zuben7o7

Seriously? Debating whether or not a topic should be posted in this forum or not? My Lord. It deals with LP in some capacity because we will be seeing Tickets for them sometime this year from TM/LN. It may not be LP-exclusive news, but it deals with them and the venues they play in, so it warrants this to be in this forum because most people who come here check the LP-only forums in the first place.

Its on Chester's site but from what I gather, his site his not continuously updated by Chester himself, like Mike's is. Soda Head has changed the question to just a simple "future PR" instead of PR 09. Interesting stuff.

I didn't think it was but I do think PR 09 is still probable.

Who is Adam and where is that posted?

Preston thinks there will be a Projekt Rev 09 so it will be done.

haha yes yes will do tonight !

After fully listening to the West Palm Beach 2008 show yesterday in my truck, I have a new appreciation for that show, easily one of the top 3 performances from LP on the tour and easily the best performance I went to: lots of energy and camaraderie from the band and the crowd was phenomenal. Just, typically, it was the worst experience of the 5 shows I went to because of all the intangibles especially seat location! Onto the lengthy review though... After the West Palm Beach show, we were in full swing of the trip and mini-tour of the southeast we were having and what not. I was really glad we were able to stay in WPB for a few days because none of us had been down that far and it was a really nice place. The day of the Tampa show we were still in WPB and the plan was to check out of the hotel, go to the beach for a few hours, then make the 2-hour drive across the state to Tampa and hit it sometime in between acts on the Rev. stage. Again, had we all known how much we were gonna end up liking 10 Years (and Atreyu for that matter) after the tour, we would have made more of an attempt to see them at Tampa but what can you do. We checked out of the hotel and such and went to another ridiculous McDonald's (the night before, I left the drive thru because they told me they do not serve double cheesburgers after 11pm - WHAT THE FUCK? ISN'T THAT ALL YOU SELL?). People in Florida do not know how to run drive-thrus like the professionals in Atlanta. They get it done right for ya. Anyways, we were all a bit groggy going to the beach but once we got there we enjoyed our second trip to the lavish West Palm Beach, like I said, one of the nicest beaches I have been to. We swam for a little after an hour, took some pictures, and decided to head on to Tampa because I really didn't know how long it would take because I didn't have directions but I did know how to read the map so thats how we got to Tampa - good ole' Pbon navigation skills. The ride from West Palm to Tampa was a bit longer than I thought and going thru Central Florida is not the best trip in the world. There were some interesting sights and such but there were a lot of tree-infested "towns" that looked like great sets for horror movies and such. It was just a humid, drizzly drive that didn't appease me much as I was a bit tired and our mix of CDs and DSPs were getting a bit old to all of us ("That Dave Matthews song is getting a bit old, but its really OK." - Mark referring to Everyday) Haha. Somewhere in between our drive we stopped at this seedy gas station to refill - why couldn't the gas prices be like they are now then??. Mark and Mary Ann did there thing while I looked at a map to see where in the hell we were going because I was honestly not knowing where in the hell we were at. Thankfully, we were going in the right direction and I was able to get my tips from the map without buying it, always grand. Mark and I got some nasty ass Subway for the 2nd time in 2 days. The trip seemed a bit groggy for everyone, and even though I am real glad we were able to stay in WPB for a few days, I wish we had been in Tampa to start the day off. But thankfully the trip wasn't that long and we didn't miss but half the Rev. stage by the time we got there. When we were approaching Tampa, I had remembered some of the roads when I traveled the similar way from Orlando in March, and thankfully I rememered the road Ford Amphitheatre was off of, so making some bold decisions I made a clear cut shortcut that was a gamble but it turned out it saved us about 20 miles and 40 mins and bam, we were at Ford Amphitheatre. The amphitheatre is on huge amount of fairgrounds next to the interstate and across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe. The area is about 5 miles from downtown Tampa and I always associate the area with New Orleans for some reason, perhaps the Bayou jungle looking entrance to the grounds or what not. This would be my 3rd time to Ford in the past year and I really enjoy the venue. Mary Ann had been here with me in March for Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin. This was Mark's first time at the venue I constantly hailed to him before the trip. If your not familiar with Ford, it's probably one of the newer venues LP plays on their PR tours. It opened in 2004 and it has a very distinctive "butterfly" roof. I personally love the venue itself but the sound and surrounding area isn't the best. We parked, got situated, and bestowed my camera upon Mark because we MA and I had pit tickets. After the WPB situation, I was very relunctant to bring it in but I knew he was going to have a good opportunity to get some good video so I let him. Just wish we had more batteries. I upgraded mine and MA's tickets to pit a few weeks before the show meaning I spent about $400 on Tampa tickets - the first tickets I had we for seats in the middle back section and after the Raleigh show (maybe before that) I decided we were doing pit, and they happened to still have tickets available when I was randomly looking so I said hell yea, get them. This gave us the opportunity to have about every experience and view for each show which turned out really nice. Mark was meeting a girl named Natalie who he talked to a lot the night before (the kid is absolutely hilarious with the amount of calls he makes after shows informing to the people the show he just went to was the best thing that has ever happened in existence and it was the best show LP ever put on, you can't argue about it... - he is a true loyalist to the LP Nation.) Anyways, I'm not sure how he worked out with the girl but I believe I gave him one of the tickets I had to get in and she was gonna meet him inside and give him a ticket that gave them front row (but not in front of me!). We got thru the gates, no problem, and the place was epic confusion. None of us were happy. They only open one side of the joint during Rev. stage, and unlike West Palm or Charlotte, the area on the left side of the venue is tight so there were so many people crammed into one area. It rained that whole night and morning so the Rev. stage was in a basic swamp pit dump and MA and I made an attempt to see some of Atreyu but quickly left. Most of the time I would have stayed but since we had pit for LP I didn't want to be a nasty mud ball in the pit the rest of the night. So we decided to ditch that disaster of a synagogue. Gotta be the worst Rev. stage set up on tour. Awful location. I wasn't feeling to well so I had to visit the dreadful bathrooms. What a joke. Looked like I was in the middle of Detroit or Griffin, GA or something. Total dumpage. Mark was off doing his own thing that he does and MA and I just chilled and got our pit armbands and finally made out way to the gigantic pit for Street Drum Corps. I hadn't been that low in Ford and the first thing I noticed was that the pit was twice the size than most of the other pits at other venues for whatever reason. It was sweet. We were some of the first up there so we were RIGHT THERE. I had never been pit at an amphitheatre show so I was pumped as hell. Unlike a lot of other amphitheatres, Tampa's pit is a monster and perfect for humongous mosh pits and wild shit. Perfect. It was also interesting to really gather some of the back stage stuff for the early bands since its so easy to see on both sides the closer you are. I was intrigued at how "simple" it was, until LP's stage was setup. This would be the first time completely seeing Street Drum Corps and they caught my attention at this show. Of course, there nothing elaborate and they are just drummers banging on anything but they are unique and they had some catchy songs I think Crazy one of the names. The lead singer would literally get in front of some of the people on the barrier and just go off. He was insane and they impressed. They definitely need to expand their music and genre a bit to be a bit bigger but kudos to LP for giving them the opportunity of a lifetime to perform on the main stage AND with them where the venues are full capacity to really get their music out there. Next was Ashes Divide, which interestingly enough have just recently broken up. Looks like PR was their only major tour... good enough because while they aren't absolute awful thing in the world, I couldn't get into them. I knew nothing of Billy Howerdel or A Perfect Circle (although Mary Ann is a fan, surprisingly) so the bald lead guy meant nothing to me. Again, not much to get into although it was again really nice to be RIGHT there. I like to catch a lot of subtle details and I always noticed the drummer would look at the right side of the lawn at the huge (and tacky) silver metal wall that just covers that side because the interstate is directly behind it and on the other side is the Hard Rock Cafe skyrise where people could easily film the shows. He just kept giving the thing the weirdest looks and it was interesting because it is a very odd feature to this otherwise very nice venue. I think somewhere around the time AD got off and the Bravery came on, I went to go get some water for us because we were dying. It was hot as fuck. I think we stopped by Natalie and Mark, who conviently were at the front row so we could stay in the pit and talk to them. Had to make sure the Jew still had my camera and he did. Next, we're the Bravery and again nothing special to the show. They wear the same clothes, same banter every show (even though it was nice banter). Their performances, though, were always solid and I ended up downloading a few songs after the tour. The lead singer is a weird, weird bird but he is entertaining. I really like the drummer, he is very "tight" and his hollow clear drum set is very nice. There was this one obsessively obnoxious fuck face in the pit that just thought it would