Finally, the Linkin Park Review

I’m really, really sleepy right now since I had a really wild time last night watching the Linkin Park Concert. Finally after days of waiting, I finally got to watch the group whose music I have been listening to for the last 3 years. I know it’s either you hate them or you love them so don’t read this entry if you are one of those people who don’t like them.

I left my office at 6:15 and got to the venue at around 6:30. The concert was supposed to start at 8:00, but there was already an extremely long line snaking around the venue. As luck would have it, I was just walking towards one of the entrances, when they suddenly opened an extra gate so I just ran there and got in earlier than a lot of other people. I know it was so bad of me to do, but hey I have to grab every opportunity right?

I managed to get a good spot near the barrier of the SGD 85 section. That meant I would have a good view of the stage. This being an open field venue with no chairs meant a lot to someone like me, especially since I decided to go by myself to the concert.

The real down side to this concert is all the waiting we had to do. Since I got there early, I had to wait for 2 hours. Then at 8:30, the front-act started playing after being introduced by 2 dorky DJ’s from some local radio station. Unfortunately, it was a Korean band that vaguely sounded like Linkin Park if they singing in Korean. Just use your imagination. After that, we had to wait for another hour before Linkin Park finally came out to play. It was already 9:30 and I was there at 6:30. Of course, once they started playing, pandemonium just broke out.

I purposely went on my own so I could go crazy if I wanted to without worrying about any of the other people around me. I was jumping and screaming out all their songs during the whole performance. Since I was in the area full of high school kids, we were a pretty rowdy section. Luckily, I was wearing my heavy hiking boots so I was not easily pushed around. With all the jumping around though, it got really, really warm in our area and it became hard to breathe. The organizers had to start distributing water or throwing water at the audience. Still, it was no surprise that some people actually fainted and had to be carried away.

Although I had a lot of fun, I found that a small part of me was unimpressed by the concert. I was looking for that feeling of being in awe since I was watching one of my favorite bands live. Maybe my expectations were too high. They look so ordinary in person. Growing up listening to all sorts of rock groups, I’m used to lead singers who look strange and have a really strong presence on stage. Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda looked like regular guys who I would not notice if I passed them on the street. Prior to the concert, I was listening to my CD of “Linkin Park: Live In Texas” and it was almost the same play list they used for last night. But still, I felt there was something missing when I was watching last night.

I’m really glad I watched the concert of Linkin Park. It’s something I wanted to do since last year, when I almost went to Malaysia just to catch their concert in KL. However, it’s something I would only do once. I’d just stick to listening to my CDs where they will always sound like the perfect band to me.