long long ago, my first linkin park concert and concert i ever attended. it was just about two weeks after 9/11. at this time i was a mod at the biggest german linkin park fanpage and practically our whole team went to this show. we had the plan to give lp a huge america flag signed from as many fans as possible to show some kind of german support. for a reason i can't recall right now, it didn't succeed even though we had the flag. unfortunately i couldn't manage to find my teammates so i practically was there alone with a friend the whole night.
at this time lp sold locations for 4000 people. the show was originally scheduled to take place at the E-Werk which is just on the other side of the street. but the demand for tickets was that high so the capacity of 2000 people was fastly outreached.
3 support acts were about to take the stage. lostprophets first:
they put on the best show from all those three with an energetic set and everyone went crazy. i remember that so clearly because it was, as mentioned before, my first show and seeing everyone jump up and down to the beat was probably a lifechanging experience for me. it was a lot of fun and friendly throughout the evening.
by the way, the palladium has some kind of an upper area at both sides of the venue where you can watch the show from. during one of the breaks a few girls started to scream really loud and as i looked up i saw chester standing there. he waved to the them and remained there. it was great to see him in real life for the first time.
the second band was cyclefly, yeah "karma killer cyclefly". this band sucked so bad (sorry chester). the atmosphere got pretty aggressive soon and a few things took their flight on the stage. booing and middle finger appearences followed and as the heat became dangerous, chester came out and performed "karma killer" with them. unfortunately chesters mic volume was very low. shortly after his performance they ended their set with thankful applause from the audience.
last support act was puddle of mudd, which i found pretty boring as alternative wasn't really my type of music these days plus standing there for almost 2 hours and enduring physical pain from act number 2 was getting on my nerves. the only good point i can remember from their performance was a better atmosphere in the crowd. but they couldn't reach the level of enthusiasm the lostprophets accomplished.
well, then it was time for the highlight, linkin park took the stage. oh how i miss the days of "with you" as the opener. i can't even describe the high amount of energy the crowd pulled off at the moment chester started to scream. in my memories i see myself flying through people but keeping up, almost like in a fight, but an enjoyable one. i could get a place in the first 3 rows which i managed to defend and which led to my most memoriable linkin park live experience to date.
but first a few things to their show. the setlist was really cool and even from todays point of view one of their better ones. it was the first night that mike had cut off his hair which looked a bit strange at first to be honest. but apart from such details, everything went fantastic. yeah, my friend retreated to the back rows during "with you" but i had a great time. overall the band seemed to have a very good time aswell and talked a lot to us. hell, brad even tried to speak german .
now, let me share my personal highlight of this evening. during "and one" chester came down to the fans and leaned into the crowd. i tried to grab his arm and somehow got it. just at this moment he looked straight into my eyes (his seemed black) and then screamed the shit out of the bridge part of "and one". just epic!
later i was the "blessed" one to catch chesters towel which he threw with high angle into the crowd. luckily i'm a tall guy, haha. i still have this towel by the way. kind of a souvenir from a special evening.
we were the lucky ones to get a performance of "my december" which i didn't know so well at this point as i was a new metal-i-just-like-hard-stuff kid (man, i was 16 ), but the scenery was great with all the lighters and stuff.
overall it was an awesome show with many tellworthy memories. i shouldn't know that this was the last time a lp show would take place without too many crazy funkilling screamy girls...