At the top of the music critics' MUST HATE list have always been the post-grunge/alt-metal acts Nickelback and Creed. This is because they sound so much like each other that sometimes Nickelback vocalist Chad Krueger wakes up and thinks he's Creed vocalist Scott Stap and vice versa.

"Hey, Scott," Krueger says sheepishly, calling Stapp on the phone, "I took your Mom to the grocery yesterday by mistake."

"No worries, bro," Scott says. "She loves pears, doesn't she? Oh, I wrote a new tune called 'Coin for the Ferryman,' but you already did it. I also picked up your dry cleaning."

In this spirit, I hope I'm correct when I tell you Nickelback is playing tonight at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Not Creed. I actually listened to all of Nickelback's latest album, "Feed the Machine," and while theirs is not my favorite style of music, it's certainly got plenty of energy and hooks. I can see why they sell millions of records. And only half of those are purchased by people who think they're buying Creed albums.

Nickelback, 7:30 tonight, Mohegan Sun Arena; with Fozzy; $39-$79; 1-800-745-3000.