State Fair lands Nickelback for its opening grandstand act for 2017

After twice canceling Twin Cities concerts last year, Canadian rock band Nickelback will be the 2017 Minnesota State Fair's debut grandstand act, fair organizers said Monday.

Tickets for the concert, priced at $65 and $80, go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. for the Aug. 24 performance.

Additional grandstand artists will be announced periodically throughout the next several months leading up to the fair's Aug. 24-Sept. 4 run.

Tickets for Nickelback will be available through etix.com, calling 1-800-514-3849 or the fairgrounds ticket office during a limited-time opening from 10 a.m. to noon Friday. The concert ticket does not include admission to the fair.

Even with more than 50 million albums sold, the born in the 1990s band from Alberta is routinely the target of derision by self-styled musical purists and others. Comedian Jenna Kim Jones said: "Candy Corn is like the Nickelback of candy. I don't know anyone who likes it, but it's selling out everywhere."

Max Rymer, who this year was an underdog legislative candidate running to represent Bloomington, took this firm stand on Twitter: "People have asked me about my position on Nickelback. I am against."

Sayers of nay aside, Billboard listed Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" as the bestselling rock song of the 2000s. The 2005 album "All The Right Reasons" featured five U.S. top 20 singles: "Photograph," "Savin' Me," "Far Away," "If Everyone Cared" and "Rockstar."

Nickelback's last Twin Cities appearance was 2012 at Target Center. In 2015, the band twice canceled a scheduled tour stop at the same venue, once for a March 6 date because of a family emergency. Then the July 25 rescheduling was scrapped because band member Chad Kroeger needed voice box surgery.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482