28-06-2008 Project Revolution

Venue: LTU Arena, Düsseldorf (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

Another day, another arena.
This time I was in Düsseldorf in the LTU arena, which is located right next to the airport. I didn’t like this one as much as the SAP arena because the LTU arena was too huge, too many entrances and it was a huge concrete building: too huge and cold, very impersonal but more commercial…

Many many people were waiting outside already in long queues while I was looking for where I have to go in. About 20 000 people were expected and the few tickets left at the door were sold soon. Many people were selling their tickets around the parking lot area though, which was weird. Some people always sell their tickets, that’s normal, but somehow tonight there were a lot of people doing so…. Oh well, not my problem.

I was still running up and down through the crowd, from one “responsible” to the next, trying to find out how and where and what was going on, but not many people seemed to know and it was not organized that well. Or maybe I am just too spoiled, I’m not sure, anyways somehow about two hours later I finally figured everything out I needed to know, got everything arranged and was able to go in, my Project Revolution could begin as well now.

Project Revolution is an annual tour since 2002 with several bands and Linkin Park as headliner, and since 2007 it is also taking place in Europe. In the US there are usually two stages, in Europe only one.

The first band was already done playing as I came into the arena, I totally missed them and I didn’t even know who I missed. Now I read it was the band Innerpartysystem, but I have never heard that name before. There were six bands playing tonight: The first one already done, the The Bravery, The Used, NERD, HIM and Linkin Park still coming up.

As I entered the dark venue The Bravery were already getting ready for their show. The Bravery is a band from New York, founded in 2003 playing indie rock with electronic elements. As they entered the stage and began to play I was somehow astonishes and surprised. I had expected them to sound different. Rock with electro vibes got the crowd going, somehow reminding me of The Killers, The Bravery convinced me with their great sound. Way softer and more melancholic than I had expected, yet great. They had a lot of yellow stage light. The drummer had a 60s style. Their second song was a new one, a very quiet and slow one. They were wishing us good luck for the soccer finals the following day. The Bravery played for 30 minutes only and closed their set with a faster and quite danceable song.

Up next was The Used. Four guys from Utah rocking since 2001. Their music can be described as post-hardcore or screamo. They were much louder, faster and more aggressive music wise than The Bravery, and the audience clapped along. The singer rolled around on stage quite a lot and used the f-word all the time. He animated everybody to shout for him and with him, and the audience did. They played for a little over 30 minutes.

Next were the NERD, 20 minutes late so I missed them since I had to go out and meet up with somebody…. I didn’t even see their last couple songs because due to the delay they had to shorten their set. Too bad, but it sounded like the audience had fun.

Back inside just in time for HIM, I was in the photo pit now, so I could see these five Finns very well. But that also meant they could see me… The stage was fairly high.
Ville was welcoming the audience in German. The drummer was hidden behind three glass walls were Migé always stood in front and made faces. When he wasn’t doing that he played bass in total ecstasy. Ville sort of flirted with the girls in the front row and Burton wore the same sunglasses as me. They all seemed very happy, smiled and laughed a lot, not only because of the jokes they made which were mostly insider jokes so that only they were laughing. They played songs from all albums including my favorite “Soul On Fire”. Ville spoke even more German like “Das ist wunderbar” (That is wonderful) or “Ich liebe Schlager” (I like Schlager) and continued with “Funeral Of Hearts”. There was an odd echo in the arena during the HIM performance, but nobody seemed to care or even realize it. Ville played a lot with his voice. After all thank-you’s they closed with “Rebell Yell”. Now really everybody in the arena seemed to be waking up, cheering and yelling along big time. After 50 minutes play time they left the stage after the final instrumental outro.

The audience now went back to their soccer anthems, singing them very loud and talking about the upcoming last match again. I didn’t care too much for it, more for getting a new band-aid and trying not to think of the hunger.

With a delay of 20 minutes the last band of this Project Revolution tour entered the stage: Linkin Park. This time without stuffed animals flying to the stage, but the audience going wild and singing along as always. Chester wasn’t jumping around that much this time, but it was still a very energetic performance. Screaming his lungs out, which he did especially during “Given Up”, Chester got everybody thrilled. Mike rapped something before they began with “Runaway”, then he sang a short song for the people in the pit. Chester wore a wristband with a German flag on it and Mike hung up a flag in front of his keyboard, wishing us all the best. In the background of the stage there was a huge screen where they showed videos. Somehow there were many roses on it especially during “Numb”. Chester played guitar during “Shadow Of The Day” and Mike held the mic into the audience again during “Crawling”, on they went with “What I’ve Done”. Everybody sang along to “In The End”, and the audience even sang the bridge all by themselves without Chester or Mike. Some fan had a “I  PHX” shirt, Mike wanted it and put it on showing it to Phoenix. They sped up the pace of “Bleed It Out” but went back to the normal speed after the first verse. During the drum solo Mike hung up the new shirt at the drums. As everybody left the stage Chester stood still all by himself in front of the cheering crowd letting the atmosphere and everything sink in until he left it as well. They came back for an encore which Joseph began again and played the same three songs as encore as last time: “A Place For My Head”, “Faint” and “One Step Closer”. Then, after 1 hour and 20 minutes it was all over.

Now we only had to wait till we could leave the parking lot, which took a little more than an hour… *sight*

Links:
The Bravery MySpace
The Used MySpace
N.E.R.D MySpace
HIM MySpace
Linkin Park MySpace