be the greatest thing to start pushing people during Bravery. C'mon. I mean, I know its pit but its Bravery. No one else was going along with him and some people just got pissed off so he finally got the gist and fucked off somewhere else.... Moving on.... Of course, one of the highlights is after their set I easily caught one of their drumsticks and I was estatic. I just stook out my hand and bam, it was there. I was very happy but I didn't know what to do with it, I had never caught anything at a show before. I tried the pocket, between the belt, gave it to Mary Ann. I eventually had it for Chris' set but before LP, because I knew I would lose it, Mary Ann gave it to Mark to hold so that was convient. The night was turning out very nice, and the place was starting to get packed, although I don't believe the pit ever got to nearly full capacity at all but I wouldn't know because I was so far to the front. Man, what a view of the place from the pit, to just look back and see all those people, it was sweet. We were ready for Chris to come on and after the violin intro he ran out like he does and the place went wild into Cochise. However, Chris was very hard to hear on some songs in the pit (turns out one reason is because the low level output they have to use at Tampa) but it didn't dampen much. Chris was absolutely on fire tonight and definitely feeds off of bigger crowds. At Raleigh and Charlotte, the crowds for Chris, I thought, were pretty weak. However, at the FLA shows, they were packed out way before Chris came on and you can tell he was ready for a good show. A highlight was being able to see Chester hang out backstage with his wife, Chris' wife, and Chris' young sun, who was running around backstage with earphones and drumstick, haha. Chester was just chilling to the side, watching Chris and waiting for Hunger Strike. When he walked out for HS, of course, the place errupted and it was sweet to be RIGHT THERE (lol, how many times have I said that already?). Really nice touch to the shows right there. Hunger Strike was amazing at this show and I believe Mark took a hell of a video of it on my Youtube. (youtube.com/zuben7o7). He went through his hits even though I really wish he would have played Like A Stone with the band rather than acoustically but it was fine. Outshined and Show Me How To Live were excellent live and have since become some of my favorite songs by him. This is also the show were I really really started to take notice at his new songs he was playing Watch Out and Long Gone. Watch Out is excellent and I fell in love with the rhythm and guitar. Great live song, Chris and the band nails it. Also, loved how the touring DJ contributed Timbaland's parts in the song. Say what you will about his new stuff but I think his new stuff is excellent and these were two great songs to play on the tour. Long Gone is played a little later in the set and I really ended up liking it by Atlanta when I started to hear the words. While I'm not a big slow song fan, this is a great song. He closed out his set with the chilling Black Hole Sun that always gives the chills and a feeling of sorts. Its a powerful song. But hell to know, we are right there and during the song, Chris motherfucking Cornell flops down on the crowd and does a surf job RIGHT ON TOP OF US!!! Mary Ann had full hand grippage with him for about 10 seconds and I was able to touch a bit of his ring and ring finger. But man, he was singing the song right on top of us, what an amazing experince. Everyone had there arms up, they weren't gonna let this mother drop. After he got back up, the whole pit just erupted and got even louder with the rest of the place after the song. Man - I know he had done it at a few of the Northeast shows, but this was the first time he broke it out in the South and man was it sweet. After that show, whatever doubts I had for CC were erased and he turned into a great, great act. After this, of course, the sun was at the horizon and the stage was getting prepared for LP. The text message board was going crazy with Skip <3 Katie shit every other text and then all the BS "Cheer for Florida", Cheer for FSU, Cheer for Jesus. Haha, loud, loud roars from Tampa, man what a stellar crowd. I had Mary Ann go and find Mark, who was up talking to Pooch at FOH, and give him the drumstick to hold for us, poor girl had to fight through all sorts of grungy folk and guards to get him but it was turned out just ripe. It seemed like it took forever for LP to get on stage and it reminded me of last year's Tampa show I was at, way back in the lawn, when this fucker from the local radio station said everyone in lawn had to go to their cars because it was raining but LP still fully intended on taking the stage. Few people left but not a ton. Anways, no rain in sight tonight and we were front and center waiting for LP. I always get so anxious and jittery and even more so because my favorite LP opener, No More Sorrow, was opening this mother. Man, I was stoked. The pit was getting packed and hotter than ever but we were ready. After 25 mins of waiting, the lights dropped and here are the birds from SDC. The place erupted and the pit did huge wave of pushing back and forth that was interesting. We finally got a little room to move once NMS kicked in though. Naturally, no one knew what to expect with SDC being out there but the only thing I liked about them opening the show was the slow rising of the giant Linkin Park backdrop. I think it would be even sweeter if they had just had it rise when LP actually started there own intro but what can ya do. SDC ended their jaunt and the familar "sewer" sound of the NMS intro started and the place, having heard NMS open last show, was ready for it again. Like I said with Chris, the place has an ordinance where they can't blast the volume at full capacity and in the pit, it wasn't the loudest thing I had ever heard like I expected but it was still awesome. As the night went on, the songs got louder though. The intro was amazing. Love, love the middle part before Brad comes in. Amazing. Lights were insane as always and everyone was getting ready to just go insane. The pit crowd we had was outstanding. Brad was front and center for ebow and I noticed some of the faces he made, he looked a bit stressed lol. Saw Mike and first thing I said was thats the ugliest shirt made my man, what in the world is your problem lol. Phi came out then Chester mosied on out then 1, 2, 3, MICSTAND IN THE AIR and BAM WE ARE OFF INTO NO MORE SORROW and we all start jumping like a bunch of wild camels. Damn. The place was insane. Chester just came out and was nasty with the micstand and the song fucking kicked ass. What a way to start the show. I was in full energy mode along with Mary Ann and we just jumped our hearts away - man what a way to start a mother fucking concert. The new transition intro into Lying From You is a very good place for a number 2 song and Mike came out on his podium and we rocked out slowly with our hands up to Mike. No chatter from Mike on the intro, but that's ok (see WPB LYF, best one all tour). New intro or not, the place still knew the cue. With this being my favorite LP song, I knew I was gonna have to go complete apeshit on this song and indeed I did. What a great pit song, especially during the bridge. The place went off. I was already having the time of my life, I am so glad we got pit. Somewhere I Belong was next and I was wishing they still had the old intro to this. Either way, still a great rocker. So many people get into this song, its still a big time favorite for the more mild fans. Lot of jumping, lots of fists in the air on this song. Great song live and another great pit moment. The ending is phenomenal and Chester does a really sweet job on this song live. Wake 2.0 was next and the lighting on this song is top notch, its definitely a lot better in the middle of the set than Wake was, although it was fantastic as a show opener. We clapped our way into Given Up and the pit really started to take off from there. We were pushing, slamming, moving all around and it was nasty. We were getting that push from the back like at the start of LP and but it was all good. I'm still not the biggest fan of this song live, It just doesn't ever get me the same way as when Chester does the full scream. Still, a great pit song, a heavy song, and a fun song. No complaints. Papercut was next and I enjoyed the intro to kinda chill and watch Mike for 50 seconds or so, lol. Mike gave a nice speech and then he told us peeps in Tampa to "Get the FUCK UP!" and we did just that. The whole pit was jumping up and down and when the verses started some moshes starting breaking out in little bits throughout the massive pit. Papercut, as usual, was phenomenal. Great live song. Next was was Points, one of my personal favorites. As had become typical during PR 08, Mike spit Petrified 2 over the intro which always seems to get the people not expecting it in a real good mood. The intro is sweet, no matter what verse. Love the sampled drums. Anyways, after all that goolosh, we march right into the song. This song was an absolute murdering riot in the pit - people were going more insane than any previous song. I even got a bit overwhelmed during the PoA outro and was begging for water but I eventually snapped back into shape for Mike to request Brad do the outro a bit faster for him. The outro was nasty at Tampa, just take a listen. Mike always says its for the pit but most people just watch and move, not much moshing at the shows we were at because simply most people didn't know the piece and its too short. I did though, and it didn't stop me from belting the verse with Mike and banging my head to the drums. And, as is typical around the PoA time, the keyboard is brought and the slower, more boring part of the show (please delete this section LP!). In Pieces was next, and it was just practically the same exact setlist thus far as Tampa had last year. I know most people don't give a shit and I didn't in the pit lol but looking back on it, I just don't know how LP could feel comfortable on a different year of their tour and play the same songs, in practically the same order at the same venue and such. LP really could have experimented with this tour and even though I had the time of my life at this 5 shows, the energy and creativity night in and night out was non existant. In Pieces really annoys me now and I hate it live. I just don't get into it that much. I sang along and all that, but it was pretty much a recovery time for yours truly and Lil Turk (Mary Ann.) Like Mark, I seem to forget the setlists