ATS Sucks Live?

[Geki]

Is it just me or do the songs from ATS suck when they are performed live? I think all of LP's other albums translate very well live, even LT. Honestly, even if you love ATS, you must agree that a lot of the songs from the album do not translate well? The only one that ever translated well IMO, was WTCFM. What do all of you ATS lovers think?

[thedamian58c]

I would say that it depends, on the setlist, performance etc. I really like all songs (not the instrumentals) live from ATS. The Catalyst sucks when the vocal effects are added, without them the song sounds beautiful. ATS songs live do not sound good if there's too much of them in the set, like there was in 2010 and 2011. Another important factor is the place in the setlist, I wouldn't put WFTE before OSC, but before Numb it's ok.

[hahninator]

I might be in the minority but Burning In The Skies when I saw it rehearsed like 5x was GREAT. I only wish I could have seen it at an actual show. Anyway, the problem was the flow of the setlist to me.

 

To me, the biggest mistake that Linkin Park made was to NOT perform A Thousand Suns in full on tour. They could have done South America, Europe/Mideast, Australia, North America, and Asia (maybe swap it up for Europe 2011 Summer) with a setlist like I have below. Play Robot Boy normally and then for the ending with the layered vocals just get Mike, Phoenix and Chester to replicate it the best way possible. It wouldn't sound bad.

 

A Thousand Suns World Tour (featuring the album in full)

 

The Requiem

The Radiance

Burning In The Skies

Empty Spaces

When They Come For Me

Robot Boy

Jornada Del Muerto

Waiting For The End

Blackout

Wretches And Kings

Wisdom, Justice, And Love

Iridescent

Fallout

The Catalyst

The Messenger

-------------- (5 min break here, then change up nightly or have 3 variations of what's next:)

No More Sorrow

Papercut

Faint

Given Up

New Divide

Breaking The Habit

In The End

What I've Done

A Place For My Head

One Step Closer

 

Then at the end rotate in Crawling, Given Up, Leave Out All The Rest, Shadow Of The Day, From The Inside, etc. Whatever they wanted to do.

 

This would let the CD be presented in full and you'd get the full experience of ATS. To this day, the ATS songs still don't fit into the setlists right lol. Reviewing the songs live from my opinion:

 

Burning In The Skies: Didn't think it had any problems. I liked it a lot. I'd personally still be performing it live and have it before Numb (but if I was in the band I'd drop Numb lol)

When They Come For Me: Best live song from the CD. Comes off flawless.

Waiting For The End: Struggled in 2010-2011 big time to me. When Chester was mixed lower on the rapping + they added the intro/outro in 2012+ then it became great. I like it a lot now.

Blackout: Chester can't nail it, but we all know that. Otherwise I thought it was good. Fan favorite and it's a really unique song.

Wretches And Kings: Second best live song from the CD. This one could be done mid set and still get energy going. I loved the London setlist when it didn't open. It fit perfectly with those other songs.

Iridescent: So tired of the sampled vocals on the bridge But it's an ok song. Not a big fan...ready for it to go. It didn't SOUND bad at all though.

Fallout/The Catalyst: The "muddy" vocals took a while to get used to but I love the song now. It sure didn't fit in the HCT setlists but Catalyst is one of my favorites on the album at the end of the day. I thought it was good live 2010 and I still think it's good live now.

The Messenger: Zero problems here. The added drums and piano are great.

 

If anything, add Wretches and WTCFM in for 2014 and keep them there. BITS maybe a little appearance in one set. Don't just play Catalyst and WFTE. Give Catalyst a break at least and maybe WFTE too.

[gorast]

I think a lot of it is contextual. The Catalyst never really sounded all that great in a live setting to me, but I think Iridescent and Waiting for the End both sounded great, especially Iridescent. WTCFM is, of course, a monster (as was Blackout) and The Messenger sounded fine because Chester realized that the album take was fucking awful. Wretches and Kings was a decent show opener, too.

 

Was Burning in the Skies ever done live? I can't imagine that would ever be good in a live setting.

 

I have a particular love for the live version of The Radiance, because Mike's vocals always sounded so great with the effect on them.

