Review: Linkin Park

Photos by Timothy Finn/The Star

The fusion of nu-metal and rap was an inevitable marriage that is older and more interesting than many of the bands it made most famous. One of the those bands is Linkin Park, six rap/rock-loving boys from California who have been one of the most commercially successful bands of this young century.

Wednesday night, they headlined a show at Sandstone Amphitheater. Nearly 8,000 fans showed up -- a decent turnout these days.

Above: Lead singer Chester Bennington has an atypical hard-rock voice.

However, for a band with an 8-year-old diamond-certified debut album (at least 10 million sold), the respectable size of the crowd signified a couple of things: Linkin Park hasn't lost many of its more devout fans; but its sound -- a mix of rap, electronica and hard rock -- has lost some of its contemporary punch. Rap-rock isn't a classic-rock yet, but it's headed that way.

Linkin Park has apparently recognized that. It's touring on last year's double -platinum "Minutes to Midnight" album, which features several rap-free and anger-free songs that qualify as Top 40 rock ballads -- like the hit "Leave Out All the Rest."

They sang that one Wednesday. They sang the indie-rock ballad "Shadow of the Day," too, which sounds like it could have been written by the Goo Goo Dolls or U2. Despite their relative gentility, both songs prompted some loud sing-alongs, proof, I suppose that LP is drawing some new fans and/or the old ones who have stuck around are adapting to the shift in sound.

Above: Mike Shinoda, Linkin Park's co-pilot, resident rapper and producer.

But those weren't the highlights. The bigger moments of the 90-minute set were the best-known songs off the "Hybrid Theory" and "Meteora": "One Step Closer," "Somewhere I Belong," "Breaking the Habit," "Crawling" and "In the End" or the heavier new stuff on "Minutes," like "No More Sorrow," a jack-hammer rock anthem. After eight years on the road (and nearly 70 this year) the boys in LP have shed most of their body fat musically; they are lean, hard and tight. Chester Bennington isn't the typical heavy-rock lead singer. Live, when he cranks up the volume, his voice climbs to a pitch and register that recalls Billy Corgan's and  Dennis DeYoung's. He can horror-scream his way through a rant, though, as he did during "Given Up."

They ended with a heavy dose of older stuff, including three encores. At one point, Bennington leaped off stage and into the crowd, where he got plenty of vocal support from the friendly mob (men and women) that attacked him. His band not filling amphitheaters these days, but many of the fans who show up in 2008 are as ravenous as they were when his band was young and its scene was relatively fresh.

Setlist: One Step Closer, Lying From You, Somewhere I Belong, No More Sorrow, Sink or Swim, Live What  You Learn, Given Up, From the Inside, Leave Out All the Rest, Numb, The Little Things You Give Away, Breaking the Habit, Shadow of the Day, Crawling, In the End, What I've Done, Faint, Bleed It Out.

Comments

[Gary Dean]

And what was really great about this show was the band sold the show live at the merchandise booth

I wish all band would do this
I know KC band Shooting Star is doing this now.

What great way to remember the show you just saw.

Gary

[Tim Finn]

... the exotic dancing was nice, too.

[david]

An all-around terrific show that far exceeded my expectations. Even the opening acts (Ashes Divide and Atreyu) played tight and compelling sets.

Tim,
I saw that the Cure show was on your list of best shows of the year. I attended both, am a bigger fan of the Cure, but would have to put the LP show WAY ahead of the Cure. Even if Robert Smith had his full voice, the energy and spectacle of the LP show, for me, puts it ahead of the Cure show.

Of course, like your earlier blog post said, it's all subjective.

[Tim Finn]

I'm neither a fan nor a detractor of LP (however after listening to the "Midnight" album so many times this past week, I appreciate it a lot more than I used to.) I'll buy that: more energy. But I'm an apologist for the Cure, especially when the lead singer is flu-stricken.

[david]

BTW Tim,

have you posted your thoughts on the redesign of Sandstone? Last night was the first time I have been there since the removal of the upfront seats. From my perspective, with a sample of one show, I thought it works great.

Bands like LP and Atreyu seem to peform better when the upfront crowd is made up of the moshers. I doubt that the venue will work as well for the Jack Johnson show.

[Tim Finn]

I prefer this setup to the old one. A lot of those seats way up front were for season ticket holders, many of whom didn't really care about some of the shows or didn't show up. It definitely makes it easier for the hard-core fans to get close.

[mankvill]

LP is one of those guilty pleasure bands I remember from my junior high years. Well, I'll say that about the first couple of albums. I've heard the latest and they've lost their charm for the most part. If I knew the setlist beforehand, I might've tried to go to this.

For heavy metal news/reviews in and around KC, click my name to see my blog!

[Gary Dean]

I didn't realize it until I saw my pictures, But the Guest Singer was Chester Bennington of Linkin Park

I got some great pics of that.
How cool for the headlining band singer come out with the opening band

[Gary Dean]

If you go to youtube and use keywords Kansas City and Linkin Park
There are quite a few good videos out there even a couple with Chester benniniton singing with ASHES Divide