07.08.2007 - Atlanta, GA, Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre

[hahninator]

Prepare for a massive read. All details are included.

 

Well, I had quite a streak of bad luck for LP shows. I was determined to go to the Summer Sanitarium show in 2003 but I was told I was too young, and for PR04 Atlanta, it fell on a school night.

 

This time would be different.

 

I was positive I was going to be there no matter what the next time that LP tore my city down. I was waiting and waiting for the new album, and finally when we heard it was going to come out, I was quite excited. The rumors started to trickle in for the band to do Projekt Revolution again, and wow people were getting hyped. On May 7, the band finally announced PROJEKT REVOLUTION 2007. Hell yes!!!!! And guess what? Atlanta was there! I would be attending this time.

 

Unfortunately, the show fell on my 2nd day of school, but that's alright. I went to school that day and was excited the entire damn time. As soon as my school day ended, I headed on up to the amphitheatre to see my favorite band. Upon arrival, we parked and I was just excited as could be as I walked through the sandy parking lot full of hundreds of cars that contained LP fans blasting any song they could find. Live In Texas, Collision Course, Hybrid Theory, Meteora, Minutes To Midnight, Reanimation - I heard it all. I walked in as HIM started Wings Of A Butterfly, and I thought to myself "Wow this is going to be great". As this was my first real show at Lakewood, I had no idea what to expect. The first thing I did was go buy the live CD, which I kept in my pocket the entire time.

 

I got to my seat and was really excited since I was dead center and was actually pretty close (a few rows from the last row in the middle section...like 12 rows back but a beautiful view). I watched HIM and thought they actually were pretty cool. The crowd didn't give them much (only 1 girl I saw LOL), but it looked like they were filming something kinda since some guy with a HIM crew shirt was walking down the aisles with a massive camera.

 

Anyway, so they went off and I decided to walk around since Taking Back Sunday was next, and I didn't like them. Prior to the show, I had applied for an LPU M&G and I didn't receive one of course, so I was like DAMN, well maybe there's some way I can meet the band. I walked around the right concourse and actually some LPU'er came up to me and asked me where the spot was to meet, haha. I told him I had no idea. Anyway so I walked around some more and tried to find that spot, but I could never find it! I decided to try the left concourse, but I had no luck there either. However, I did run into Placebo signing at a table, so I stood like 2ft from them and said hi and watched it while people got stuff signed (I didn't really need/care for their autographs).

 

Then I walked back to the right side and I had an idea. If I could somehow find someone associated with the band, I could meet them. Holy shit if all the luck in the world was with me at one time, I found someone! An LP crew member and said hey man wait a second, and he turned so I said to him that yeah I didn't get a M&G, I was a hardcore fan...would love to say hi to them if there was anything he could do, but if not, that was ok. Surprisingly, he said OK!! I was floored. Omg. He told me to wait by this bench and he'd come back for me in a little bit. Well I thought at first he would let me down, but 30 mins later, he came back! He gave me a wrist band from the LPU with the date on it, and told me to wait in this line over by this fence. Wow! I was so excited...I would finally meet Linkin Park.

 

When I got over there, I waited and waited with these people...I was in the back of the line. Some guy told us DO NOT take out a camera or anything for them to sign anything with...we'll give you a signed poster later. Then he said they would take a picture of us with the band. Wow!!! So I waited and waited more, which turned out to be a long long wait. By the time we got to go through this little gap in the fence, MCR had just finished "Welcome To The Black Parade"...like over an hour after I had talked to the guy. That's ok though.

 

I was standing by the fence while the line slowly moved, and I became friends with this guy Jay and Ben. Ben was like a 30 year old guy that had roadtripped on the Meteora World Tour 04 to see them, and we talked, etc. Jay was his 7 year old son who loved LP. Actually on Pr08 in Atlanta I saw them but I was too far to say anything. I hope I run into them again as they were really cool people. Anyway, so as the line kept moving, I became REALLY nervous. Like really really nervous. LP was like 20 feet from me and I had forgotten what I was going to ask them.