in the heat of the moment so I had no idea what was after IP, I thought LOATR, but nope it was Numb which is always a highlight of the middle section of the show. Each show always erupts for this song, probably more than just about any other (besides OSC maybe) and I really enjoy it, I think Chester really nails the bridge. Great live song and I hope they keep it in that dubious middle section to give it some life. People were expecting Pushing Me Away on the piano like last year but it was PMA studio which was a nice hear. It's never been my favorite studio song but its a classic LP song that I enjoy listening to every now and again. First time I had heard this version live so it's always nice to enjoy something for the first time. It was seemlessly played with a lot of singing from the pit. Breaking The Habit was next and it always gets a rousing ovation when the sample comes in, its definitely up there on LP's favorite song list for many people including me. While Chester may not sound as good as a few years back, he still always sings his heart out on this song and Mike even started breaking it down during the bridge on piano, Mark took a short video of that on my Youtube after him witnessing Mike go nuts on BTH @ Charlotte a few days earlier. BTH is always a fun song, and I really enjoy the outro. We'll just skip Shadow of the Je... I mean Day. Enter terrific silhouetteic lighting, the Krwlng intro, and Mike front and center belting the first verse of Hands Held High rapidly, but steadily, trying not to take too long. What a great addition to the set. A lot of people really get passionate with Mike, and HHH is one of the surprisngly popular songs from MTM from what I can see with it not being a single and such. However, we don't go into HHH we transition into Crawling and the place goes crazy again. I love right before the first verse starts, the "vacuum" sample that feels like it just eats up the crowd into the quiet verse. It's gotta be on the of the loudest moments of the show. Of course, Chris made his appearance and the place was loud. That really got a lot of people going, and it was a nice change to the set to have a legend like Chris come out every night and sing Crawling. One of the more strange setlist transitions is the anthem Crawling into the monotone and crowd-killer Leave Out All The Rest. I honestly thought they forgot this song because I had no idea it was that far down the setlist, in a very akward position between Crawling and In The End. Leave is not that bad of a song persay, but is a definite crowd-killer. Not many people, even if they love it, get into this song and I certainly don't. I hate how Brad and Phi just leave the stage until the end. I just absolutely hate that. Not to mention, Joe not coming on for NMS until like a minute INTO the song and leaving for PMA. That's bothersome as a true fan to see that shit. Stay out there for every song, I don't care if you have nothing to do or not. Of course, Brad and Phi make their triumphant side returns always smiling at each other like Jews looking at a synagogue. Point: Leave Out All The Rest sucks. In The End was next and it was its typical sing-a-long. Always fun song but never anything more. It would be nice to hear Chester sing some of the song by himself some too again but doubt that would happen. I thought that was the end of the set and we would be waiting for the encore but noooo.... after all the distortion, Rob set in and then here comes Brad and here we are.... ONE STEP CLOSER. BAM! THAT MOTHERFUCKER WENT UP AND DOWN LIKE A MONGOLIAN ON A POGO STICK. Man it was sick as fuck. MA and I went crazy and absolutely owned the pits. We were bouncing back and forth and people along the wall were pushing us back in. When we got ready for the bridge, EVERYONE JUST WENT FUCKING INSANE X 1000. DAMN. Hard to explain and even really remember really but I know it was just all fucking insanity. Super amounts of fun and like I said, what a pit crowd. Everyone was ready to scream "BREAK!" with Chester at the end of the song but like everyone does, says it, and then to their surprise we got more with some outro action. Man what a blast, LP was on for that song and the place was cranked. They left the stage but everyone in the pit knew not to go anywhere, there would be more. I had no idea how the encore started, I thought with WID intro. Nooope. To our delight and surprise, it was time for Joe again with Cure For The Itch. I really enjoyed this the night before at West Palm and once Joe got into it, everybody in the pit were shouting "Hahn! Hahn! Hahn!" It was amazing and me and MA smiled at each other. We were having an absolute blast. After Joe's too-short Cure, Mike walked out and started into WID. I was disappointed we weren't able to see the WID intro again but I knew we would see it the next day in Atlanta so no biggie. This song always gets everyone going even though its a dead ringer mid-tempo song. The bridge is sweet and Chester typically nails the song. I just don't like Mike's "quiet" na's at the end, its much better on the record. No doubt a sweet song. Next, the moment I had been waiting for all night. While I had some great pit moments all night and was living it to the fullest (OSC was literally insane), I was waiting for Faint. When I heard the string sample start up and Rob kick in, the pit starting going insane for anticipation of Brad getting down with the nasty riff. Brad got up, did his rendition of the the dance he does, and here we go.... the place went off. That pit starting jumping up and down - it was fucking crazy. It seemed like Pooch cranked it because it was loud as hell in the pit. The intro into the verse was insane. As the song got to its last part before the outro, the pit was all mine. I was pit master for Faint and it was probably the best moment of any LP show I had been to. MA and I were in the middle of the pit and we were the only ones in there. There was one point right when the outro started where I was on one side and she was on the other and we got pushed by the "wall men" into each other and made eye contact and it was really awesome, we were having a blast. Once the outro kicked in and Brad started his solo, I tried my best Chester imitation that he does on the outro where he just goes insane. I was in the middle of the pit all by my lonesome with everyone watching me just going insane. Man. That was awesome. After it, when the slow it down, like 20 people came and shook my hand and patted my back to tell me that was sweet as fuck. Literally, I went apeshit x 100. What a fucking blast. Things calmed down but nobody in the pit started to leave even though I know people in the seats thought the show was over. Some guys next to us were saying "Oh yeah, they gotta do that Busta Rhymes song right." even though Busta's was way off the tour by then... The stage techs brought Rob's secondary drumset and people just kinda look, wondering what there doing. Once Rob comes out, and people realize its Rob, the place erupts. We were literally RIGHT THERE for Rob and it was nice. Rob's not my favorite LP member and I think he really holds back on his solos, but it was still nice to see him up close. The drum solo was of its typical mold, nothing special and into Bleed It Out. Bleed is great live especially all extended and Ohhhs and Ahhhs and whatever but its definitely not my favorite song and even though I have seen it close 5/8 shows I have been too, I really hate it closing the show. Its a perfect song to close the main set with my not the show. Anyways, they continue with the song and go into the SDC part which really got old after the 4th show. I really never enjoyed anything SDC did with LP - and I think it was a really poor excuse for LP to "add" something to their set that is being done solely by a different band. PR 08 was awesome but the band really disappointed me that did could not add more or change up the setlists. BIO was swell and that was that. Chester said the night before in West Palm that we were on the best crowds the band had EVER played for, which was a true statement, the place was sold-out, loud-as fuck. Tampa was right there with them and he said we had been the best crowd of the tour. The place erupted and when Rob threw his last drumstick, I fought for about 3 minutes with this guy much bigger than me. I almost got it, I was on his back, but he had the upper hand and eventually had one of his buddies sling me off. Oh well, I got the Bravery's so I wasn't that disapointed. I enjoyed seeing everyone get up and all that and all the lights on the crowd... we went up to where Mark and Natalie were sitting and she had said Mark went up to where Pooch was. So we went over to him and Mark was saying something Pooch (even though security was giving Mark hell, Pooch put it at rest and said it was cool.) We all headed out and did our typical post-show, walk-to-car talk. MA and I were still on a high after the pit experience. It was truly an awesome experience and while I'm not so sure I would want pit EVERY single show, I will definitely be getting in at the Florida shows again. We had a hell of time finding where in the world we parked. I know in the general area but Mark and MA, like a couple of douchasses, said we parked on the opposite side of the damn venue where you're not even allowed to park. I just shook my head and continued in the direction. We had looked for like 15 mins but finally found it, haha. Mass confusion in Tampa. I was looking at one of the hotels across the street, wishing we had gotten one for tonight but we couldn't do that this late and we needed to get back to Atlanta (ON MY BIRTHDAY, LET ME REMIND YOU!) for the last show tomorrow. We finally headed out, stopped a McDonald's (much better than the crap shits in West Palm) and headed on our 7 hour journey overnight to Atlanta. MA and I drove about half way until we got back to Atlanta somewhere around 6. What a trip and what a way to close it out on my 20th birthday in Atlanta. Tampa was great. I wish we had been able to stay longer as far as outside the show but the show itself was phenomenal. Pit is well worth it and I will never forget it. Best show I went to in terms of the experience, same with MA. Mark didn't enjoy the venue as much as I do and definitely wasn't thrilled that they had the noise ordinances where they can't crank it up to as loud as some other venues but he still had a great time. He had great seats, front row, right center. Overall, fantastic show and one of the greatest concert experiences I have had. Atlanta 08 coming soon. -Preston

Wheres Points of Authority?