 

The album, though, is really dependent on existing as a studio piece overall, though, and I completely understood dropping most of its tracks after the ATS tour.

[hahninator]

Was Burning in the Skies ever done live? I can't imagine that would ever be good in a live setting.

Yes. Late 2010 through all of 2011.

[GlassCastles]

The album is meant to be experienced in one sitting, not in small sections. There are a few songs that can stand alone, WFTE, Blackout, WTCFM, and W&K are the primary examples. Iridescent kind of works too. Honestly, they should have played the album in full and then played a heavier "encore" of 7-10 songs, which would make for 22-25 song sets, average for the ATS cycle.

[gorast]

Wow, where the fuck was I for that? Must not have left a huge impression on me.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

If you play the whole thing live many people would get bored as hell Plus it has many slow moments.

[ChuckCheese]

Can't agree more with Mark that ATS purely just needed to be performed in full for a tour. That's what would have made it great.

 

The interludes such as Jornada, the piano one after Numb, Wisdom, Justice, & Love, and Fallout all killed the flow of the sets, as did the full songs themselves. None of them ever sounded BAD to me, they just had a hard time fitting in with the other songs.

 

Burning in the Skies never did much for me although I do fucking love the solo during the bridge. I never thought Chester sounded good on this song. This song never seemed to manage to excite the crowd either, I guess it's too obscure for people to sing along to or get excited about.

 

WTCFM is a monster, of course. Need it in every set.

 

WFTE didn't sound too good during the ATS tour, the Apaches intro and Wall of Noise outro really helped it along in 2012. Solid live song, Chazzy sounds fine on it when he's not rapping.

 

Blackout was fucking AWESOME to see live. Band really jams on it and it's definitely a fan favorite. No real complaints on it, never thought Chester sounded too bad on it, and the Mr. Hahn breakdown is a highlight of any set that it's in.

 

Wretches & Kings I fucking love on every DSP and in every video I've seen of it. Would kill to see this beast of a song live. Works great anywhere in a set, as an opener or midset. Would personally love to see that shit open an encore. Always translated super well live, sounded great, got a lot of crowd participation. Good times for everyone.

 

Iridescent puts the crowd to sleep. Doesn't sound too bad, Chester is a hit or a miss for the chorus. Sampled vocals on the bridge makes me sad. Song is just too slow and not in an epic way like TLTGYA.

 

The Catalyst. Started off pretty shaky at first but Chester eventually became able to nail it every night. I think this is a great one live, good energy from the band and you gotta love that ending. Chester throwing screams around on the bridge adds a lot of hype as well. Only problem with this song is finding a good place to put it; fits in kind of awkwardly in the sets.

 

The Messenger always sounded great to me. Drums definitely helped and getting the whole crowd involved makes it pretty fun. Chester always sounded at the top of his game for this song thanks to the change in key.

[danielpsoad-09]

I pretty much agree with most of what has been said here. When I saw LP in 2010 and 2011, the interludes kind of killed the flow of the show. Apart from that, I think the ATS songs sound great live. WTCFM is probably the one I enjoy the most live. When they opened with W&K I had a blast even if it was only weeks after the album had been released.

It'd be great if they keep WTCFM on the new tour. I'd also like to see WFTE since it's one my favorite songs. If they're going to keep some mid-tempo/soft songs, I hope that's the one they keep.

[Joe_lp]

ATS so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! god it's the worst album LP has ever done. Chester cant nailed BITS, Blackout, The Messenger is a wast of time, the interludes... god. Horrible!

[Broman]

I don't think ATS sucks live, that just depends on the band, whether they are having an on or off day (which usually depends mostly on how well Chester does). That goes double for practically all their albums.

One of my favorite performances done by the guys is KROQ 2010. They performed flawlessly, the best Catalyst, WFTE, and Iridescent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6mDo2_Rg8

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

I don't think ATS sucks live, that just depends on the band, whether they are having an on or off day (which usually depends mostly on how well Chester does). That goes double for practically all their albums.

