30.07.2008 - Charlotte, NC, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

[hahninator]

I had some bad luck going into this show. I was going to hit the Nashville show earlier in the year after I got back from my week and a half-long European trip with my school. Well, that was the plan. On the 10 hour flight back from Paris to Atlanta, I got REALLY sick...so I was in bed the entire week (I even missed school that week). Turns out I couldn't go to the show. That fucking sucks because they did HHH, APFMH, My December, and Valentine's Day...all of which I wanted to see live. Dang!

 

Well I was going to make up for it. This summer I was going to roadtrip to the southeastern shows, especially if they fell before school started. Well, they did, so I hooked up with Preston and Mary Ann, who I had talked to online after the Nashville show. They wanted to do it, so I decided I'd go with them. I bought tickets to all 5 shows.

 

Well, Raleigh was first. I really wanted a M&G so I applied for all the shows but received nothing. Before the Raleigh show, LP management told me I would have one in Raleigh and that they'd send me an email with info on it, but I never got one. Damn. That was ok I guess because Harris, a Chris Cornell fan, told me I could have a Meet and Greet with him and Chris. Awesome!

 

I went to Raleigh, but the night of the show I ran into a problem. I had planned on meeting a ton of people at the show. My aunt suddenly said she had some important things to do, so my uncle was left at home with the two kids, so I didn't get to go with him as I planned. Damn, I was bummed, but I knew I had 4 more shows to look forward to.

 

Come time for Charlotte on the 30th, my family initially said "Hell no you can't go with someone else that far to these shows" but wow I managed to persuade them SOMEHOW to let me do it. However, this was like 12pm on the day of the show! LOL. We were supposed to have GONE by then! Damn! And then I was told I could only go if I mowed the grass first. What the hell? Well I did that and I left, but by then it was like 3pm! I met with Preston and Mary Ann...and wow for a first time meeting they were sure cool with me being late. I'm sure they were pissed but they didn't take it out on me. We floored it to Charlotte.

 

As we arrived and headed into the venue, we walked in right as Chris was playing 'Be Yourself'. That is one of my favorite CC songs, so I was pumped. Again I was seeing my favorite band play. Well, we all had different seats...like mine was section 1 (far right) but on the left side at the back...Mary Ann had a front row seat but it was REALLY far off on the right where you could barely see...Preston had some other stuff in section 2 far back, etc. We just stood around and decided to pick a random seat until Cornell finished. He did Black Hole Sun and some others, and overall he was great, I couldn't wait to see him again in Florida.

 

After he finished up, I was going to meet with Jack (aka Saaintjimmy) but for some reason I never did (my fault man). Actually he called me as I walked in and said come over where the M&G was. I told him na, I was going to my seat to see Chris. Honestly I said that because I had no idea where the hell that was, and I didn't want to split from Preston and make him even more frustrated haha. That's ok I thought, I'd see him later. I felt kinda bad that I didn't go see him actually, but I thought I'd run into him at a later point.

 

Well then I decided to call Jason (aka ECUTekkie) since he was there (I was going to meet with him in Raleigh) and see what the fuck he was up to. I said well I'm in section 1 standing here and he was like "Me too" lol. Turns out he was like 3 rows behind me. He came over with his friend and talked and showed me great M&G pics he took of MIKE AND CHESTER. NICE.

 

After that I decided to go say hey to Pooch since I was going to see in Raleigh as well. I walked over and stood at FOH where I was patient. I caught his attention with a head nod as he looked at the stage for a second. He came over and I said "Hey I'm Mark" and he was like "Oh hey man good to see you, etc". I told him I knew he was busy (he told me earlier the transition between CC/LP was tough) so I would talk to him after the show.

 

At this point I wanted to make it up to Preston honestly since I was so fucking late, so I decided hey let's just find some epic seats and he'll enjoy the show a lot. I had an idea, and I saw like half a row empty in section 2 (RIGHT in front of the stage). I showed the security guard my ticket and Mary Ann and Preston did the same...so we walked down and turned abruptly into section 2 and sat right dead fucking center. I was amazed at how good the seats were. All the while, were scared someone was going to come and kick us out, but they didn't! Excellent, I thought.

 

9:20 came around and the lights went down at like 9:25 or so. SDC walked out and the set began. I knew the full set this time, but I was still ready. I taped this show so I couldn't go nuts, but I planned to do it with the same setlist in Atlanta. The intro was neat, and then the OSC intro began. That was absolutely sick with the guitar, etc...I liked it a lot. The crowd was nowhere as good as Atlanta 07 but I had such a damn good view of the band I was completely satisfied. It was like a widescreen view directly in front of the middle of the stage of LP rocking out, which was pretty neat to see.