If you had to list all the songs off of Linkin Park's studio albums, from first to last, what would they look like? Here's mine.... Hybrid Theory 1) Points of Authority - While the studio version of this song is not my favorite, I love this song live and in all of its forms. The riff may be simple, but it's one of my favorites and the outro never gets old. 2) Papercut - Same thing as PoA.... not my necessarily my favorite song studio-wise (seems to happen a lot for me in HT), but it kicks it live... especially Live in Texas and with the extended intro. 3) One Step Closer - The track speaks for itself but the studio version is way too short... the song is best live, especially in 2004. Still, the riff is one of Brad's and the band's signatures. 4) In The End - OK, this is where things get tough. I look at this list and I'm like "No way, ITE can't be that far down" but thats what you get when you list your favorite band's songs. This is actually one song that the studio version owns every single live version... may not be my favorite song, but it's probably LP's overall best work. 5) A Place For My Head - This is where it all gets even trickier. It's pretty hard deciding which song you like better but I'm basing most of this off of how much I enjoy listening to a song and all that jazz. I love this song in every way, shape, or form but its not one of those songs I listen to everyday. 6) Forgotten - This song always tends to be, well, forgotten, but the intro is one of the best moments of a LP song. You can feel the camerderie in a song with Mike and Chester flipping back the lines. I don't care for the Chester-only chorus or the bridge but the guitar riff is fun. 7) Crawling - This song is always a stickler for me. When I listen to it for a few days (I don't listen to HT that much anymore) I start to enjoy it again but it's never been one of my overall favorite songs. Definitely some of their best work and even though I don't really like to listen to this song on the DSP, in concert it's one of their best songs and definitely a set staple. 8) With You - Love, love this song but the verses are way to quiet for my liking. The riff is unique but it's a bit of more of the same during the chorus. The Hahn solo is nice but its a bit out of place and way too short (Don't Stay's intro solo is much better) and I never cared for this song as an opener. 9) By Myself - It's like the beginning version of Figure.09. Almost same spot on album and same exact design. However, it's unique. The guitar isn't very special, but I do like it and Chester sounds very good on the chorus. Even though its a cliche, almost-filler like song, the bridge is always a riot. 10) Pushing Me Away - This song is definitely not 10th spot material but when you are listing songs, songs like this tend to get knocked down. This song is great, and if more of the MTM songs were paced like this one, they would have been better. This is one of the softer HT tracks but it's still faster and more up-tempo than most of MTM. The Reanimation version is awesome as well. 11) Runaway - Finally, a song that I really don't care for. Probably my least favorite LP song. Never have gotten into it, I don't like the riff and I don't like the choruses. I'm sure I would like it live and it's not bad when I'm listening to LIT but I just never got into this song like most other LP songs. 12) Cure For The Itch - Song is nice live, and once it gets going, its a real nice piece by Joe but the intro of the song by "Remy" makes it feel totally out of place on a studio record. The piano and scratching are very nice and it was highlight to see Joe play the shortened version of this song on PR 08. Meteora 1) Lying From You - The song that got me into LP and my favorite song. From the minute I heard the power and intensity of this song from all levels, I knew I would have to check out LP. Everything about this song is fantastic and while similar to Faint in design, one of their more complete sampled-based songs. The intensity of Chester in the chorus is unmatched in any other LP song and Mike's verses are spot-on. Lot's of Joe included, and my favorite guitar riff from any song. 2) Faint - My favorite live song, after hearing the DSP's and extended outro of this song, I prefer this song live than the studio version but either way, the song is just plain kick-ass. Absolutely love the riff (and Rob even came up with a nice anti-drum loop track) and the sample is one of the best things the band has come up with, how many other bands, sports teams, etc have used that sample for pieces... the band has a ton of energy on this song and while it is short, it packs the punch. 3) Don't Stay - This is a way to start out a record right here. This song may not lyrically be their best song, but it's intense, it's fast, and it's heavy. The Joe intro/outro solo is some of his best work on a track, and Chester is insane on this. I do enjoy Rob on this track as well. Only thing I don't like is the absence of Mike on tihs track, I believe every single member should have a significant role in each song and he doesn't on this track. 4) Breaking The Habit - Easily, the "best" song of Meteora. They went out of their box with this one and it shows how versatile the band is. Lyrics are outstanding, the passion from Chester and the strings make this a very up-tempo but piano-based song. The whole band gets into this song and you can tell they are still proud of this piece. I wish MTM sounded more like this.... if they wanted to go outside the box a bit. 5) Figure.09 - Like By Myself, seems like one of those filler songs the band doesn't seem to thrilled about making these days but its still a hell of a song. This thing seems like a fucking riot live, and the bridge is just nasty. The drums are kinda "same ole, same ole" and the riff is a lot like Don't Stay's (sound-wise) but still can't deny this is a fun song. 6) Numb - When I first heard this song live, I hated it and I didn't really start to like it until a few years ago. The bridge is powerful and Chester always nails it live. I just am a bit discouraged on the tracks where Brad's riff along with Phoenix are just simple strums.... just sounds like distortion and no complexity to it. Same design as ITE, but its certainly more aimed toward the Top 40 crowd than people on here. 7) Somewhere I Belong - I didn't like this song for awhile either but it grew on me when I started listening to it with the extended intro, one of their best live intros they have done. This song is unique in a few ways because its one of their few songs lyrically that talks about something postitive instead of negativity or lies and that's a nice change (although most people here don't particuarly like the lyrics, I do). The verses are a bit weak and I've never been the biggest fan of the backwards guitar sample, but its a heavy song with a good riff and one of Rob's more unique tracks on the record. The bridge and outro are excellent and it's one of LP's more complex songs. 8) From The Inside - Heavy-quiet-heavy song. I don't particuarly like the verses, again way to quiet for my liking, but the choruses and bridge are good. The bridge, though, is way to rhetorical. How many "You's" can you have on an album? The intro sample, especially when extended, makes the song 10x better though. Rob doesn't impress much on this track though. 