Where there's smoke, there's fire. If you're burning it to the ground, there's bound to be some marijuana clouds — and according to Nickelback's Chad Kroeger, "It's only gonna make the show better!"
In a new interview on the Loudwire Nights radio show, host Toni Gonzalez brought up the Bruce Dickinson incident that rustled many a leaf when video footage surfaced that showed him fuming over Iron Maiden concertgoers smoking weed as a topic of conversation. While Dickinson made a case for the heavy stank smog's negative impact on performers, should artists really be upset about this (let's face it, pretty standard) element of concert culture?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Nickelback's blunt latest single "High Time" from their new album Get Rollin', Kroeger proceeded to prove himself to be far cooler and more chill than the Iron Maiden bandleader. Not only is his stance one of acceptance, it's one of encouragement; he's in favour of weed at shows, and probably wouldn't mind if you puff-puff-passed him some of yours.
"No, I usually say, 'Blow it this way,'" Kroeger laughed. "You can see, if I'm walking across the stage and I've got the microphone, I turn around and go, 'Whoa, something smells really good right around here!'"
He explained, "I mean yeah, that's what rock concerts are supposed to be. You're supposed to get a little bit of that."
"Well not only that, we've shot off so much pyro, and the chemicals I've inhaled from that… Oof," the man ready to receive the world's hate again added. "That's far worse than somebody exhaling a little bit of pot smoke toward me, that's not a big deal. It's only gonna make the show better!"
The grass really is greener, and Dankelback are buds to all.
As much as Kroeger may be completely in on the joke that is the band's essence, the cultural reappraisal of Nickelback — who already have two huge shows booked for 2023: the JUNO Awards and Boots and Hearts — has been fun to watch, to say the least. (Even when it involves people posting TikTok thirst traps to their songs.)
In a new interview on the Loudwire Nights radio show, host Toni Gonzalez brought up the Bruce Dickinson incident that rustled many a leaf when video footage surfaced that showed him fuming over Iron Maiden concertgoers smoking weed as a topic of conversation. While Dickinson made a case for the heavy stank smog's negative impact on performers, should artists really be upset about this (let's face it, pretty standard) element of concert culture?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Nickelback's blunt latest single "High Time" from their new album Get Rollin', Kroeger proceeded to prove himself to be far cooler and more chill than the Iron Maiden bandleader. Not only is his stance one of acceptance, it's one of encouragement; he's in favour of weed at shows, and probably wouldn't mind if you puff-puff-passed him some of yours.
"No, I usually say, 'Blow it this way,'" Kroeger laughed. "You can see, if I'm walking across the stage and I've got the microphone, I turn around and go, 'Whoa, something smells really good right around here!'"
He explained, "I mean yeah, that's what rock concerts are supposed to be. You're supposed to get a little bit of that."
"Well not only that, we've shot off so much pyro, and the chemicals I've inhaled from that… Oof," the man ready to receive the world's hate again added. "That's far worse than somebody exhaling a little bit of pot smoke toward me, that's not a big deal. It's only gonna make the show better!"
The grass really is greener, and Dankelback are buds to all.
As much as Kroeger may be completely in on the joke that is the band's essence, the cultural reappraisal of Nickelback — who already have two huge shows booked for 2023: the JUNO Awards and Boots and Hearts — has been fun to watch, to say the least. (Even when it involves people posting TikTok thirst traps to their songs.)