(I was there!) September 5th 2024 Experience/Review

[InTheEnd370]

*** Skip to about mid section of page 2 if you only care about the event / review *** 

 

*** Skip to last paragraph for TLDR and questions ***

 

A Short Acknowledgement

 

Before I begin this review, I want to thank my good friend Bryan for indirectly reminding me to sign up for the chance to go to the event as I had forgotten about it. I also want to thank my homie Hyde for telling me to check my spam emails. 

 

Before the Event

 

After many days of speculation among the fandom and the constant teasers from LP’s social media platforms, we finally got MUCH MORE than what we expected. It all started with the now infamous countdown, followed by the cryptic message “September 5th, be a part of something.” 

 

When I got the email to sign up, for some reason I forgot about it for many hours until my good friend Bryan sent me a Linkin Park post on Instagram which immediately triggered me to go back to my inbox and carefully read the email. I signed up for it, not thinking much of it as I usually don’t get lucky in lotteries. I then told my girlfriend and multiple friends to try their luck. Weirdly enough, I was the only one chosen among my close circle and so I ended up going alone.   

 

The process of actually getting there was kind of complicated for many reasons. First of all, I work a full-time job and I didn’t have much time to prepare, so I started brainstorming ideas on what to tell my boss so I could leave work early without compromising my job. Luckily, it all worked out just fine in that regard. 

 

Another issue I ran across (which was mostly my fault) was that on the day of the event, I received my ticket pretty early on. I had everything planned. I left work around 10:30 am, got home an hour later and thought, “Well, I haven’t gotten the location yet so I have time to eat and relax.” I started eating and as I did so, I started getting worried. “Where the fuck is the email with the location? They can’t seriously expect me to get there within an hour, right?” So I started panicking and texting my friends. One of them, Hyde, suggested I should check my spam inbox. In fact he told me this earlier but I didn’t think much of it for some reason. And well, guess what? I check the spam section and there it is. Email sent at 8:21am. The secret location: Universal Studios ET Parking. Level B1. “Fuck!” It was 12:05 noon at this point. I chugged my coffee and rushed to get ready. I called an uber and luckily I was there by 12:40. 

 

So I arrived at Universal Studios and ended up getting lost for a while. I went down to the B1 level without crossing the ET parking bridge. There was nothing. Not a single person. I panicked and started rushing back upstairs and luckily I found a security guard who was kind enough to give me instructions on where to go. I crossed the bridge, went downstairs and there it was… a huge line full of LP fans and about 20-25 white shuttles. Now I had heard this rumor earlier. They were going to transport us to the real secret location. In fact, my mom told me about this. Crazy, right? She told me she heard it on the radio and I just laughed at the idea. But it was true. I got in line and to be frank, I didn’t really wait much. I think 25 minutes at most. I passed the security check, got my ticket scanned and received a cool lanyard with LP’s new logo. We also picked a random color bracelet. Red is my favorite color so that’s what I chose. More on this later.

I then got inside the shuttle and waited probably about 30 more minutes before we started moving. Fortunately the shuttles had great AC and at this point I was just texting and being anxious about what was going to happen next. The truth was that I had no idea what to expect. After Chester’s passing, and Mike working on his solo projects for seven years… I don’t know. I had heard rumors about a new vocalist, about a new project, and whatnot. So I was hopeful but skeptical. 

 

The Secret Location

 

The shuttles finally began moving on the way to the secret destination. They never told us where we were going. It was just a bunch of die-hard LP fans oblivious to what was coming next. It didn’t take long to get there. We passed through the Universal Studios tour area where the Jaws section and little Europe are and then went on the street. After a few minutes, there it was… Warner Bros Studios. The secret location. People were cheering full of excitement as the bus came to a stop. We waited about 5 more minutes for instructions. Single line and no pushing. As we walked out of the bus, we could see it. A huge pink LP logo. It was amazing. A sight to behold. We then entered the large studio and there it was… the stage. Linkin Park was going to perform! It all seemed so surreal to me. The room was dark and spacious. Now, up to this point I was very impressed with how organized the event was but here’s where my one criticism comes. Once we entered the studio, we were basically on our own. People could have pushed their way to the front row if they really wanted to. Not only that but I had a bottle full of water and I managed to be super close to the stage. In fact about the fourth row of people. I could have easily thrown the water bottle at Mike and ruined the show (I would never) but that could have happened. I think security should have been more strict in this regard but luckily there were no incidents of this kind. 