9) Hit The Floor - I know a lot of people hate this track but I like it. It's nowhere near some of their best work but the riff, while simple, is fun and I enjoy the sample. It's an odd song though, and there isn't much Chester. Really, really short too. Seems like a filler song since the band seemingly despises it. 10) Nobody's Listening - Seems more like an LPU track than something that would find its way onto a studio record, but I enjoy LP's creativness on the track. Pure hip-hop track with some of Mike's best verses. The chrous is pretty signature as well and the drums are unique-sounding compared to the rest of the record. Shows a lot of Brad to really minimize his role of guitar on the track, but it just doesn't have much of a climax to really get into a whole lot. 11) Easier To Run - I really like this song but its always one I skip when listening to Meteora. It's a power ballad and I really like the lyrics, especially Mike's, but overall, the song has never done much for me. Still, like I have said, better than most of the stuff on MTM. I also never liked how they start the Faint intro at the end of this song. 12) Session - A quality instrumental piece but I don't like studio tracks to be primarily done by one person and that be Mike.... this space could be used for another quality track done by the band but this is nothing more than an interlude. I do not like the outro and the way it flows into Numb, but I don't really consider this a song. *I don't consider Foreward a song so it's not listed Minutes To Midnight 1) Given Up - Not my favorite song live but I do love this song on the record. The scream is what makes it for me, I love the band breakdown. However, the chorus riff isn't special but it's fast and heavy and Chester loves to sing it, so I really enjoy the song. A little bit of Joe would have added a lot to this song though. 2) No More Sorrow - Their heaviest song to date. The intro is killer and I love the eBow use. However, I have never been the biggest fan of Chester on this song and I never have really enjoyed the bridge. Still, I love the lyrics to the song and the drumming is some of Rob's best. This song live, with the super intro, is one of their best live songs even though the intro guitar doesn't have the same pick up as the studio version does. 3) What I've Done - Wouldn't be this high if it were on the other records but still a great song. Piano riff is Mike's best yet and Chester sounds great on this track. One of the few songs that use Joe and the guitar/rhytym guitar have pretty separate pieces that is good to hear. The ambient intro adds a lot to the song live. 4) Bleed It Out - I have never been the biggest fan of this song in any of its forms. I really don't care for the song on the record, too short and I prefer the way the riff sounds live compared to the studio version. Mike's verses are sweet and even though its pretty simple, I like Chester's parts. I do like the live extended hooplas they do, but I don't like it closing a show... think its a good song to close the regular set with though. I don't think this song will ever be the epic, party song the band ever wanted it to be (never charted that well) but it's a good start. 5) The Little Things Give You Away - I had the opportunity to hear the best version ever done and probably done ever in Atlanta 07. This song is so much un-LP, its shocking to know its from LP but the fact that is so different for the band makes it seem far away. Point is, hard to listen to Faint then listen to this song. The solo is awesome along with Rob's drumming. The song, as a whole, is great work but its definitely not a song I can listen to everyday. 6) In Pieces - I loved this song when I first played it when the record came out but it has since dipped low. I don't enjoy this song live at all and while the guitar solo is nice and fairly complex for Brad, it gets old fast. The piano part is another simple Mike tone that is just a simple background noise. Chester has a lot of passion on this song and thats what make's it go. 7) Wake - Interesting little piece, really builds into a nice intro for the album and even as a show opener. Enjoy Brad's guitar piece a lot and Rob's drumming gets the piece flowing well into Given Up. 8) Hands Held High - Not a "everyday song" but gotta applaud Mike on the verses, some of his best work as a rapper. But everything else about this song is pretty disappointing and I have never understood the "Amens." 9) Leave Out All The Rest - Chester is quality on this song but there is so much about this song I don't like. No bass guitar, same notes from Brad on each chorus (how can he get away with this?), Mike's keyboard is again nothing but background noise and the drums are pretty standard. Doesn't seem to be doing well as a single like they thought and the video makes me want to barf. 10) Shadow of the Day - Never gotten into this song. Hate the lyrics, hate the guitar, hate the keyboard. The drums are dominant, but standard, and the strings are nice (especially live) but thats it. I had the interlude after the song on the record, such a waste of space. Just plainly do not like the song. 11) Valentine's Day - Weird song. Weird design. Can't believe the band would actually sing a song called Valentine's Day. I hate Chester's scratchy voice at the end and while the ending is fairly uptempo, it's just... kinda... weird. The drums are, however, very very unique for Rob and I do enjoy that. However, the whole song is just... weird. 12) In Between - Cannot believe this was one of the first songs approved for the record. So monotone, and if Mike wanted to sing, why in the world didn't they pick No Roads Left, a far, far superior track instrumentally and lyrically. The lack of other band member involvement is another thing that gets me, and it just sounds like Mike is trying to hard to impress on this track. One of their worst tracks.... just no buildup, no climax, or anything.

From The Inside, No More Sorrow, and Lying From You are all very good visually. The intro to FTI focusing on Brad is exquisite. The LFY intro with the "hands" intro is excellent. Crawling is good but I don't think the keyboard addition is as great as everyone makes it out to be. It's a nice touch and the intro is shot very well (like pretty much the whole DVD) but the keyboard part is yet again another simple piece; definitely nothing to highlight a DVD in my opinion. Overall, the DVD is fair. After a few more watches, the audio is disappointing. However, visually it is outstanding. Sometimes, has an almost "too perfect" touch to it, but I do like all the additions as far as the rumbling camera and such. The pan from the audience on the stage on the NMS intro is much like the pan of the Rock am Ring 2004 Don't Stay intro, which I'm sure we all agree equals epic proportions. However, the bass is ridiculously loud, and while it needed to be cranked up, it just really takes over and distorts the songs when I'm watching them. I don't like it. Hate to say it, but Pooch did a terrible job mixing this DVD. Live in Texas, with studio additions or not, is far, far superior in the audio department. The performance is extremely mediocre, and I really despise the fact that half the show is during the evening. Chester is always complaining about performing during the day and one of the few times all year they play some of their set with the sun up, they make it into a DVD. Imagine what the DVD would like visually if it had been filmed during PR 08 with the lighting. No More Sorrow would be absolutely insane.

