22,26-10-2010 Linkin Park

Venues: Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart & Westfalenhallen, Dortmund (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries. Its following studio album, Meteora, continued the band’s success, topping the Billboard 200 album chart in 2003, and was followed by extensive touring and charity work around the world. In 2003, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth greatest band of the music video era and the third best of the new millennium behind Oasis and Coldplay. Having adapted the nu metal and rap metal genres to a radio-friendly yet densely-layered style in “Hybrid Theory” and “Meteora”, the band explored other genres in their next studio album, “Minutes to Midnight”, which was released in 2007. The album topped the Billboard charts and had the third best debut week of any album that year. The band has collaborated with several other artists, most notably with rapper Jay-Z in their mashup EP “Collision Course”, and many others included on Reanimation. The band’s most recent studio album “ A Thousand Suns” was released on September 8, 2010. Linkin Park has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and has won two Grammy Awards.

Linkin Park had just released their new album “A Thousand Suns” and are currently on world tour with this album. During this world tour they also stopped in Germany where I got to see them twice. The new album was a little odd at first listen and totally did not fit to the previous releases of the band. Now, after having seen the new album live I must say that everything makes sense now. The new album is meant to be performed live. An awesome show where audio and visual come together and build an entire new world, at least for as long as the performance lasts, and also giving the band a whole lot more to express themselves and to do different stuff during their performance. The stage was built in a triangle shape, a stairway in the back as well as drums and programming where Joseph Hahn was standing at were higher so everyone could see them well even though they were in the back. Behind the band there was no backdrop but lamellas coming together in a triangle which were movable and uses as screen for music videos, trailers and other light and visual effects. Stuttgart was sold out, Dortmund was almost sold out. More than 10 000 fans had gathered in the venues to see their favorite band perform. Music For Relief was asking for donations at the door and the LPU (Linkin Park Underground) fan club was present as well. Almost everybody wore a Linkin Park band shirt. Unfortunately I missed their opening act from the UK called The Futureheads both days. But right in time for Linkin Park to come on stage I could hear the immense cheering even before Linkin Park went on stage. The audience was going insane and clapping as well as singing along to old and new songs. The few old songs the band played received a louder cheering during the intro tunes though. The band used every second on stage to make it not only an audio experience but also a visual with light effects or the video screen. The light was matching the music perfectly well. Every tone was illuminated to an extraordinary show that you would never forget. All the critics of fans about the new album were forgotten within an instant because all the sudden everything made sense. The intros to the new songs included either video snippets with statements about politics or others or a light show, during the new songs especially Chester did not only play guitar but also drummed for a while when not running around with a flash light to put even more action into his words. The band never stood still not even for a second. Chester was jumping around on stage or even going down into the pit to be close to the fans, but also Mike moved around a lot on stage. There was a whole lot of energy in the room and the vibe was simply amazing. The cheering was immense and everybody was highly impressed by the amazing show. There were also little screens on each side of the stage, during the songs the screens including the big triangle screen sometimes showed the band, parts of their music videos or other video material. Linkin Park performed for about 90 minutes including 20 minutes encore and a couple acoustic songs. Each Linkin Park show felt like a story being told from beginning to end and everything made sense all the sudden. Impressive is the least I can say about it. Each show is being recorded live and released after mastering. Make sure to check them out on their world tour when Linkin Park is stopping by in or nearby your city. You will not only be impressed but also see things in a different way afterwards, not only their new album “A Thousand Suns”. It was a pleasure to see them perform again and I can’t wait for them to come back and I am excited to see what they have planned then.

Links:
Linkin Park Official