What do you get when you combine a legendary arena, a new rock band, a rock band with a hard core following, and a rock band that is known throughout the world? You get one of the best rock events in recent history, The Dark Horse Tour. The legendary arena, Rupp Arena; the new rock band, Saving Abel; the rock band with a hard core following, Seether; and the rock band who is known throughout the world, Nickelback. Possibly the oddest group of bands that could be conceived, but boy did it work!

Walking through the opening to the isle that would lead to my seat, my heart skipped a beat when I saw the magnificent stage. The stage spanned the width of Rupp Arena’s floor, but the awesome part was that it was just as long, giving an area where the bands could walk out and be in the middle of the floor. Above the stage were eight of these fixtures of lights that looked a lot like a very mechanical chandelier. Behind the stage where towers of metal bars with lights running up and down each of them.

Something that made me really impressed was that the concert actually started on time. I do not think I have been to a concert that has actually started on time, the longest I have had to wait was 45 minutes. So when the lights went out at exactly 7:00, I was super excited!

The stage lit up as Saving Abel took to the stage. This was my first time seeing Saving Abel and had heard that they can put on a good show. “Wow,” is really all I have to say about them. An opening band is supposed to pump up the crowd and get them ready for the headliner, which in this case was Nickelback, and they delivered.

From their first song, “In God’s Eyes”, Saving Abel rocked Rupp Arena’s roof off. I was very happy when they played my favorite song of theirs, “New Tattoo”, which they performed perfectly. Saving Abel finished playing after 30 minutes, and closed with their hit “Addicted” as they handed the stage over to Seether.

Seether was the main reason I had decided to come to this concert. They are the only one of my favorite bands that I have not seen, so when I heard they were going to be at the concert, I was so excited. The first thing that caught my eye about Seether’s stage was how small it was. I know they were an opening band for Nickelback, which gives Nickelback the right to have the biggest stage, but Seether is also pretty big. They had the same things that Saving Abel had, the bare essentials – mic, drum set, guitar and bass… nothing else. I was expecting some sort of explosions, fire… something. Besides that, Seether was great, everything I expected and more.

In the middle of their set list Shaun Morgan, their singer, talked to us about this song that they had re-done only as a joke, meant to talk about how crappy Valentine’s Day is, but that this song had taken off and everyone loved it. The song was of course “Careless Whisper” originally done by George Michaels. Careless Whisper was arguably one their best songs they played all night. Although it isn’t one of their own, to see everyone in the arena get up on their feet and sing and dance to the same song was really a sight to see, and something I will not forget.

Their last three songs they played: “FMLYHM”, “Fake It”, and “Remedy”; were by far my favorite songs they have recorded. I was actually surprised they played “FMLYHM,” but sure was happy they did. When it came time to sing the great lines of the chorus, Shaun did not hold back, sang them with passion and no regret. I really enjoy when artists do not edit themselves at a concert. It is their music, so why should they have to change their lyrics in case someone will find them offensive? Saving Abel did it during “Addicted,” and it made me kind of upset. So hearing Shaun say what ever he wanted was a great feeling.

As Seether was leaving the stage to a thundering crowd, the house lights went up. They turned back off as Nickelback took the stage, ready to play. Nickelback started their set with “Something In Your Mouth,” which was accompanied by a video projected up on a huge screen behind them of women wearing next to nothing dancing, portraying the actions that are described in the song.

Nickelback was the first group I have ever seen that has used so many different pyrotechnics and lights. Throughout the concert there were things blowing up, blinding flames shooting into the air, smoke, and strobe lights – it was CRAZY! Nickelback sure knows how to put on a captivating show from beginning to end. One thing that really struck me as different, but in a very good way, was when they took a break from performing and shot t-shirts out into the stands.

One of the many great things that Nickelback did during their time on stage was during “Far Away”, they had their chandelier-esque light fixtures raise and lower slowly above them during the song. “Far Away” is a great song by itself, but with the moving lights, something else was added, giving that song an added boost of awesome. It was something you could stare at in amazement at how it looked.

Daniel Adair is a great, super, amazing, spectacular, [and any other synonym for great...], drummer. At one point, the entire band walked off stage except for Daniel who was sitting at his drum set. Then without warning, he started going nuts on his drums. The whole time he was doing this, the stand he and his drums  were on started moving out towards the front of the stage. When the stand eventually came to a stop, it replaced it lateral movement with vertical movement, raising Daniel and his drums at least ten feet into the air. During all this he did not miss a beat and kept on playing. It was VERY impressive to see this guy just wail on his drum set. The stand started moving again, this time it was lowing him back down, and then moving back to where it was originally, still without him missing a beat. Daniel created a masterpiece on the drums. Even with reading this description of what was happening, there is no way you can fully understand how great it was. Everyone needs to see Daniel Adair at least one time in their life, for he is just… spectacular!

Nickelback, Seether, and Saving Abel – a combination of bands that I would never have thought I would see together, put on the best rock concert I have been to. The crowd was intense, the band lineup was great, and it exceeded anything I had expected. I would gladly go to it again.

Guest Blogged by: Kyle Jessee
House Photographer: Wes Allen
View More Photos From the Show: Facebook Album (More Coming Soon)