 

So the line moved a bit more and I looked through a crack in the fence...I saw Brad's hair. Wow. So then I moved through the gap and could see more of the band...and then I saw an LP security guard. I asked if he knew XXX (LP security guard name removed), and if so, if he could tell them hi from a friend of mine. He said sure. Anyway, while that was happening, it turned out the band was waiting for me - I was holding up the picture. As I started to turn, Chester came and put his arm around my shoulder..OMG. Absolutely epic as anything. He pulled me over to beside him and Mike and then they took the picture. I shook all their hands and I said "Hi Mike. If you play Hands Held High, I swear we'll sing it." I didn't know what else to say, so that was it. He laughed at me and was really nice. Rob, Chester, and Mike were the nicest guys ever. Brad shook my hand, Joe was hiding behind a curtain so he didn't say anything or smile (grr), but Phoenix shook my hand and as he did it I said "Phoenix thanks a lot for the LPA interview earlier this year". Well by saying that I guess I disrupted the flow of the fans, because some security guard grabbed my arm and started pulling me out. However, as I turned, some guy said HEADS UP and threw a shirt at me. I was like WTF. So I looked at it and it was a Club Tattoo shirt! Badass!!!!!

 

As I walked out of the area, I was the happiest person alive. I just met LP. Awesome! So I walked back to my seat and watched the end of MCR...like 4 songs really. They were decent but Gerard seemed gay to me with his hand in his pants and stuff. They ended with a piano song which I thought was stupid, but oh well. Their pyro was melting the fans. Anyway Teenagers was ok, so I said whatever.

 

Then the break came. I was sooooo pumped. People were chanting for LP and everything. Previously, I downloaded the first few PR shows' audio, but I wasn't familiar with the setlist that much. Still, I knew we would get the one that opened with Wake/Given Up, so man I was ready. After they played some Styles Of Beyond (Second To None and Savin' LA, hell yeah), all of a sudden 9:20 came around and I knew it was LP-go-time. At 9:22 the lights cut down and holy shit the place went nuts. It was so fucking hot but we were ready for LP. Wake kicked in, and man we threw our hands up and everything. We could see the band behind the kabouki, and we were ready for them to kick some ass. As soon as Wake ended, I started clapping for the Given Up intro, and as the entire crowd started clapping as well, the kabouki fell and out came LP. Sweet!

 

Chester screamed the chorus...he looked so fucking pissed...it was so perfect for Given Up. Mike and Phoenix were SLAMMING their guitars around on the bridge, and the entire crowd was loving it. The red lights fit in perfectly.No More Sorrow was sick as fuck with Chester telling us on the bridge "YOU SING...no..no more sorrow, I've paid for your mistakes...FUCKER!!!!". I loved him slamming his head around over the micstand on the intro. The band was perfect, the sound was great, lights rocked, crowd going nuts. Lying From You started and as Mike said "Hands up like this...let's go....up, up, up, I don't see 'em in the back, yeah"....EVERYONE threw their hands up, bouncing them with Mike. What a sight to see! Don't Stay was next...he said "Hey you guys down here in the pit, this one's yours...get up" as the crowd started jumping. As I was a big fan of RAR04, I was waiting on Mike to say something on the bridge. He stuck both hands out to the side, pulled them together, and pointed up, and said "READY!?". Everyone knew what he was trying to do, so they went crazy again.

 

Chester said in such a hardcore voice after the song "HOW YOU GUYS FEELING OUT THERE TONIGHT?". Oh my god it was so hot. Mike thanked the crowd, grabbed another guitar, and I knew it was time for some SIB. Rob started his drum part and the intro started up (one of my favorites). Hands were again thrown up when the riff kicked in. I like that intro because of how they go through the main riff twice (compare the 07 intro to the 08 version of SIB).

 

Afterward, From The Inside's sample started. I knew this was going to be sick, and boy was I right. Chester fucking NAILED the entire 15 second scream, and I was so amazed. Wow. Legendary. When Mike started to say his parts, the guy in front of me turned around to me and we both sang it together. It was like the entire crowd was bonded together. Very nice.

 

The song ended and I yelled...etc. I thought the guitar was fading out but no, it was the Papercut intro! Hell yeah! If you listen to the live audio right after the intro starts, you can hear someone yell "PAPERCUT!!!". That would be me! Mike sent fucking chills down my spine when he gave that speech. It's still one of my favorites....especially when he asked "How many of you guys have been down with Linkin Park for a long ass time? This one is gonna be our 10th year together, and we thank you guys...this one is for you." Oh man I had so many chills....and when that riff kicked in I fucking lost it. I sang every single word with everything I had...it was so great. Papercut was epic as fuck. Mike said "sing that!" on the bridge, and everyone around me was singing the ending. It was perfect.