 

The Livestream / Event 

 

So there I was, in a dark room full of LP fans. I was excited, but I was still wondering how everything was going to play out. After some minutes of waiting, the strobe lights began to light up and create some sort of pulsing effect towards the center of the ceiling, right on top of the main stage. As the seconds passed, the pulsing turned faster and faster until the band began to come out. Now, you’ll have to forgive me but I consider myself a huge LP fan in some regards, but I’m not 1000% knowledgeable on all the facts, lore, inside jokes, and members. To me LP was Mike and Chester. That’s all I knew (of course I knew it was 6 dudes, I just didn’t know all of them by name or every single fact about their lives like some hardcore fans). Why am I telling you this? Well, when I first saw the band come out, I didn’t notice Rob Bourdon was missing and being replaced. It’s interesting, but like I said,  to me the band was (for the most part) Mike and Chester, so on the percussion side of things, I didn’t notice a difference. Again, I’m not very knowledgeable on music so to me it sounded great and didn’t notice any differences at all.

 

“It’s good to see you again…”, said Mike and it began. 

 

Cool light intro (the band started playing The Requiem). Not much to say about it. It was cool, but I was never too familiar with this track. What came next was insane. The Emptiness Machine. Emily started to sing. Now admittedly, at this point I was so in-the-moment that I didn’t even realize this was their new single. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like you’re there but you’re not really there. You’re just overwhelmed with so much emotion and everything is happening so fast and your body is just trying to process everything. All in all, it was a killer performance. You could tell this track was a bridge for LP to hype up Emily Armstrong’s vocals and it fucking worked.  

 

Up next: Somewhere I belong. I teared up. I don’t know what happened. I think this is when I realized what was happening. I was there. I was watching Linkin Park live yet again. After seeing them at the Carnivores Tour in 2014 at the Hollywood Bowl and then fastforwarding to 2017. I never thought I would experience this again. So my emotions just came out. As I sang along this track, a tear ran down my cheek. Now, objectively speaking, the vocals were a bit forced, but a solid performance. Livestream audio doesn’t do it justice. 

 

Next was Crawling. Okay performance. Letting the crowd sing was not a great idea looking back at it. I think Emily was nervous at this point and was trying to find the right vibe. Forced vocals all in all.

 

Lying from You came after. Really good performance. Struggled a bit on vocals but overall great.

 

The Catalyst. Not much to say. Not my favorite song.

 

Waiting for the end. A super underrated track in my opinion. Very solid performance. The vocals were different from Chester’s for sure, but I think it still goes well with the track and now that we are touching on this subject let’s be honest: LP is not looking to replace Chester. That’s impossible to do. Chester was a legend. One of a kind and this is not to diminish Emily. This is just pure facts and she would be the first to acknowledge this as a fan herself. Overall I think she did great and was probably one of the best choices LP could have made when tackling this new obstacle. 

 

Numb. More on the Jay Z version. Emily’s voice was perfect for this song. I dug it. Though it was missing Chester’s power and range. 

 

One Step Closer. The room turned red. Fucking incredible. Perhaps the best and most hype so far. Emily did GREAT, especially in the “shut up” solo. For the most part, the fandom 100% agrees, I believe. 

 

Crowd kept yelling, “Emily! Emily! Emily!” We were all vibing.

 

Lost was next. A very different, softer version. I liked it. Short and sweet and very emotional. Beautiful voice. 

 

What I’ve done. You can see Emily gained a lot of confidence here. Very solid performance. 

 

A short light show began before In The End started playing. To preface, In The End was my favorite song during my teen years. I recognized the iconic piano intro and my body was ready. Then Mike said, “What's up y'all? How are we doing down here?” as he pointed at us. 

Mike started going up to people while performing the song. It was epic singing along to my favorite song once again. I hadn’t had the chance to do it since 2014. Was I fangirling? Fuck yeah, I was! 

 

Faint. Mike fucking killed this performance! It was so awesome! Emily really shined here too. Although a bit of strain on her voice, she was definitely getting used to this whole “Linkin Park thing.” 

 

The band then left the stage momentarily.

 

ENCORE TIME!

 

Papercut. Mike performed really well here. This was all him! Emily joined in and sounded great. 

 

Emily then started joking around and talking about how she had to learn how to sing in 8 months LOL. Mike announced a new tour, album, music video and other things. 

