sublimeric

Just watched it, and even at 29 minutes, it seems like the trailer for the REAL "Meeting of a Thousand Suns." The band meetings were interesting, especially Chester "going Rick Rubin" at the end, but right when things get interesting it cuts away to something else. Not so sure I'll buy the deluxe version now, since it's just a 30 minute fluff-piece commercial for the album, but in conclusion, I will be extremely happy when the distorted editing effect is a thing of the past. Glad they put this on Hulu and saved me a few bucks that be re-routed for future concert tickets, DSPs, etc.

Amphitheaters are the worst, most non-nonsensical place to see a rock band...ever. Weather can severely screw with the atmosphere, the stage setup dumbs down production values, and if you don't want a seat you can either pay top dollar for a mini pit out front (great in the heat) or be 73 miles back on the lawn. At this point, LP should only be in arenas. Their shows are generally high energy and their music lends itself nicely to special visuals, like moving screens, "in the round" seating, etc. There are a few exceptions, like Red Rocks in Denver, Bank of America Pavilion in Boston, and other places where the scenery makes up for the shortcomings I listed, but there's also dumps like the Comcast Center in Mansfield, stuck right in the middle of nowhere. F that. Bring on arenas.

Just listened to it from start to finish and loved 97% of "a thousand suns". I don't know how the electronic part is going to resonate with me over time, but they definitely succeeded in making an ALBUM. the only downside is "the messenger". chester screaming over piano and acoustic guitar made my ears bleed a little bit. Mike was absolutely the strong point of "A Thousand Suns".

Blows away the catalyst, but still hating the vocal effects. I'm really looking forward to hearing the new stuff live and without some of the studio trickery.

Just as cheesy as any of their other non-live, non-animated videos. I wish they would just...stop. Or finally pull the trigger and become soap opera "stars".

...and I'm with him, but he's only 1 of 6 band members. He could easily be out voted.

That's lame if Rock Band won't have any tracks. The exclusive deals with either "GH" or "RB" are a pain in the ass, and I'm surprised that a tech-savvy band like LP haven't pushed harder to get their songs included in all of the top music games.

I'm not surprised by the shorter setlists, and it makes sense. Traditionally, American bands release an album, do an overseas "warm-up" tour of Festivals, Club gigs, etc, and then come back to the states to launch the *real* tour. In theory they could "get used to" playing live by using this ancient technique called "rehearsal", but having a live crowd is a better way to get instant feedback on what's working and what isn't. International fans will whine and bitch, and it's understandable, but it's not like a generic, shorter set is out of the ordinary for an American band of LP's stature. Limp Bizkit are doing the same exact thing right now. As for the "choose one song" poll, looks GREAT on paper, but before everyone gets their hopes up we need to consider that the people on this site and even on LPU make up a tiny percentenge of the overall LP fanbase. If they open this poll up to the casual fans that just hit LP.com, it could easily be a case of "In the End" winning by a landslide every night.

I'm kind of surprised that it took LP this long to give less and charge more. The package and price made sense at the beginning, and the LPU tour was ridiculously generous and cool. But they're a huge international band now. All good things must come to an end. They lost me the year they decided to be "funny" and make songs about the alphabet. :-p Very interested to see what will be different about LPUX. More content? Different M&G format?

I'd like a remastered version of "She Couldn't" and maybe a demo of "Pushing Me Away" (reanimated) with Mike singing Stephen's part. Definitely downloading this no matter what they put on it. $60 + whatever the CD price is + shipping is ridiculous for a 10 track disc.

I want "She Couldn't". That is all.

I hate the new LPU business model, regardless of what is on the CD. If they guarantee a meet & greet, or something special that people outside of NY/LA can take part in (think: LPU tour '03), the cost is justified. Otherwise, Linkin Park are just like Roger Waters, Rihanna, or any other Rolling-Stone-Cover-Wannabe that gouges the fans. Charging $60, or even $10, for the chance to buy tickets for a rock show makes as much sense as Ticketmaster you $2.50 to print your own tickets. LPU math: +$30 -package = LPUX Cool to see the responses being mostly positive though. One of the perks of being a fan of a major league band. Only in the music world can a "company" or "business" charge more while giving the customer less, and be met with rave reviews!