 

After a "check this out" while I nearly fainted from the heat, Mike rapped the Points intro. I didn't recognize the name at all (it turned out to be Bloc Party), but I knew some of the words lol. Points was great. The speech after the song by Mike and Chester was nice. Chester said it was hot as fuck, so I took the opportunity to take my Club Tattoo shirt and put it around my head. What a life saver. Then, In Pieces came on. I liked the lights a lot. Chester even took his shirt off, haha. Everyone went fucking NUTS on the guitar solo, and I thought that was really really cool. SOTD was next, which I enjoyed watching...especially Chester on guitar. Lots of people held up their lighters...what a fucking sight!!! I should have taken a picture, but my ticket felt like it was melted to my pocket because of all the sweat on my legs....and I didn't want to dig the camera out of there.

 

After Shadow, Mike mentioned the VMA nomination and had us thank Joe. Awesome! Then Numb kicked in, so I decided to whip the camera out anyway and record the ending into PMA piano. The video sucks because I'm singing the entire time, lol. On the outro, the crowd went CRAZY. For some reason you can't hear it that well on the live audio but man everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs as Mike played the ending. I loved PMA, Chester did a great job. Everyone went nuts on the bridge of course, and for some reason even though I knew he'd do it, I yelled "FINISH IT!!!" haha. Who knows. And then, Breaking The Habit. Headbanging phenomenon. The intro was absolutely perfect, and Chester performed it really really well.

 

I knew by the sample that Crawling was next, so I geared myself up with the guy in front of me to sing "SO INSECURE" before the chorus. Great song. You could really hear Mike sing the chorus with Chester near the end - that's the first time I ever noticed that, seriously. After that, the keyboard was brought back out, and I felt like I was going to pass out. Mike said his famous New Orleans line and dedicated this song to them. I knew it was TLTGYA of course. A lot of people sat down (I doubt because of TLTGYA, but it was incredibly hot). I wanted to stand the entire time, so that's what I did. How dare I sit down when LP is performing after having an opportunity to come to this show, I thought, lol. I soaked in every single second of TLTGYA...it was really one of my favorite songs going into the show and I was so happy they were doing it on this tour. Chester was slowly walking around moaning throughout the bridge and I thought to myself "Wow!". When the buildup started, I didn't know what the hell was going through my mind, but I jumped off a seat when the riff kicked in, haha. Chester and Mike fucking nailed that ending, and I was left thinking "Holy fucking shit that was INCREDIBLE". Little did I know that they'd pick that version to go on the LPU7 CD, so I imagine it actually was a really good performance.

 

Chester must've liked the crowd because after that he gave a speech saying "You know, Georgia is like a place that almost doesn't seem real. If anyone wants to live in a better place, they should come to Georgia" haha. Then the WID sample started and I was like HELL YEAH. Everyone got back up and started going nuts again. I was really amazed by the backdrop on this one, so I stood watching all the video footage (a lot of it if you notice wasn't in the WID video, so I thought it was pretty cool. The TLTGYA footage was nice as well). I sang it but during the 2nd verse decided to take a minute from being so into the show and just take a second to take everything in. It was really cool watching them play the song.

 

Then, Chester held the mic out, and the ENTIRE place sang "WHAT I'VE DOOONE" into the 2nd chorus. Awesome! The bridge kicked in and everyone around me was headbanging like hell. Chester sang the first line of the bridge perfectly and held the mic out as we all sang the rest of the bridge as loud as we could. We jumped when the song kicked back in, and Mike even extended the keyboard outro for the first time as Chester added some extra "nananana's"!! Nice touch!

 

Chester said "You know? I wanna see this fucking place go off right now". And that's what we did as soon as Faint started. One entire 12,000 people jumping sensation. I felt like I was going to die but I kept it up with everyone else. I gave it everything I had on that outro and headbanged until I thought I was going to die. I threw my hands up and everyone was going crazier that at any point in the show so far. Chester must have been hot too because he didn't scream the last part of the outro, but that's ok. He said thanks and walked off, starting the encore.

