn't play a solo this time. Still, it was clear enough how awesome he is. As he was the only one whose face I could see all the time, I could see that he looked at me during the show; at least I thought he did. I'm actually pretty sure he did because after they had finished, he came to me to give me his drumstick. Thank you so much for this again!

This whole night was just crazy and it reminded me of where I began with all the rockshows and the music and the love for these people and for what they do. Without Nickelback, I would've never even listened to Shinedown, so I would've never known Halestorm and all of the other bands. Without Nickelback, I would've never realized how amazingly touching a rockshow can be, how intensive it feels to be in the crowd, to hear your favorite songs live, to shout along. This rockshow brought me back to my roots. And I loved it.

Thank you.