On Nickelback's Tour, Music _ and Pranks

06/01/2004 1:17 PM, AP
Kerry Smith

Nickelback has discovered the perfect pastime for life on the road — the fine art of playing pranks.

Recently, lead singer Chad Kroeger planned retaliation for a previous prank. It involved the band's bus driver and a lightning storm (which shook the tour bus) and resulted in incriminating photos of the band and crew sitting on top of bags of garbage, protecting themselves from lightning.

"This joke traveled for a good week and a half," Kroeger told The Associated Press during a break before the band's upcoming summer tour.

Kroeger and his antics could put Ashton Kutcher out of a job, but for now, he's content being the frontman for the multiplatinum-selling, Canadian-based rock act. Best known for hits such as "How You Remind Me," they'll be hitting U.S. amphitheaters and pavilions with 3 Doors Down and Puddle of Mudd.

Nickelback is meticulous in the planning of their concerts.

"We have a very scientific approach," Kroeger said of the band's set list. "We like to know what songs have done best on radio, because in different places, different songs have done better. When we get up to Detroit and around there our early stuff was huge, it stayed up at the top of the charts for a long time. So we'll pull out stuff that we haven't played in a while."

Onstage, it's all about the music. But after the show's over, it's back to the pranks — and the guys know to watch their backs for the night.

"The guys say, `Don't ever do anything to Chad,'" Kroeger joked. '"And make sure he doesn't know where your toothbrush is.'"

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Tour Dates:

June 30: Milwaukee

July 3: Bottineau, N.D.

July 6: Clarkston, Mich.

July 7: Cincinnati

July 9: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

July 10: Tinley Park, Ill.

July 11: Burgettstown, Pa.

July 13: Mansfield, Mass.

July 16: Hershey, Pa.

July 17: Camden, N.J.

July 24: Atlanta

July 27: Little Rock, Ark.

July 30: Spring, Texas

Aug. 13: Sturgis, S.D.

Aug. 14: Morrison, Colo.

Sept. 4: Seattle