Not ‘Forgotten’ but ‘One Step Closer’
Take over at the LG Arena as nu-metal giants Linkin Park storm in for their world tour following the release of their new album ‘A Thousand Suns’.
After the release of their new album ‘A Thousand Suns’ Linkin Park were faced with mixed reviews. People claiming they were desperately trying to create a new genre or that it didn’t sound like them. Making everyone nervous about their tour; many were afraid they wouldn’t play material from their old incredible nu-metal albums as the songs wouldn’t mesh with the new. Linkin Park also had the added pressure of having won the 2010 EMA award for ‘Best Live Band’; their reputation was hanging on this tour.
The support act for Linkin Park was ‘Does it offend you, yeah?’, an electro, rock, punk, dance band from Reading. Judging by the crowd they were not ‘well received’, to be polite. Their set consisted of what they dared call ‘Punk’, an insult to legends of punk such as ‘The Sex Pistols’, which translated to the audience as nothing other than noise. They had screeching that replicated a train’s brakes on a cold day, lyrics which were inaudible and just caused discomfort when listening. The stage was very dimly lit with strobe lighting blinding the audience, adding the effect of a night club not a world tour for a monster band like Linkin Park. ‘Does it Offend you, yeah?’ failed to provoke a small mosh pit, even from boredom, it seemed as if the audience were asleep where they stood/ sat. From their set it is obvious that they belonged in a ‘rave’ at a club and not in an arena.
After this sluggish start Linkin Park could not have come sooner. As the arena darkened the eerie voice heard on ‘The Requiem’ echoed from the sound system running straight into a video with the start of ‘Wretches and Kings’; a wave of screams followed as members of the band came on one by one. Chester Bennington knocked out track after track, hardly coming up for air. Everyone soaking up the energy the band was continuously throwing at them; the audience had definitely recovered from the fatigue the support had caused.
The band shot down the rumours that they wouldn’t play their older material, mixing tracks from their three older albums, ‘Hybrid theory’, ‘Meteora’ and ‘Minutes to midnight’ with the new. ‘Faint’ and ‘Numb’ being just two of the songs that got the crowd going. To break up the endless reeling out of songs, Chester asked the audience if anyone could play the guitar to the tracks on ‘Hybrid Theory’. Many screamed and raised hands with probably only half telling the truth, one being the lucky Christopher who joined the band on stage to play ‘Crawling’. All of Linkin Park welcomed Christopher on stage as if he were one of their own; funnily he was wearing the same shoes as Mike Shinoda. Christopher was the ultimate fan, who got a once in a lifetime opportunity and didn’t disappoint with his performance.
They finished for a 20 minute interval before coming back to do the ‘encore’ which was long enough to be a second half. Stresses of performing showed when Chester got some of the words wrong to ‘Leave out all the rest’ even though he had the lyrics printed out and stuck on the stage beneath him. This aside the whole band gave an electric performance that did not fail to impress. Some could complain that the hour and a half set was too short for the price of the ticket (£44.50), nevertheless the decibels of screams in that arena proved that everyone had an epic time.
Words and Photographs: Gemma Harling
Take over at the LG Arena as nu-metal giants Linkin Park storm in for their world tour following the release of their new album ‘A Thousand Suns’.
After the release of their new album ‘A Thousand Suns’ Linkin Park were faced with mixed reviews. People claiming they were desperately trying to create a new genre or that it didn’t sound like them. Making everyone nervous about their tour; many were afraid they wouldn’t play material from their old incredible nu-metal albums as the songs wouldn’t mesh with the new. Linkin Park also had the added pressure of having won the 2010 EMA award for ‘Best Live Band’; their reputation was hanging on this tour.
The support act for Linkin Park was ‘Does it offend you, yeah?’, an electro, rock, punk, dance band from Reading. Judging by the crowd they were not ‘well received’, to be polite. Their set consisted of what they dared call ‘Punk’, an insult to legends of punk such as ‘The Sex Pistols’, which translated to the audience as nothing other than noise. They had screeching that replicated a train’s brakes on a cold day, lyrics which were inaudible and just caused discomfort when listening. The stage was very dimly lit with strobe lighting blinding the audience, adding the effect of a night club not a world tour for a monster band like Linkin Park. ‘Does it Offend you, yeah?’ failed to provoke a small mosh pit, even from boredom, it seemed as if the audience were asleep where they stood/ sat. From their set it is obvious that they belonged in a ‘rave’ at a club and not in an arena.
After this sluggish start Linkin Park could not have come sooner. As the arena darkened the eerie voice heard on ‘The Requiem’ echoed from the sound system running straight into a video with the start of ‘Wretches and Kings’; a wave of screams followed as members of the band came on one by one. Chester Bennington knocked out track after track, hardly coming up for air. Everyone soaking up the energy the band was continuously throwing at them; the audience had definitely recovered from the fatigue the support had caused.
The band shot down the rumours that they wouldn’t play their older material, mixing tracks from their three older albums, ‘Hybrid theory’, ‘Meteora’ and ‘Minutes to midnight’ with the new. ‘Faint’ and ‘Numb’ being just two of the songs that got the crowd going. To break up the endless reeling out of songs, Chester asked the audience if anyone could play the guitar to the tracks on ‘Hybrid Theory’. Many screamed and raised hands with probably only half telling the truth, one being the lucky Christopher who joined the band on stage to play ‘Crawling’. All of Linkin Park welcomed Christopher on stage as if he were one of their own; funnily he was wearing the same shoes as Mike Shinoda. Christopher was the ultimate fan, who got a once in a lifetime opportunity and didn’t disappoint with his performance.
They finished for a 20 minute interval before coming back to do the ‘encore’ which was long enough to be a second half. Stresses of performing showed when Chester got some of the words wrong to ‘Leave out all the rest’ even though he had the lyrics printed out and stuck on the stage beneath him. This aside the whole band gave an electric performance that did not fail to impress. Some could complain that the hour and a half set was too short for the price of the ticket (£44.50), nevertheless the decibels of screams in that arena proved that everyone had an epic time.
Words and Photographs: Gemma Harling
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i agree the support was not up to much, linkin park were very good such a shame about the lighting on stage and yeah 44 quid was a lot for wat you got
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