Simply Abu Dhabi VIII

6 7 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I she looked over at me and she saw that I was messing around with the scrapbook. And she got this look on her face, because she knew, you know, that I don’t normally, I’m not a big scrapbooker. And she walked over and I said: ‘Hey, I added an extra page. Tell me what you think.” And so she flipped to the back of it, and she saw it. And, you know, then she freaked out and I got down on one knee and, ah, she said ‘Yes’.” As for Nickelback’s future recording plans, Kroeger has recently said: “We haven’t got any plans. We’re not in any hurry to start recording anything just yet.” However, when asked about James Bond movies, Ryan Peak has admitted that the band would be “totally interested” in doing a Bond song, and says one of his favourite villains is Oddjob from the filmGoldfinger. Chad Kroeger adds that he was impressed by Roger Moore in the role of Bond: “Everyone’s favourite Bond is always Sean Connery,” he says. “But I loved Roger Moore. He was a great Bond. With his English accent, Roger Moore was just the quintessential Bond for me. He was a great Bond.” The band’s vibrant personality shines through equally in their interviews and their performances. For us, the stand-out moments of this magnificent concert were Chad Kroeger’s immensely passionate rendition of How You Remind Me, and a searing seven-minute drum solo from Adair that electrified the entire Du Arena. We were really pleased to be able to meet some fans who had travelled long distances to see their heroes play. We met Robert Wallingford from Mayfair in London. He said that he loves spending time in his home neighbourhood’s sophisticated galleries and restaurants, as well as those in neighbouring Knightsbridge. He’s seen the band perform on four previous occasions, but wanted to experience them in Abu Dhabi. “Each time the band played was superb,” said Robert. “But I have never seen them play better than this.” We also met Anna Farleigh, from Los Angeles, Nevada. She agreed with Robert that Nickelback had excelled themselves this evening. “The emotion is just so raw and so powerful – it really speaks to me,” she enthused. Robert had taken a first class flight to Abu Dhabi, while Anna had travelled by private jet. Both were accompanied by private security on their trips to the world’s greatest Formula One destination, and agreed that it was the little luxuries like this that brought the peace of mind needed to turn a good trip into a great one. When the band closed the showwe were so disappointed – but they promptly followed with a brilliant encore performance, to the delight of all us screaming fans. Our only regret was that they couldn’t go on playing encores all night. But we still had Eminem to look forward to the next evening...