Picking up where I left off with the Charlotte review, Mark, Mary Ann, and I were preparing to leave Atlanta the day before the WPB show so we wouldn't have to worry about driving 9 hours the day of the show and what not. Since we were traveling so far down there, I wanted to stay a bit longer and enjoy the beach and just stuff that didn't necessarily involve LP and Mark was all for that. We already had hotel reservations so we were ready for the big jaunt of the SE tour. We got back from the Charlotte show somewhere around 4am and clonked out.... I was hoping to be back on the road around 9-10am but, hellll no, that didn't come close to happening. We slept through some alarms but finally woke up sometime between 11-12 I suppose. We slowly loaded the car and said our goodbyes and just like that we were off for West Palm. None of us had been that far down in Florida and in my pre city research, it seemed to be a real nice town and beach so I was really looking forward to the trip itself along with the shows. This would be my longest road trip to date, but I was prepared and drove all the way - about 9 hours or so. Somewhere along Macon, we stopped at a Krystal - something that truly fasinated your favorite LP site's owner. Turns out, outside of CFA, he's not really much of a fast food master like MA and I. It was pretty amusing to hear him talk about how fucking amazing his Krystal's were. Anyways, that was a needed pit stop, but we were still a few hours away from Florida and still many many hours away from West Palm. We listened to a ton of LP, from some random SBD's to Meteora to some of my random mixes that ole' Marcus seems to like. We talked a lot, about Valentine's Day and Hit The Floor and a bunch of random crap. To just have actually met the dude the day before, it had seemed like we knew him for 5 years and that really made the trip go a lot better. We may have been rushed at times, but the trip went about as smooth as it possibly could go for 3 people to go concert road trippin' through the great USA Southeast. After a few more random pit stops, we were finally making some head way and we were getting on long roads that I had never been on before going into West Palm. However, if you have never been to Florida, let me be the person to inform you that it is poll hell. I know place like NJ/NY have polls everywhere, but being from Atlanta, where there is only 1 toll plaza, traveling through Florida can be a headache sometimes. We were afraid to get off a some exits because we didn't know if there would be a cashier with change (something that I became paranoid of in Tampa for TDG in March 2008) but there really was no need to get off at stops, so we continued on this strange, desolate highway. About an hour or so out of West Palm, it really started to pour but it eventually stopped and we saw a very nice rainbow - probably one of the coolest I have ever seen. After a few "oooohs and "ahhhh's" and corny jokes about Jewish lepreachauns, we approached Jupiter, FL which was one of the last big cities before West Palm. It started to down pour again and when I mean down pour, I mean Hurricane Hawthorne Heights pour down. We could hardly see. I had to get gas because we were about on empty but I was relieved because we were about 10 miles from West Palm Beach. We got off, where there was this nice college campus, and found gas. It literally was like a hurricane out there. Goat (Mary Ann) needed to go in the station while I pumped and naturally walks right WHERE there is NO cover to the station so she gets soaked and Mark and I have a nice laugh at her expense (Poor Scrapster!). A guy talked to me about the weather, I talked to my mom, and then we were off. Just a bit longer and we were there and boy was I happy because I was pretty drained from driving - I wasn't expecting to drive the whole way but I thought it would gain me some leverage on the late-night drives that were coming, and indeed it did. We got a bit turned around on the exit ramp to our hotel in West Palm - the freaking MapQuest directions are always great, but always have some small flaw that fucks you up most. I took a left, we were supposed to go right so after some nifty sign-reading by Mr. Navigation himself, I got us back to the other side of the bridge, and bam, our hotel. I'd say we got there just at dusk so it was around 9pm, maybe a bit later. I remember being a bit worried that there would be some conflict at the counter about our reservations or being late or something but there was none of that - the lady was actually exceptionally nice. I paid the bill, got the keys, and bam we were in the room. For a Red Roof Inn, it wasn't bad at all, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. We were gonna be there for the next two days, which was a bit odd because on most of my concert trips, MA (or whoever) and I only stay one night so it was nice to know we wouldn't have to be packing and shipping out the next morning. I was starving, and so were they, but my plans before the trip called for us to go out to a nice dinner and check out the city and such. Well, I was planning on getting there at 10pm, so we decided to grab the almighty Taco Bell instead. MA and I get TB like 3 times a week, as I'm sure you probably do to, but Mark, no Mark, thinks Taco Bell is like Benihana's or the Ritz Carlton. Just like with Krystal earlier in the day, he got a chicken quesadilla and we heard about this bird-roll for the next..., well, hell I'm still hearing how great it was haha. Gotta say, that was pretty amusing and makes for some nice inside jokes. We went back to the hotel and ate and I setup my laptop (no internet) and we played some random tracks I didn't have on CD's. We played some good ole No More Sorrow instrumental rips and I told Mark how much I enjoyed the POA rap intros and how I know which city has which intro, it's a talent, what can I say? We take some showers, and even though we missed out on going out to eat, I did want to drive and check out this nice city I had heard so much about. We got changed and headed out, and since I am pretty good at self-navigation, even with places I have never been before, I thought I would just wing it to the direction I thought downtown would be. How hard could it be? Well, it turned out to be quite the task. First, we got on the main highway (I-95) that goes all the way to Miami and then some (same highway that a lot of the newer movie "Miami Vice" was filmed on). I went way too far and we ended up getting off at this junk ass Jewish synagogue commmunity of barbarians and such. It was called Lakeworth according to the big ass water tower and the only thing we saw was a bunch of Mickey Mouse (cheap) houses and 3 series of flashing cop cars in every direction. I thought an episode of COPS was being filmed because this place looked like it hosted a few episodes before. We quickly realized we were in the wrong place and I hadn't heard the best things about South Florida Po-Po's so we got back on the highway north to start back over. We got off at another exit and went by the Palm Beach International Airport that pails in compairson to Atlanta's Hartsfield, the world's biggest and busiest. It was still interesting to get to see the area, but we wanted downtown. I continued to drive and we finally found it, a few roads and turns here and there. WPB, if your not familar, is definitely ritzy Florida - the skyline is filled with high-class hi-rise hotels and such... but thats about it. It certainly is not what I expected as far as it being like Miami or Tampa with big skyscapers and stadiums and such. Not much was really going on downtown, which was a big surprising, but I enjoyed the ride. It is a beautiful town with perfectly accented scenery - definitely the nicest city I have been to in Florida. We made it back to the hotel after a stop at a gas station and hit the sack. We had a pretty interesting conversation from across the room about Joe Hahn, quesadilla's, Jews, and even Astat. Yes, Astat. Enter show day. After a joyous night of rest, we got up at a decent time because we wanted to hit the beach and hit most of the Rev. stage since we missed all of it in Charlotte (uh, hm, lol). The Rev. stage was awesome in Raleigh so I was pretty stoked to see all the bands again for WPB. We got up and go going, stopped at Subway, and hit the beach. It was very nice and super hot out but during the day, I knew exactly how to get to the beach from some helpful maps. We took a different tour of the city, got some in-car photos of the awesome landscape, bridges, marinas, and such and made our way to exquisite West Palm Beach. Easily the best beach I, or MA and Mark, have been too and we all have been to our share of nice beaches in USA and out. The sand was powder white and it was crystal clear water for 300 feet out. For us, that was nice. There was a good amount of people out, but nothing overly excessive, so we found an easy parking spot with an easy to use meter (one thing I have also become paranoid of) and I we were off. The beach was awesome and it felt great. Some of the best swimming I had done in quite some time, and I know Mark would agree. We were really impressed and I'm extremely glad we got to go for a few hours. By the time we got out, it started to get a bit overcast more towards in the inner city, but I wasn't fretting, although I could tell Mark was a bit pertubed and anxious. We got ourselves cleaned up and such and we were off to Cruzan Amphitheatre. I was really excited to see this venue because from the pictures and 3D tours, it looked really nice. After about 10 minutes of driving, a turn-around, and a .20 toll, we got to the familar parking signs and cones and turned into the interesting setup around Cruzan. I felt like at first we were going into a businesspark area, FL-style. From the parking road, you could see this big hill (back of lawn) but nothing else really. MA and Mark said that wasn't part of the venue, that it was further down, but I knew no such nonsense occured. It was the venue and it was nice. We got a good parking spot but we were a bit late. I think right when we got there is when 10 Years came on because I remember hearing the awesome chorus from "Russian Roulette" as we were walking to the Box Office to get Mark a