If you’re looking to put down your concert travel money on a band with some pedigree, you couldn’t do better than hard rock band Nickelback, whose last album All the Right Reasons has sold 11 million copies.

Chad Kroeger, Nickelback

The album also spent a stunning 156 weeks on the Billboard charts – a 11 year record broken only this month by Taylor Swift, whose first album has been squatting on the charts since Nov 2006.

Nickelback is now the 2nd most popular foreign band in the US, in terms of the sheer number of Nickelback tickets sold, with only the Beatles ahead of them.

The long road to hard rock nirvana stretches all the way back to 1995 and Alberta, where Chad Kroeger used to hand nickels back to his customers at Starbucks. In between then and now, Nickelback has earned 26 awards and 68 nominations, including 5 grammies.

Their latest album Dark Horse, released last November, debuted at No. 2 on the charts. Shows they have what it takes to keep churning out the good stuff, and stay at the top.

The Nickelbacks – Chad Kroeger, his brother & bassist Mike Kroeger, guitarist Ryan Peake and drummer Daniel Adair, have been on the road all year long, and notched up an impressive 60 concerts across North America, with more shows in Europe and Australia.  

Nickelback is now saddling up again for the first leg of the 2010 Dark Horse tour which brings them cantering back into North America, with Shinedown and Breaking Benjamin as the support acts.

The lead single for Dark Horse is ‘Gotta be Somebody.’   Here’s the full list of all the concert venues and dates for the North American leg of the 2010 Dark Horse tour.

April 06, 2010  London, ON – John Labatt Centre
April 08, 2010 Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre
April 09, 2010  Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
April 11, 2010  Ottawa, ON – Scotiabank Place
April 13, 2010  Washington, DC – Verizon Center
April 14, 2010  Hampton, VA – Hampton Coliseum
April 16, 2010  Greenville, SC – Bi-Lo Center
April 17, 2010  Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum
April 19, 2010  Orlando, FL – Amway Arena
April 21, 2010  Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena
April 24, 2010  Tulsa, OK – BOK Center
 May 02, 2010  Prince George, BC – CN Centre

Want previews of what you can expect? Here’s a few videos from Nickelback’s 2009 Dark Horse tour – 1, 2, 3, 4

Chad Kroeger photo by Elwedritsch