AltWire Interview w/ Mike & Live Show Discussion

[GlassCastles]

I still believe there are only 5 singles the band really has to play. In The End, Numb, What I've Done, New Divide, and BURN IT DOWN, not including the singles from the new album which, as we've seen, most people really don't know beyond Until It's Gone. But, yeah, 5 songs. Beyond that, the band could really do whatever. They just choose not to.

[ChuckCheese]

Not sure why he says the fans would only vote for old demos and stuff. As if they can't control the options we would have to vote on? Don't make demos and b-sides a choice then lol. And don't list the obvious songs that you're going to play anyways, such as ITE, Numb, WID, BID. That's just cheap. Even if it ended up being only one or two rare songs in the set, that's still an improvement. I would take it. A fan voted setlist kind of deal is a very simple thing to do. Come up with a regular set, and then have one or two spots where you can rotate songs, those songs being the ones that are voted on for each show. Pretty simple. They could even limit our choices to only a few songs; as long as they're songs that aren't regularly played, then we're good.

100% agree with Mark's post about not changing the set much for the upcoming winter tour. They've had more time before and made THREE radically different sets. Saying that there's no need to change much because they're playing cities they haven't been to in awhile is dumb, you KNOW that the same people who attended Carnivores are coming to this tour as well. Either the people that live in the winter tour cities traveled to see Carnivores, or the Carnivores attendees are traveling to see the band again. No excuse for not changing the sets that much.

 

I'm really kinda shocked at this band refusing to play every song off their albums now. LT has FIVE songs that have never been played before ever and I doubt they ever will be. And the band said that album was made to be fun to play live. They say the exact same thing about this album, and if they only add one more song, then that makes another five songs that won't have been played. No idea what stops them from debuting these songs. At least trying them. The band stopped playing HHH because they said it never really translated well live, but they still played it for FIVE tours straight. At least attempting songs they've never played before would be appreciated.

[HyruleKing]

For me the reason of not changing setlists for these tours is that they want play all these singles and they want to drop them. Infact when they will have to add other THP songs I think they will sacrifice more "rarer" stuff that is on the set. And this is the reason why I always criticised them for these tours. Mike has always said that they didn't want to make Safe Music for THP and they wanted to carry their own flag again this kind of revolution against this kind of stuff. And the setlists express the opposite of this mentality. The band is not brave enough to take risk and dropping some safe music for something more rare or hardcore. And is funny for me because this kind of setlists works perfectly well with the LT Tour, and the 2012-2013 setlists are perfect for THP Tour.

 

Regarding the voting for the setlist, I voted for Metallica by request for the show of Rome and I voted ten singles. But in my opinion Metallica are different than LP because (at least in my opinion) almost all of their singles represent part of the best stuff that Metallica did in their carrier: they didn't any songs for radio or for a well selling except Escape (that Hetfield hates and they don't want to play it). instead 60% of the best stuff of LP are not a single. And if you ask me a Linkin Park by Request could not work in the LP case (even if I like this idea a lot), because they so much different stuff that everyone has its own tastes. They will end to have to reharse almost their entire discography for a tour.

Edited November 19, 2014 by HyruleKing

[Rasputin 93]

I'd take every possibility to vote for the setlist of the concert I attend !!!

 

I read all the arguments and agree with pretty much every single one

[arasLP]

I'm very disappointed by their laziness about setlist changes. I agree with Mark and I cannot understand how playing the same setlist for a year can make them enjoy the live shows and put energy and excitment in every show... if I was in a band I would be bored by playing the same shit over and over again, without surpises, even if it was the best setlist ever made (and it's not LP's case). They're using excuses to justify their laziness but it's just ridicoulus because we, as hardcore fans always up-to-date with setlists, know the truth, we know what they did in the past and what they don't wanna do nowdays, we know what they could do. They're not making a good impression, for sure. And I find it weird and funny that LT was a weaker album but had better and full of energy setlists, while THP is a better album, visceral and so on but they never change setlists and they play soft stuff like COG experience (even though I like it now that it has ATS speeches), shortened stuff, without playing the fucking APFMH everybody wants and without big surpises. If this album was written to be played live, it's time they fucking prove it. They should put other 3 songs from THP (or 2 + Drawbar) and some cool stuff like APFMH, NMS, BTH, By Myself, WTCMF. With a cool rotation of setlists they could do it without having to cut too many songs they feel the need to play. And it's time to change the structure of the whole setlist. I like it, but this structure divided in acts kinda limits them, IMO, like it needs the presence of instrumental interludes, a specific order of songs, I don't know how to explain what I mean, but this setlist's structure prevent them from adding or cutting songs as required. New year, whole new setlist, this should be the right thing to do.

 

I like the idea to vote setlists... of course we all know that casual fans would vote for singles so the setlist wouldn't change that much, but there is the chance to have them play at least 2 or 3 different songs that they usually don't play. I also think that they could include the chance to choose 1 song for every show as a bonus for LPU fans. If LPU fans can have benefits like early entry and M&G, why can't they also choose a song they really want to see played live? Or, if it's too much, they could at least give them the chance to choose a song they want for a tour and than choose another song for the next tour.