ticket. We all wish we knew then what we know now as far as how great 10 Years was because would never had been late to Charlotte and we wouldn't have missed most of their set in West Palm nor missed them in Tampa. But oh well, hindsight is 20/20. We got to the box office and I was taking in the great sightlines of the venue. It was definitely arranged a lot different than most of the other venues I had been too and I really fell in love with the whole setup. Mark didn't really warm up to the actual venue as much as I did, but MA and I loved it very much with the tiki bars and palm trees lining the sides of the venue all the way to the back of the lawn. It was a very nice touch. Mark got a real expensive ticket that was way back corner of the venue and I could tell he was licking his chops on not buying that ticket earlier, but it didn't really matter in the end (haha, no pun intended). We got over the Rev. stage and it was raining a bit. The place was pretty packed but we managed to get pretty close on the left side of the stage. I think this is the show MA started to fall in love with Jesse and 10 Years, and where Mark and I took some interest. I really enjoyed the setup for the Rev. stage at this show because sometimes they just throw those stages up in parking lots and gravel dumps and it's just messy and such. But you could see the venue in the background of the right side of the stage, and the rain created a pretty cool effect to the experience. We all got into the rest of 10 Year's set and I was really impressed with their stage presence and sound. They were the best sounding band outside of LP on the tour hands-down. OH, let me not forget. As we were rolling into the bitch, we saw many amateur Word Processing signs saying Hawthorne Heights would not be playing. We wondering what was up with that, but it didn't bother us one bit - we knew, or at least MA and I, knew they blew. I just think its real unprofessional to not show up to a date because you're off filming a video. Garbage. But after 10 Years, of course, it was time for Atreyu. The place started to get more packed in and we were all ready. When they came out, the place went crazy for "Doomsday" and it was all out insanity as Marcus put it. Atreyu had a massive amount of energy that day, and unlike pretty much every other band on the tour (including LP) they played their show to the crowd, to the day, etc. No scripted banter like the Bravery or Ashes Divide and I think that makes a show 10x more enjoyable when your going to multiple shows on a certain tour. Atreyu had a really heavy set even though I was only familiar with their latest singles. Surprisingly enough though, those were probably two of their worst songs lives IMO. Go figure right. Needless to say, I was eager to particpate in the circle pit they call for and the finale involving the knee-jumping bar mitsvah mosh pit insanity. I was curious to see how Mark was on this type of stuff because I am a pit guy but I am a medium pit guy, meaning I like to bounce and get pushed around, but not the entire show. I really never got to enjoy the circle pit, I guess for my own stupidity of not joining but the knee thing I went crazy on. Everyone was on their knees as prompted by the band and when the guitar came on, the place went fucking crazy. Mark, MA, and I went fucking nuts and I started my own pit that was just down right insane. I had A TON of fun on that last song at that show and Atreyu instantly sealed the deal as one of my favorite live acts. It was crazy and I had a lot of fun. I almost had a drumstick but a royal douche bag in a green shirt grabbed my PR 07 back around my back and pretty much toppled me (not the heaviest guy around). I got a bit dusty but nothing to get rillied up about even though Mark and MA thought I should confront him, haha. After the slow paced walk through the masses to try and catch SDC (to really no avail) because they practically started right after Atreyu left stage, we went to the bathroom and went to our seats. MA and I had fair seats, on the left middle side of the stage behind FOH and all the middle "suite's." From this point, I was really impressed with the venue, it was very nice from the inside. Nothing spectacular, just really nicely built and I really loved the palm trees. Mark decided to sit with us since his seats blew worse than Hurricane Hawthorne Heights the night before, and I think we saw the last song from SDC. I advised Mark that Ashes Divide sucked, so we decided to go to the other side of the venue and hang out and such. This the time Mary Ann had her infamous bathroom call and Mark and I waited for seeingly 48 minutes for her ass to get back. Haha! We were looking at the merch booth and I really liked the poster (pin-ball machines of each member of LP) for that night's show. However, I was only planning on getting the poster from Atlanta's show since that was on my birthday and the posters were pricey so I held-off. Mark and I heard a few Live Nation broads talking about Busta Rhymes and whether he was there or not. We laughed at each other and talked about the venue, got a glimpse of Ashes Divide (not to our liking) and waited on Goat. She finally returned, and I asked Mark to get a pic of me and her with the venue in the background. But then some guy offerred to take a pic of all three of us so I let him and it was good. We then headed back for the Bravery. We sat, fairly quitely during there set, and I enjoyed it. I took a video of "Believe" and they really were fairly decent to watch - much better performance than what I remember in Raleigh. They were pretty one-dimensional the entire tour but they definitely got better as the shows went on. They also had very good sound, even better than Chris Cornell's IMO. (LOL @ their comment towards Hawthorne Height's absence from the show that day and Mark booing in the background - also got a lot of flac from a steriod-taking security man-bitch but I continued filming anyways haha) So the night was turning out great, and we were getting to see, pretty much, a full show, or at least what we wanted to thus far. The sun was starting to set and the place was pretty much capacity. The crowd blew out anything I had seen before at any show and when Chris came out to his new violin 5-minute intro, the place was ready and so was he. He gave a much better performace than Raleigh's and Charlotte's and I was happy because he didn't impress me at first. But he did at this show and the place went crazy on Hunger Strike, which is when Mark's seat got taken up so he had to depart to the back to some shitty seat. But he didn't manage that for long and ended up with an awesome seat over by Pooch and FOH with some nifty ticket work and straight talk. Impressive. Like I said, the place erupted for Hunger Strike and his other hits like "Like A Stone", "Oushined" and "Show Me How To Live," all personal favorites. The man has so much material and good music, its must be hard for him to create a setlist for a tour. Chris gave the crowd a lot of attention and you could tell he was feeding from our energy because he was on it that night. I really enjoyed his set and it was perfect as the sun went down. I was wishing Mark was gonna be able to sit by us, but the place was packed and we were in first row behind FOH so security was everywhere. Chris left the stage and thus starts the 30 mins or so of eager anticipation for Linkin Park. A lot of people leave and go get their final drinks and shit and go to the bathroom and shit (lol). Here come's an interesting story that Mark mentioned in his review. The camera is brought is a Sony CyberShot with moveable lenses - pretty much the closest thing you can legally bring in the place since the guard's can't see the lenses come out when it's not on. It's about a $500 camera, pretty pricey for a digi. Anyways, for some reason, I felt comfortable leaving it under the seat in Raleigh when we left for food, and no one touched it, so I thought it would be fine to just leave under the seat again. I really don't know what I was thinking. I guess I thought the people next to us would look after it or something but when we got up and there were so many people, I'm not sure as to what I was thinking to just leave under the seat. I even saw two kids jump right in our seats when we got up and even with Mary Ann telling me I should go get it, I just snapped at her and said no. WTF? Needless to say we go get something to drink and go to the bathroom and come back to see LP's stage ready for action in 10 minutes or so, and we come back to two different kids being in our seats and the couple sitting next to us gone. When I sit down, I notice the camera and the PR 07 back I had next to it was gone. S H I T I could not believe this. How stupid can one be? We both immediately went into panic mode x 100 especially since I always get anxious right before LP came on. Now, my whole trip could be doubly ruined with the loss of this nice camera I got for Christmas the year before. Mary Ann and I were going crazy looking around but I was trying my best to keep my cool because 1) I really didn't want to mess up the show 2) I was trying not to look like a complete dumass for leaving it but I already was. Thankfully, Mary Ann was pissed and saw two redneck mother fuckers, a big burly tatooed guy and his trailer-trash girlfriend sniffing around our seats when we had left. She knew they took it, I don't know how but she did and she was on the prowl for them. I was tryign to tell her it would be fine, but I was really aggravated and pissed at myself. The couple came back and we asked them and they said they left when the two "culprits" came because they were smoking and the woman was pregnant. So apparently, when they go up, 4 empty seats and a camera bag and PR 07 bag... they fetched it and dashed. It was probably about 5 mins to about LP was coming on and we were practically on the verge of a panic attack. So many people and everyone was getting settled in and I was just like "Fuck, we are never seeing this again." But.... on the very opposite end of the aisle, Mary Ann spotted the people she thought took it and I spotted the reconizable PR 07 Verizon bag they gave out last year - no one else we had seen had that bag and he was holding it by his hands and I