Nickelback play Detroit football halftime show, post respose to angry Lions fans

Think Chad Kroeger is sweating the whole thing? Hard to tell
Think Chad Kroeger is sweating the whole thing? Hard to tell (Image credit: MSA/Icon SMI/Corbis)

Chart-toppers Nickelback breathe that same rarefied air as bands like Journey and KISS - in that for every fan that adores the group, there's one or two folks, just as passionate, who swear they have no reason to exist, let alone enjoy outrageous success.

And it was this latter portion of the public that made its presence felt in the past few weeks after it was announced that the Canadian rockers would headline a Thanksgiving halftime show during the Detroit Lions' Thanksgiving face-off with their arch rivals, Wisconsin's Green Bay Packers: over 55,000 people signed an online petition demanding that Nickelback be removed from the big event.

In the end, Nickelback played the big show, but as you can see in the above video, their appearance was greeted rather tepidly. Be that as it may, however, the guys in the band have demonstrated that they don't take themselves as seriously as their detractors might think. Check out the above below, in which the band meets with their "label reps" to discuss how they can diffuse the Detroit Lions situation.

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.