 

The LFY intro was neat with the hands....SIB was dope. Preston told me before the show that the NMS intro was going to be sick as hell, but I was like "ehhh we'll see, it's in the middle of the set so I doubt it". Boy was I wrong. They cut all the lights and they threw out all this fog with these blue lights coming in later...it was awesome. Everyone was clapping, and I was like "oh shit this is great". Excellent intro. Papercut was next, which I loved since it's my favorite LP song. Next, Mike threw some fucking Bloc Party over POA! Nice! It was my 2nd show in a row with it. I was impressed.

 

The funny thing about POA was that in the middle of the song, Phoenix just stopped playing bass LOL and went out to like have his own little Meet and Greet with a girl in the front row. He shook her hand and gave her a guitar pick. Hilarious! Then on the outro, Joe missed a sample, which I noticed, but it was cool. Then Mike started the REAL outro. There They Go was AWESOME over that little instrumental.

 

Wake 2.0 was next, I loved the fucking lights. I am a big fan of Wake 2.0 since Wake absolutely killed the flow of the set when it wasn't opening, so I think Wake 2.0 did a much better job of keeping everything flowing better. Given Up was next and it was pretty good. The outro rocks where Chester says ...WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH MEEEE. I like that a lot.

 

It was then time for some From The Inside. I have to say that those lights are some of the best that LP does....they are impressive even if they've been using the exact same ones on the intro since like the Meteora World Tour in 2004, haha. Chester didn't nail the scream, but it was cool. FTI was interesting because Mike all of a sudden ran off the stage to the left side and came back with another guitar. I guess the one he had didn't work!

 

LOATR was next. I wish I had seen the song in 2007 because in 2008 Chester used that god damn micstand and doesn't move around on the song at all, which kills the energy in my opinion. The sample that Joe hits throughout the song was really loud in the mix, so I mean I didn't like that song that much. Numb was next, still with the micstand, but I do have to say that while the song is played at every single show and seems old sometimes, Chester nails the bridge and it's still nice to see him do that.

 

I like the piano outro to Numb still, but I definitely could tell when TLTGYA was starting its intro. One thing I have to note is that in 07, Mike had that "deep" low sounding keyboard intro to TLTGYA which was really nice, but in 08, he made it really high toned to sound like a piano. It was alright but I didn't think it was good as the 07 one. TLTGYA was nice, but I mean Brad really ruined it for me after such an EPIC performance of the song in Atlanta last time...he butchered the end of the solo quite badly. It was on purpose I'm sure but I was like "oh yuck" lol. Regardless, I like the ending of the song a lot.

 

Then I heard a familiar sound, the quieter little buildup to the BTH intro, and then the actual intro started, so I was excited to see BTH this time with a great seat. I think Chester always does a really nice job on the bridge (which he did here), and then the extended outro ROCKED. I really like that and I think it enhances the song a lot. I wish I could have seen a Winter Tour show where they did the piano intro as well as the extended outro. The thing that got me on BTH was I decided to watch Mike during the bridge. All of a sudden he started HEADBANGING at the keyboard like mad! I was standing there like "oh my god that's awesome"...I was so astonished. Badass, Mike! I was for sure going to catch this on video at one of the next 3 shows, mark my words, lol.

 

Shadow Of The Day came on next, which I also like. I think it's great how Chester adds the "YES IT WILL" after the choruses...good stuff. Then, I was quite fucking excited for the next part of the show. I had been laboring for LP to add the extended KRWLNG intro back to Crawling, which they finally did. Except on PR they decided to do Hands Held High over it.

 

Holy.

Shit.

 

Mike stands up there, and they cut the front stage lights, but shine the lights on him from BEHIND, so it creates this AWESOME silhouette of him. I mean that is some nice creativity. The intro already gives me chills like crazy, and with HHH added over it, it was just epic as all fucking insanity. I really really really liked that intro. The gestures Mike made were great, and he did a perfect job. He emphasizes the right parts of the verse to make you just go "WOW". The funny thing was that, after that, Joe pulled what I call a "Mountain View 04" with the Crawling intro, and fucked it up, haha! Anyway, Chris came out on the 2nd verse and I thought that was pretty cool. Chris does a nice job on the ending where he does Mike's parts. Of course, the entire crowd goes nuts for it. I thought it was creative that he picked Crawling to come out on.