One of my favorite performances done by the guys is KROQ 2010. They performed flawlessly, the best Catalyst, WFTE, and Iridescent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P6mDo2_Rg8

 

First time I watch that video I only had audio for those, I feel like a n00b

 

AMAZING PERFORMANCE WONDERFULBRILLIANT

[Southpaw262]

ATS so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! god it's the worst album LP has ever done. Chester cant nailed BITS, Blackout, The Messenger is a wast of time, the interludes... god. Horrible!

I agree. That's what happens when electronics combines with Rock. Not a good idea. Living Things is somewhat better. If only the band had the balls to play every song from the album.

[RogueSoul]

I agree. That's what happens when electronics combines with Rock. Not a good idea.

You poor, poor man.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Søuł

[LinkinMark]

In answer to the question in the title, no...no it doesn't

[Twiilite]

I'd say within the context of the rest of Linkin Park's heavier/more energetic/aggressive setlist, songs played from A Thousand Suns are just regularly seen as the low points of the set. There's just no way in hell that a song like Iridescent is going to pump up the crowd as much as Faint or With You for example. I do however think that Blackout and When They Come For Me kick copious amounts of ass live, and The Catalyst in 2012 was absolutely fantastic.

 

In a setting designed for less energetic music however, I think A Thousand Suns would shine brighter than most of their material easily.

[FearOfTheDuck]

I agree. That's what happens when electronics combines with Rock. Not a good idea.

 

You mean like the band's entire catalogue?

[hahninator]

 

You mean like the band's entire catalogue?

 

LOOOOOL

 

Waiting For The End is a damn anthem right now. Apaches hits like a bomb. From the bridge to end of the outro, LP is jamming. I hated WFTE more than ever in 2010 and 2011, but they really fixed the song starting in 2012. Chester rapping SO LOUD over Mike is now fixed (thank you Pooch).

 

Drop everything else from ATS except When They Come For Me, which kicks major ass live. The songs don't translate super well in the set besides these two.

 

I am on team "save Chester's voice" so let's not get Blackout or anything like that in there.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

I would drop Given Up in favor of Blackout, the set needs that song... hardcore fan favorite!

[1996_LP]

When they come for me transitioning into Wastleands would sound epic live. I hope they twist up the sets next tour just to bring WTCFM back for that reason alone.

[RogueSoul]

When they come for me transitioning into Wastleands would sound epic live. I hope they twist up the sets next tour just to bring WTCFM back for that reason alone.

+1

[Geki]

The more and more than Mike does vocals live instead of Chester, the less and less I will go to a LP show. Chester is my favorite member of the band and 80% of why I love LP's music is because of Chester. I probably wouldn't even listen to LP anymore if Chester was no longer in the band, no lie. I want to hear Chester at live shows, he is the frontman of the band, etc, I expect to see him up front, etc.

[Southpaw262]

The Catalyst isn't that good live. Chester sounds bad with the vocal effects.

 

Chester's voice breaks on The Messenger, most noticeable on the second verse. The live performance is a big letdown. It's so low pitch, and doesn't show his vocal ability. Probably would have killed voice though.

 

I don't know why they choose to play The Messenger with a different tempo than play Robot Boy in full (4 YEARS LATER)

[Geki]

The Catalyst isn't that good live. Chester sounds bad with the vocal effects.

 

Chester's voice breaks on The Messenger, most noticeable on the second verse. The live performance is a big letdown. It's so low pitch, and doesn't show his vocal ability. Probably would have killed voice though.

 

I don't know why they choose to play The Messenger with a different tempo than play Robot Boy in full (4 YEARS LATER)

 

I actually prefer the studio version of The Messenger by a lot. I know that literally 95% of the LP fanbase HATES the studio version of The Messenger (which is almost fact because of how many people complain about it), but I love it. Chester's voice is so raw and emotional in the studio version. I enjoy the live version as well, just not as much. The low pitch is pretty nice and soothing, while the studio version has so much raw emotion that I could cry listening to it. And also Mike said that it would be almost impossible for them to play Robot Boy, but he said maybe a stripped down version could work or something. I don't really count the clip of Robot Boy that they have been playing, but I guess someone could count that if they want to.

Edited July 12, 2014 by Geki