 

Emily then shouted, “Let's turn this into a party. Let’s turn it into a real fucking party with this one, alright?”

 

Bleed it  Out started playing.  Great fucking closure. I don’t know what else to say. I was speechless. 

 

Post Show

 

I’m not going to lie, I thought I was there for two hours or more, but turns out the event only lasted about one hour and 20 minutes. Maybe a bit less. I was so happy and content with what we got, but to top it all off they announced there was merch available! “Excuse me?” People then started rushing to the area where the merch was. Luckily the event thought about this. Remember those random color wristbands? Yeah, I guess picking red was a good fucking idea. It was red’s turn. Everyone with the red wristband was to make a line and get the merch first. “Fuck yeah!” I got on the line, which moved pretty quickly and got myself 1 sweater, 1 shirt, and 1 CD. A total of about $135. Absolutely worth it. The hoodie is heavy and has great quality print. I think the $75 price tag MIGHT be a bit too much, but at least it’s somewhat backed up and justified with the quality of the product plus the exclusivity of it. Items were limited to only 1 of each per person. All of these products have the September 5th date on them, so you could only get them then and there. In my opinion, it would be a mistake not to buy at least one of everything (which I almost did) but decided to pass on the tag and one other shirt design. Though looking back at it, I probably should have just gone for it. Anyway, the shirt was $40 and I got the one with the pink logo on the back. The print quality is solid but looks fragile. I will have to be careful when washing it. Lastly, the CD I think was $20. I’m actually unsure since I just picked everything quickly and left. The CD is NOT the new album. It features the new single The Emptiness Machine in two different versions: album and instrumental. At the moment of writing this review, I believe this was an event exclusive item as I don’t see it on the LP store or anywhere else. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. 

 

 

 

More Surprises

 

So I got back on the shuttle with all my merch and my throat sore from all the screaming and singing. I was tired, but happy. I was hopeful for the future of LP and I started to fantasize about next week. Yeah, they are performing next week already. Crazy. Anyway, we arrived at Universal Studios and as we walked out of the parking lot they handed us a pin, a card with a QR code, and best of all, a numbered poster (only 1500 made). This was fucking amazing. As a collector of art toys and memorabilia I was super happy. 

 

TLDR / Conclusion 

 

The event was amazing. I’m excited to see what Linkin Park’s future holds. Emily, in my opinion, did great. I saw a lot of mixed reactions which is unfortunate but we have to accept the reality and move on. It has been 7 years of pain and wait. Now we are here. Now we start FROM ZERO and I welcome Emily with open arms. I also want to say that Mike did so much throughout those 7 years to hold the band together and just like he said, people process someone’s passing differently. It seems like the fandom is still processing, but me? I’m ready to move forward. Let this new era begin. Let’s fucking go! 

 

So what did you think of the event? Were you there? If so, what was your favorite part? What did you buy? What poster number did you get? And did you scan the code? Tell me all about it! 

[Rasputin 93]

Awesome review!

[NimaLP]

That was so fun to read. Thank you for this review.

[InTheEnd370]

2 hours ago, NimaLP said:

That was so fun to read. Thank you for this review.

Thank you for reading! 

[Vinescence]

Great review! I didn't hear the crowd chanting "Emily" during the live stream, which I loved to read!
Thanks for sharing

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

fuckign amazing i had a blast while reading this thanks for sharing

 

quick question

 

before the show did any of the fans had a clue that Emily was the new singer? did they talk about her? or was it totally unexpected?

 

 @LPLStaff same question for you man 

[InTheEnd370]

20 hours ago, JZLP-RoadsUntraveled said:

fuckign amazing i had a blast while reading this thanks for sharing

 

quick question

 

before the show did any of the fans had a clue that Emily was the new singer? did they talk about her? or was it totally unexpected?

 

 @LPLStaff same question for you man 

Well, I didn't talk much with others but personally I had heard rumors and her name thrown around before the show so I assume some people must have known or at least suspected. 

 

Also, thanks for reading. Means a lot ! 😀

 

 

On 9/8/2024 at 5:57 PM, Vinescence said:

Great review! I didn't hear the crowd chanting "Emily" during the live stream, which I loved to read!
Thanks for sharing

I can tell you that the livestream audio doesn't do the event justice. Being there was 10000x better! I appreciate you for reading 🙏