[Geki]

I really would love to hear 'Keys To The Kingdom'. I understand that they can't play every song off of the album, but they should at least play a few. Some of the songs on the album would translate so well in a live setting...

[sublimeric]

LP shows will continue to be boring (after you've seen a webcast or attended a show) unless they do a full album tour. I'd buy one of their $100 tickets to see that, but unless something drastic happens, I'm done with the Linkin Park concert experience.

[hahninator]

LP shows will continue to be boring (after you've seen a webcast or attended a show) unless they do a full album tour. I'd buy one of their $100 tickets to see that, but unless something drastic happens, I'm done with the Linkin Park concert experience.

 

This used to not be the case but I agree with you now. In 2008, Rock In Rio and Madrid made me STOKED for Projekt Revolution, and then LP decided to drop Reading My Eyes, A Place For My Head, and Valentine's Day, and narrow down the super rare Pushing Me Away studio version to just one setlist. I really couldn't believe it.

 

In 2011, the ATS setlists got pretty boring after WTCFM (when it went soft for 35 mins...nap time). In 2012, I was very skeptical but the Bristow show blew me away. Camden and Alpharetta's setlists....holy shit. Best encore ever. I'd go to 10 shows if they had a bigger tour for Honda Civic Tour.

 

2014...back to the same thing that you said. I saw 9 Carnivores shows and was extremely bored after a few of them. They used to roll with 3 alternating setlists and small changes at each show, and talk to the crowd. Lots of energy. This seems like one big theatrical show piece with zero breaks in it. And tons of shortened songs.

 

Please change it up for the USA tour.

[sublimeric]

 

2014...seems like one big theatrical show piece with zero breaks in it. And tons of shortened songs.

 

Please change it up for the USA tour.

 

Exactly. I actually loved the current set(s) when I saw the first webcast. Still dug it on the second webcast. But by the 3rd or 4th, when you know what's coming next, I got bored. The current set would be cool for a DVD or a movie theater showing, but I'm of the same mindset of those who go to a bunch of shows (like Hahninator) and know the band can do so much more.

 

I think LP will change up the format and go back to 3 setlists or something different, either this tour or next. The set as is looks and sounds great, but it's too close to being a "show" instead of being a rock concert.

[Geki]

Not sure why he says the fans would only vote for old demos and stuff. As if they can't control the options we would have to vote on? Don't make demos and b-sides a choice then lol.

 

I think it's both hilarious and awesome that Mike said that because he knows that people would only vote for the nu-metal stuff, he was being semi-sarcastic, IMO, which is great. It seems like the hardcore LP fans (LPL, LPA) only want to hear stuff from like 2000 or prior and nothing from the new albums.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Geki

[hahninator]

 

I think it's both hilarious and awesome that Mike said that because he knows that people would only vote for the nu-metal stuff, he was being semi-sarcastic, IMO, which is great. It seems like the hardcore LP fans (LPL, LPA) only want to hear stuff from like 2000 or prior and nothing from the new albums.

 

I'd consider myself an extremely hardcore fan and I'd love to hear a range of rare stuff from And One to A Line In The Sand. I'll always take anything I haven't ever seen live, even if it's Skin To Bone. If I had to personally pick, I'd throw Lost In The Echo in any setlist I'd ever make and Powerless too. When They Come For Me should be a staple. Burning In The Skies and Valentine's Day are both underrated tracks that you'd probably agree with me on. As much as I'd like to see A Place For My Head, there's plenty of other stuff I'd love to see as well too.

[Geki]

 

I'd consider myself an extremely hardcore fan and I'd love to hear a range of rare stuff from And One to A Line In The Sand. I'll always take anything I haven't ever seen live, even if it's Skin To Bone. If I had to personally pick, I'd throw Lost In The Echo in any setlist I'd ever make and Powerless too. When They Come For Me should be a staple. Burning In The Skies and Valentine's Day are both underrated tracks that you'd probably agree with me on. As much as I'd like to see A Place For My Head, there's plenty of other stuff I'd love to see as well too.

 

I'd consider myself an extremely hardcore fan as well man... I've been to 19 shows, seen their side projects live a number of times, I buy everything they release in physical, have LP tattoos, etc. I definitely see where you are coming from and I actually agree with you a lot of the time. I love stuff like Burning In The Skies and Valentine's Day, you're right, those are great songs and I would love to see them performed live again. Powerless is one of my favorite LP songs and it has a deep personal connection with me and I also love Lost In The Echo as well. But you have to be realistic because they aren't going to drop In The End, Numb, What I've Done or New Divide anytime soon because those are their biggest hits. But that is only 4 songs, leaving TONS of room for rare songs and new songs. I agree with you there, they should be adding new songs to the set, but those 4 songs should not be dropped. Instead, drop shit like Given Up, Castle Of Dance, Ballad Medley, etc. That would free up about 10 minutes or more right there.

Edited December 3, 2014 by Geki

[GlassCastles]

How about we don't wish for CASTLE OF GLASS to be dropped?

Edited December 3, 2014 by CASTLEOFSASSEXPERIENCE

[Catalyst619]

How about we don't wish for CASTLE OF GLASS to be dropped?

 

I second this. Castle of dance is really fun when you're physically there.