 

Well then In The End came on and I enjoyed following Mike across the stage as he rapped the verses. They didn't cut the instruments in the bridge for us, though. After the song, Chester did this weird thing saying like how talented Mike was and stuff. It reminded me of Hands Held High at Mountain View 07. Mike said thanks and good night.

 

After ITE we banged on the seats, etc. I think ITE is a great song to end the normal set with. It's a hit song, and it's like "In The End" of course...I mean the end of the show. Perfect.

 

I knew the next song would be one of my favorites. I love What I've Done and I couldn't wait for the new intro to see live. It started up and I was pretty excited. The buildup and shit was great, and as it gets to the peak, it just dies and the WID piano starts. The funny thing about this one is that Brad's guitar came in REALLY FUCKING LOUD (I told Pooch after the show and he said "yeah, haha, oops") but it was nice. I mean everyone loses it when it stops and Mike is standing there in 1 spotlight doing the intro. WID is really a great song for them to do in the encore in my opinion.

 

Faint was next after a short Mr. Hahn scratch, and everyone started jumping. Excellent song...the outro was GREAT. I love that outro and I hope they keep it for the 2009+ shows. Even though I was taping the show, I still headbanged on the outro..I mean it's just a pretty damn good way to end the song.

 

Preston was right with what he told me before the show. He said that after the first encore, people leave and usually head out. Well even though you could see them bring Rob's other drumset out to the front of the stage, people still walked out! Haha, hilarious. So anyway Rob came out after a short break and started his usual drum solo, which I thought was damn sweet. I loved being so close and seeing him right in front of me tear it up on that smaller drumset that reminded me of what he played at Saturday Night Live with LP. I counted down the cymbal hits (3...2...1) before the BIO riff, and then of course they started the regular song.

 

I liked seeing Rob do the regular song on that smaller drumset. Anyway, so then SDC came back out on the bridge. Brad cut the riff after their short intro, and they proceeded to hammer it. I enjoyed it...I actually thought they did a good job. I watched as Rob got up and walked back to his regular drumset. Then I saw him join in with SDC as he fucking tore through the rest of the solo. I was impressed! Rob came back in and shredded that part Chester had us sing the BIO chorus with him...but it was kinda weird not having the "ohh ohh" singalong in front of it. I loved the ending to it as they jammed and Chester screamed I BLEED IT OUUUT, HEEEEEY, etc. Then he did this thing where he threw his fist up and started screaming HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY....I loved every second of it. Awesome way to end the show. Too bad they didn't do the extended outro! Chester said that it was one of the best dates on the tour and thanked us, but I had a hard time believing it since the crowd wasn't that great.

 

Well, that was that. I walked back and talked to Pooch after the show, said I'd see him in Florida...thanked him and then we drove back to Preston's house after eating at Waffle House. We arrived at 4am and I crashed on his floor. Long day, but I was able to listen to the show again on the way home since I recorded it. I was definitely ready for the next few shows to see what Florida could bring us.

 

It turns out, I didn't see Jack after the show, but I found out when I got home that he was like 3 rows behind me filming! Haha that's hilarious. I'm in his DVD he shot, but wow that's crazy we didn't see each other. Oh well, still a sweet show.

[ChuckCheese]

Nice review Mark! This had to be my favorite show out of the two I've gone to. I'll put up both of my reviews fairly soon. Shame we couldn't meet up, I was in the M&G and my phone was dying. Next time, definitely. Hell, we'll be rocking out on the South-East Roadtrippin' Tour together! Anyways, good review. Enjoyed the Atlanta 07 one alot too.

[hahninator]

Nice review Mark! This had to be my favorite show out of the two I've gone to. I'll put up both of my reviews fairly soon. Shame we couldn't meet up, I was in the M&G and my phone was dying. Next time, definitely. Hell, we'll be rocking out on the South-East Roadtrippin' Tour together! Anyways, good review. Enjoyed the Atlanta 07 one alot too.

Thanks. Yeah I mean I really fucked up meeting people this time. I at least ran into Jason. I missed AJ in Atlanta as well, LOL. Well I made it up to Jack because I made sure to meet him at Nine Inch Nails earlier this month, and I made it up to AJ when Preston and I went to see Buzzfest in Nashville in September.

 

We will meet up for sure next time, I promise. I mean this SE Roadtrippin shit is going to be HUGE. I'm talking like 20+ people at all these shows...LPLive is going to be all over the map. It will be a blast for sure. We can have t-shirts...meet up before some bands, etc. It was unorganized this time, but next time will be epic. Don't worry

[linkinmetalfanatic]

u never have much luck with shows do u mark?