Review: Rock bands strut their stuff at Mid-State Fair
Nickelback. Courtesy photo.
Fair consistently books popular, talented, bands that keep locals and visitors coming back every year
– By Colin Jones
There’s an easy way to determine early on if a concert is gonna be a good one: when the band hits the main stage, everyone immediately gets up off their chairs showing no desire to sit back down for the entire night.
Dancing, drinking, cheering, screaming, foot stomping – that’s rock and roll.
And that’s exactly what we got for Nickelback at their short but spirited 90-minute performance under the stars in a nearly sold-out Chumash Arena at the annual California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles.
You remember them, right? Post-grunge hard rockers who rocketed to fame in the early 2000s only to retreat into obscurity due to widespread scorn, derision and outright hatred fueled by the internet and social media.
Well, they’re back. With a new documentary film out (aptly titled Hate to Love) and a spotty ‘Get Rollin’ summer tour, these four Canadian lads were hoping to reclaim some past glory before a large, boisterous fair crowd of about 12,000. Pretty good for a band you rarely hear getting played anymore.
But it also kind of felt like a country music show with plenty of cowboy boots, hats and two-fisted beers roaming the grandstand. No venue blends a variety of musical genres like our local fair officials: they consistently book popular, talented, party bands that keep both locals and visitors coming back every year.
Staples of any summer rock concert were there in full force: big video screens, big-bang pyrotechnics and a loud, thumping sound system. Frontman Chad Kroeger seemed genuinely thrilled to be playing in Paso for the first time and grateful that evening temps had dropped to a comfortable mid-70s.
A 15-song set that featured all their big hits like ‘Animals’, ‘How You Remind Me’ and ‘Photograph’, Kroeger effortlessly interacted with the audience about the usual stuff, his ‘day job’ as a famous rock star, girls and of course, alcohol consumption.
For me, the highlight was bringing on stage Riley, a young local woman, to sing karaoke for ‘Rock Star’ then a rousing encore finale of ‘Burn It to the Ground’, a teenage anthem of rebellion if there ever was one.
Cheap Trick on stage at the Mid-State Fair.
Two nights later, rock Hall of Fame veterans Cheap Trick offered up an equally satisfying musical experience for a few different reasons.
Ambling on stage promptly at 7:30 pm in the balmy twilight setting, they were the latest headliner for the annual ‘Evening of Music and Wine’, a popular staple on the second Friday of the fair for the past several years. It proved to be that and more: dozens of tables strewn with bottles, decorations and copious amounts of food to satiate concertgoers. The vibe was a festive mix of summer picnic meets drunken high school reunion.
But the common thread of joyous nostalgia remains the classic rock/pop songs of our youth and very few groups have as many of those as the four guys from Rockford, Illinois.
After nearly 50 years of recording and touring, you can expect a varied setlist of deeper tracks like ‘Never Had a Lot to Lose’ and ‘Baby Loves to Rock’ plus excellent cover songs like ‘Aint that a Shame’ and ‘California Man’. But they also willingly and enthusiastically deliver usual greatest hits like ‘Surrender’, ‘I Want You to Want Me’ and ‘Dream Police’.
That’s exactly what got served up for 85 minutes and 18 songs of pure rock and roll at its finest, much to the delight of the decidedly baby-boomer crowd.
It’s pretty cool that three of four original members of Cheap Trick continue performing together with Daxx Nielsen, son of lead guitarist and main songwriter Rick Nielsen, handling the backbeat. Rick also generously threw several custom-made guitar picks into the front rows as security helped fans collect the cool souvenirs.
Despite little new music being released in the last several years, nobody can accuse them of being a tribute band. That’s okay since new songs, even good ones, are the death knell of any outdoor summer fair show. And these wise, talented rockers are always savvy enough to give the people what they want.
