11.10.2001 Cleveland, OH, CSU Convocation Center, Family Values Tour

[Biel]

Review By Rachael's

 

Last year, on October 11th, 2001, I went to the Family Values 2001 concert in Cleveland, Ohio. We got there kind of late, so we missed part of the first act. For the life of me, I can't remember who it was. Walking in, we were surrounded by people wearing Linkin Park shirts, stickers, and patches. I was familiar with LP at the time, but nowhere near how I am now. Anyway, there were people following these wierd signs, and I'd later learn that they were LPU meet and greet signs. We turned away from the huge security guards, and walked to our seats. Sitting down, Spike 1000 was playing, and because they annoyed the hell out of me, I went to a souviner stand and decided to spend some of my cash.

Happily taking my purchases (an LP shirt and picture) back to my seat, I was forced to sit through another horrible opening act before LP. I talked to the people sitting around us, and then... the curtain opened.

Brad, with crutches, was on his guitar, Joe his turntables, Phoenix his bass, and Rob his drums. Mike and Chester were nowhere to be seen, and then, out of nowhere, Chaz comes running onstage, and screams, this loud, piercing, beautiful scream. Everyone is immediately on their feet, and Mike walks out, and begins "With You." I don't remember exactly what order they played the songs in, but in between "Crawling" and "A Place For My Head," Chester stopped everything and started talking. He was like: "Hey everyone. We love and appreciate every one of you. Thanks for coming out here tonight to see us play. This tour has been awesome for everyone, except Brad, who as you can see, is on crutches. He broke his foot earlier this month, but he still hasn't missed a show." Everyone started clapping, and Brad took one of his crutches and waved it around in the air.

Anyway, they played every song off of "Hybrid Theory" except "Cure for the Itch." Mike and Chester had gone to sidestage for a few seconds, and when the came back, both were wearing black wifebeaters. "It's too hot in here," Mike explained. "Papercut" was amazing, becuase there were all of these flashing lights, and Mike looked so cool standing on this little thing over the audience. The second last song they did, "In the End" got this amazing reaction from the crowd, because it was their newest song, and everyone loved it. Not many people knew all of the words, but there I was, in my own little section, leading maybe twenty people through the whole song. At the part where Chester goes "I put my trust..." he sang the first part, then Mike looked at us smiled, and said "You've gotta help us... sing!"

So we did. Everyone sang the final part up to "But in the end..." and then Chaz and Mike started singing again. After that song, they clapped for us, and dubbed us "the Linkin Park Choir" even though I know that they do that everywhere, it was an amazing sight to see all six of them clapping for us, and telling us what a great job we did. Rob started tapping his drum set and Mike looked out at the crowd. "This is the first show on the FVT this year," he said. "So we apologize if our set sucked." Everyone clapped, and then he smiled again. "Good. Well, we thank you again for coming out, and we know that you know this one, so please help us out, ok?"

The intro to their last song, "One Step Closer" played, and the crowd went nuts... I almost got knocked out of my row because everyone was so crazy. Near the end of the song, Mike went offstage and down onto the floor with everyone in the pit. Some girl grabbed his mic, and started singing into it, and she was passing it all around to everyone. The band just kept singing, and Mike finally got the mic back, just in time for the end of the song. He stayed down there for maybe five minutes, just talking to people, shaking hands, and hanging out. The on-stage five said their goodbyes, and the curtain closed, hiding them from view. Mike waved too, and then disappeared underneath the stage. After a twenty five minute wait, Staind came on. I enjoyed their set, too, but it was nothing like LP's.

Those guys are amazing. Onstage and off. They seem like really nice people, and I plan on going to see them again, if they ever decide to come back to Cleveland. They sounded great, and it seemed like they'd taken a lot of time to make themselves sound good for us. The live show sounds nothing like the CD, which is a good thing, because the CD does nothing to showcase the vocal abilites of Mike and Chester. Or Mr. Hahn's DJ skills... he's amazing. Remy even appeared at the show.

I advise everyone to go see Linkin Park if they get the chance. If you're a fan of anything they've ever done, you'll love the concert. I wasn't diasppointed in any way, what-so-ever, except that I didn't get to meet them, but that's fixed now. I'm a member of the LPU, and get to meet them at the next show I go to. On a scale of 1- 10, the show was probably a 35. They had tons of energy, and you could totally feel it. They worked the crowd, had fun, and let the fans know that they were important to them. GO LINKIN PARK!

 

Source: http://www.angelfire.com/rock3/linkinpark10/cr1.html

 

 

Edited February 10, 2010 by Biel