 

The lights cut down, and everyone immediately started hitting the seats with everything they had. I just bent down and tried to catch my breath and started hammering on them with everyone else. It was damn cool hearing all of that noise at once. The guy in front of me leaned back and gave me the horns. I told him OSC was next, but he said he knew as he went to a show in Texas with the same setlist. Texas!!!! Nice! After over three minutes of this racket we were making, we heard some really loud guitar fade-in, and everyone screamed! I got chills and was waiting any second for that damn gunshot sample. It happened and I swear it was the loudest thing I've ever heard in my life. Incredible. Mike started his guitar part, and as the intro went on, EVERYONE got up and stood in their seats. I was like "Oh my god this is crazy". Everyone was up, clapping and throwing their hands forward. You can even hear some of it on the audio. The OSC intro riff by Brad kicked in and then any remaining people got up in their seats. I hadn't seen anything like it before.

 

As soon as the real song started, people started jumping off their seats and came back on, etc. People were jumping around off of seats the entire song. It was amazing to see. I sang with everything I had, especially when Mike asked us on the bridge to "take it up a notch". In every direction I looked people were losing their minds jumping, screaming, singing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48wpFeyrIYg check it out. Look at everyone in the seats going fucking nuts! It was the best atmosphere ever to be in with all the LP fans. That crowd destroyed the 2008 shows I saw for sure. It seemed after such a big break, everyone saved their energy for One Step Closer, and holy shit they lost it.

 

After OSC, Mike asked if wanted to "hear some more shit". At this point I really felt like I was going to pass out because it was so hot. My throat was so dry...I couldn't spit...nothing. I wiped my face off and tried as hard as I could to rap with Mike and sing the song. On the bridge, Mike went down to the crowd! Wow! He kept saying to the band "Cut out for a second on this shit, let them sing it". I immediately caught on and knew what they were going to do so I stood up and just sang as loud as I could with everyone else. That was a memorable moment for me because they had never cut out the instruments on the bridge before. Mike said "You guys are fucking awesome, thank you guys very much, LOUD AS HELL OUT HERE, yes sir!". Chester said it was amazing, and wow I got chills again.

 

Joe must have thought it was cool too because he just bent over with his head down on Mount Hahn and extended the outro a lot. We clapped and Rob hit the bass drum. Pretty interesting. Then I knew it was time for the last song - Bleed It Out.

 

Mike said it was their last song on his intro speech, but I didn't think he was going to do what he did. He started the verse really high pitched because he had just stopped his intro speech. It sounded weird but it was great. They had so much energy. Check this video out:

 

Brad was smiling, the entire band was feeding off the crowd and everything. Chester screaming the bridge was one of the most epic parts of the show with his "I'll make you FACEEEE THIS NOWWW." Great stuff. Then it came time for Rob's drum solo. I sat and watched it but I was sure I was going to pass out this time because it was so hot. I kneeled over and tried to stay fine, but I felt pretty bad. After the drum solo they asked us to sing "ohhh ohhh", etc. I turned my head up and sang as much as I could. Then I knew the end of the show was here, so I stood up and started throwing my hands up as much as possible as they finished the song. The guy in front of me and I headbanging till the end, and we yelled when they finished.

 

Linkin Park was finally done. I was so tired, but I just had my fucking mind ROCKED by my favorite band. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen.

 

Or so I thought.

 

It seems that wasn't just a guitar fade at the end.

 

"What do you say we say goodnight, in the right way? We'll start it slow for you, and we'll speed it up". Holy shit what the hell was this? An outro!? I knew they did one in Set C (One Step Closer) but I had no idea it was in A. He asked us to sing and I thought "oh god". I put an arm around my friend and we just started singing with LP with everything we had left. They sped the outro up REALLY fast and we just went absolutely crazy...I couldn't believe how awesome it all was. Then they crashed intro the ending with Rob smacking the hell out of the drums, and Chester said "Thank you very much!".

 

Indeed, they were done. I watched them go off stage and everything, then I ran as fast as I could go to get some water. $8 for two bottles...one which I drank in one massive chug and the 2nd which I poured all over my face and head. I went to retrieve my picture of the band and poster...then headed out. In the car I stripped and drove home, etc. I posted the info on LPLive and the LPU, then took a shower and went to sleep.

 

Best night ever.

 

And that is my 5 billion word review of my first LP show that will still be my favorite show I've ever attended. Only one word could describe it - INSANE.

[Jug Of Water]

great show. one of my favorite shows from georgia

[linkinmetalfanatic]

i cant wait to get a m&g for the band