Agreed that great vocal performances from Chester seem to be few and far between, but when he's "on", there's nobody better. When I saw LP in Mansfield, MA in 2008 he killed it. I also like that his voice is less "gritty" then is was for the first couple albums and their tours. The "Lying From You" chorus is a good example of what I'm talking about.

If Mike's comment upset Brad so much, I can only imagine how he felt when they toured with Snoop :-p

Watch...there will be one song with back and forth vocals, a scream, and heavy guitars. They will only release it in Japan ;-) Thanks for the info everyone. I don't love "The Catalyst", but at least it's different. Looking forward to hearing the new stuff live and hearing what else they came up with in the studio.

I don't know why this was the lead single, but they never release the best song first anyways. My favorite songs from each album have all been the 2nd single (Crawling/Faint/Bleed it Out, and even New Divide if you count the Transformers soundtracks). I've listened to it a few times and only really dislike the verses. Chester singing/shouting about random shit in a digitized voice over a "Bleed It Out" techno beat. No thanks. The 2nd half gives me goosebumps and will be great live. I hope they change it up a bit like they usually do with the songs that aren't guitar heavy (see: "High Voltage").

I think all of the albums are extremely over-layered and over-produced, and LP are best heard in a live environment. Anxious to see how the new stuff is represented on future tours.

Thanks for the correction Geki. Replace my "ATS" diss with a "MTM" diss, because the same essentially applies. Going by the QWERTY example, though, I would love to see what would happen if they had a weekend to make an album, as opposed to being able to do 800 revisions of a song and nitpick/overproduce it to death over the span of 4 years.

I already chimed in that I'm not impressed, but like "Collision Course", "Reanimation" and "Minutes to Midnight", at least it's something different, and might make the band some new fans. It's just TOO different from the LP sound that I like. "QWERTY" was the ultimate tease, in my opinion. They wrote it on a single plane ride, and it kicks ass. Then they go in a studio for a couple years and come up with...this?

"The Catalyst" was a waste of $1.29 for me. This will get lost in a sea of replies that say "epic", but the Shinoda/Rubin era is the worst period in Linkin Park's history to date. To me, Linkin Park represent simple rock music. They'll tell anyone who will listen that they should be taken seriously and respected, because, hey, look, we've got Rick Rubin and don't talk about song meanings, but it's all a crock of shit. Power chords, solid drumming, scratching, rapping and screaming are what Linkin Park do best. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, they should stick to what they know and expand upon it. "Reanimation" made sense. "Meteora" was a logical follow-up. But when I tell people I'm a Linkin Park fan, and a member of the Underground and Street team since the beginning, I shudder at the thought of them accociating LP with the designer clothes fashion shoots, piano remixes, and rap-is-crap attitude the band adopted once Rubin came into the picture. PS: It's not all hate. The second half of the song is amazing, even though it feels unfinished, much like the second half of "Little Things"

any way we can get 30 day suspensions for anyone who uses the word "EPIC"? ;-)

It's not going to be on iTunes in the US before Tuesday. That's when new music comes out, and they won't change the rules for Linkin Park. Like someone else said, it might hit radio first, but it could be edited and will definitely not be of the same quality was what people receive with the pre-order. It sucks that "before anyone else" is questionable at this point, but they're probably just trying to wait until the last possible minute because of leaks, torrents, and all the other wonderful pirating options the internet provides us with.

if you don't have an iPhone or iPod touch, you couldn't otherwise purchase "Blackbirds" ANYWHERE. Doesn't seem any different than when "No Roads Left" was an iTunes exclusive until the "Tour Edition" of MTM came out. Stop whining for the sake of whining. "Blackbirds" won't be fresh & new to the hardcore fan base but it beats the hell out of the usual "random live track from DSP" routine we've been treated to in singles/albums/LPUs past.

The album is only 45 minutes and they play for 90. I'll deal with 45 minutes of singles if I also get to hear all of the new stuff in one shot. Can't get enough of the "full album tour" trend lately

This method saved me some $$$ when LPU had their year of "funny" songs :-p