Nickelback will take the stage for the 2011 United WayThanksgiving Halftime Show during the first game of the NFL's tripleheader when the Detroit Lions host the Green Bay Packers at 12:30 p.m. ET. The game and halftime show will be broadcast live on FOX.
"We are honored to perform at the United Way halftime show on Thanksgiving Day," commented Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. "We always love playing in Detroit, our fans there have been tremendously supportive of us through the years and we can't wait to come back and celebrate an exciting day for the Lions and the city of Detroit."
In addition, American Idol Season 10 runner-up Lauren Alaina will kick off the game in Detroit with the national anthem. She will be joined by PLAY 60 youth ambassadors from the NFL Youth Education Town -- Boys & Girls Club at the Dick & Sandy Dauch Campus in Detroit, a United Way agency. The PLAY 60 youth ambassadors will then help form the fan tunnel during player introductions.
The halftime show, highlighted by Nickelback's performance, aims to inspire viewers to LIVE UNITED®, United Way's call to the public to get involved in the community by focusing on the building blocks of life: education, income and health. Now in its 38th year, the United Way/NFL partnership connects NFL PLAY 60 with United Way's 2018 goal to get 1.9 million more young people healthy and active.
Designed to tackle childhood obesity, NFL PLAY 60 brings together the NFL's long-standing commitment to health and wellness with partner organizations like United Way. PLAY 60 is also implemented locally, as part of the NFL's in-school, after-school and team-based programs. Since the program was launched in 2007, the NFL has committed more than $250 million to youth health and fitness through programming, grants, and media time for public service announcements. The NFL and its teams have built more than 100 NFL Youth Fitness Zones and organized more than 1,500 PLAY 60 youth events since the campaign launched.
"We're grateful to Nickelback for donating their time and resources to the United Way Thanksgiving Halftime Show," said Tracey Holmes, NFL partnership director at United Way Worldwide. "Nickelback is demonstrating how they LIVE UNITED® by giving something back during the holiday season."
This is the 13th year that United Way has worked with the NFL on the Thanksgiving Halftime Show to inspire NFL fans across the country to get engaged in their communities. Previous performers at the Thanksgiving Day Halftime Show have included Detroit-native Kid Rock, Mariah Carey, Bon Jovi, Mary J. Blige, John Mellencamp, Enrique Iglesias and the Goo Goo Dolls. It takes hundreds of people from throughout southeastern Michigan volunteering their time and talents to deliver the 10-minute show, which is produced annually by sports/entertainment company e2k.
Nickelback, one the biggest rock bands in the world with sales of over 45 million worldwide, has sent 18 singles rocketing onto various Billboard charts, have won three American Music Awards, a World Music Award, a People's Choice Award, 12 JUNO Awards and earned five Grammy Award nominations. Nickelback was the first band in Nielsen BDS history to send five singles from one album onto the CHR charts. The band has had over 132 million You Tube video plays, has almost twelve million Facebook likes and have sold over five million concert tickets making them one of the top live acts in the world. The Nickelback song "Burn It To The Ground" was the third-most played song at major league sporting events for the 2009-2010 season.
Nickelback's seventh studio record "Here and Now" will be released Nov. 21 on Roadrunner Records, a Warner Music Group label. It is the follow-up to 2008's hugely successful Dark Horse, which has been certified three-times platinum and the now classic "All The Right Reasons," which spent 112 consecutive weeks in the Top 30 of the Billboard Top 200, was certified eight-times platinum in the U.S. and sold more than 11 million copies worldwide, topping charts in four countries.
Nickelback performed four sold-out shows in the Detroit metro area on the "Dark Horse Tour" with over 60,000 tickets sold and has sold over 92,000 tickets in the Motor City on their last two tour cycles. They have sold over 319,000 albums and 450,000 singles to date in the Detroit metro area.
Lauren Alaina's critically-acclaimed debut album "Wildflower" recently landed at No. 2 on the Billboard's Top Country Album chart and an impressive No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200. She became the youngest female artist to debut this high on the Billboard charts since LeAnn Rimes' debut 15 years ago and is the best-selling country female debut since 1996.