could tell something was in there. Without hesistation, I literally bolted down the row with her in tow and tapped this mother on the back and was like "That's my camera, that's my bag." He gently looked over his shoulder and quickly looked back and mumbed "There's a lot of camera's out here." I told him that was mine point blank, and Mary Ann chimed in too and he kinda shrugged and I was told him I wasn't looking to go to security, just give it back. Thankfully, his girlfriend, daughter, pet or whatever she was told him to just give it back.... and thus, with a bit of hesitation, I had my camera back in the middle of the venue behind Pooch with all sorts of people looking and LP about to hit the stage. I was in pretty much joyful bliss and LP could cancel the show and I woulda been happy. Weird turn of events, but thankfully MA spotted them or I would still be bummed and not writing any of these reviews. That would have totally ruined my trip to all ends and would have ruined Mark's and Mary Ann's too. I was so happy and LP still hadn't started. We got back to our seats, I checked out camera, it was fine, told the couple about it, we had a good relieving laughs that feel oh so good after a bad situation. I decided to wear the bag with the camera inside its case inside the bag. Didn't want to take any chances because turns out the douche mother popped aroudn the corner midway through LP's set looking to kill so.... I wanted no chances at grabbing it. The lights come down and SDC comes out and I am in all LP mode after the whirlwind 20 minutes that just past. The place was LOUD as fuck and then the familiar sirens started and You could tell LP was gonna be on fire for this show right after this song finished. I'm not much for taping shows or recording them like Mark is (and some others here) but I did want to get some good video and I thought since the seats weren't the most ideal for jumping and such, and, of course, with the camera ordeal, I would get some good video. Its just I wish I had a plan to record either all or none because I would have enjoyed Faint and No More Sorrow much better. If you read my Charlotte review, you know that Faint is my favorite live song but I could not enjoy it in West Palm Beach. On the SBD's I love it as the 2nd song, I think it flows incredibily well from WID but I just couldn't enjoy it like I do when I expecting it as an encore closer or something. I spent the first minute (or first half, lol) of the song putting my camera away, which ended up being a hassle during the show. Faint was still fun and I still enjoyed watching the band go crazy on the outro, seemingly one of their most energetic band moments from the MTM touring cycle. Short intro No More Sorrow which pails in comparision to the long intro NMS in the middle of the set but it's still good to see the light show right after Faint and bam, some good head banging to my favorite song of MTM. A good rendition of Wake 2.0 and Given Up followed with the whole place rockin'. Given Up has become one of their bigger hits and I think it will be a set staple for a long time because the band enjoys it too. Lying From You was next and Mike made a rare comment on the fact that there were a lot of people in the crowd and I always like to hear things like that from the band at shows I'm at... makes it more personal and such. LFY, as always, was a riot and from there went to Don't Stay, the first time I had heard this song live in a year. Wow, this song is amazing live, so much energy and since it was only in one set, it was a real treat to get to hear again. I wish they would have played it in Tampa for us in the pit but MA and I went crazy on the bridge for DS. Great, great rock song. By this point, however, I was getting pretty pissed off with the security situation. The douche steriod-security guard came all the way down the row and flashed his flashlight at MA and I. I thought at first it might have something to do with the camera but he wanted to see our tickets. I was like WTF we have been here the whole time... but he wanted to see him. He looked at them and told us we were in the wrong section and needed to move. I was like "Nooo, check again" and he was like "Oh, sorry" so he checked all the dumass people in the aisle which it was like a mini pit over there there were so many people, which is a big no no at venues, so it was annoying for the guards to be right next to us at the end of the row telling all these dumb fucks to go back to their seats. The secruity at Cruzan was the worst of any venue I had ever been too and it really dampened the experience because I constantly had to deal with fuckers coming into our area and them kicking them out... no courtesy. However, back to the show. The rest of the set was really great, LP was on top. I really enjoyed Points of Authority was always, and Mark was dead on when he said the place was insane with the hands in the air prompt from Mike and Chester. It was amazing. The rest of the songs were pretty ordinary, enjoyed Crawling once more and I reallyed enjoyed Bleed It Out from this show because Brad and Mike did this small little duel-off where they just simplify the BIO riff while Mike add's some detail to it. I really enjoy when the do things like this as I dislike when the start the songs off normally. I wish they would play the intro everytime like Auburn 07 which is like 2 minutes long before they actually start the song. I also dislike BIO to close shows; I think its much more effective at closing regular sets. No SDC on this one, and I think Rob's solo was excellent, I really enjoyed it. The encore followed and the place was loud as hell and here we were winding down to another encore of LP. To be honest, I had forgotten the setlists so I had no idea what was coming. Chaz and Mike walk out and talk about playing on cool jazz from the 80s which was pretty amusing and then the familar Pushing Me Away piano version ensued. It was good to hear this, I hadn't hear this live in a year as well as I was treated to the much better My December in Nashville in February. Breaking The Habit followed and I think that is one of their best songs - live or otherwise. It was a great performance that led into the last encore. The 2nd encore break was short and Joe came out on Cure For The Itch. I really enjoyed seeing this for the first time live and I wish they would make it longer instead of shorter than the studio version. The place started chanting "Joe, Joe, Joe!" and I really liked hearing that.... blend into One Step Closer, no intro which Mark and I thought it had. They dropped it earlier on in the tour, I suppose after Busta left or something. Either way, MA and I went INSANE on OSC and so did everyone else. The couple beside us had left so we had a bit more room to move around and such and nothing was gonna stop me from enjoying OSC close the show. It was an absolute motherfuckingriot and I loved it. SDC was even out there banging on cymbals and everything around and it was just nuts. People went crazy on the bridge and outro and I had a ton of fun on that song with MA. That IS the way to close a show out! Well, there we were, another show down. We waited a bit and took it all again again and I snapped some "memory shots" of the huge ass crowd, it had to be a sellout or like super close. There was so many people it was insane. I called Mark, and could barely hear him but we got through and met him at the PR bus right outside the venue. We talked like little school girls to the car then rolled down the windows and starting blaring some LP! HHAHA! Its so funny how after an LP concert, you really hear LP everywhere. I heard Meteora, Collision Course, Crawling, all on the way to the car, it was awesome. We certainly got out of their a lot quicker than we did for Charlotte which was great and Mark was talking to like everyone LP-related in his phone. He is like a total businessman with this site but he is so funny talking to people to update LPLive and telling them what Mike did on stage and what Chester did and that Brad picked his nose during Shadow of the Day (what else is there to do during that abstrocity?). It was very entertaining to hear him talk to his people and we told him a little bit about the camera situation but I don't think he was fully into what we were saying till later that night and I confirmed to him that SDC was indeed out there for OSC. We went back to Taco Bell after the show (to Mark's delight, but to our disgust) and we attemped to go to some 24 hour breakfast places to get Wi-Fi but no go. He woke up Astat and told him to update the site, haha. Very amusing. I think he was even trying to call that Jew from England but he did not pick up. LPLive is a business, baby. We had a real good conversation and reflection in the hotel room and I at this point in time I was so relieved. Things were going great, my camera DIDN'T GET STOLEN!, the beach was great, the shows were outstanding, and most importantly, we were all having a great time. It meant a lot to me because I pretty much put the thing together and I would feel somewhat responsible if something went wrong or it wasn't as great as we anticipated. But it was, plus more, and we had some great stories to go along with it. To just recap the review, lol.... West Palm Beach was a great show, but probably the worst of the 5 shows I went to obviousy because of the intangibles. The venue was fucking nice and the crowd was outstanding, but the seats were awful. Never, ever sit right behind the suites in the front row on the sides. Security is a bitch and so is every other leech trying to grab a better view at the expense of another. I just couldn't get into this show like I did the others, but LP was definitely on fire that night. Again, the security was awful but the venue was first-class and one of my favorites I have been too along with Sommet Center in Nashville and Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta. The show itself wasn't anything hi-lite worthy except for the intro to BIO but Chester did say it was one of the best crowds he has EVER played for which he doesn't go THAT far very often, and I could definitely see how he felt that way because we were loud as hell and the crowd was massive. Tremendous show, but the worst of 5 I went to.... AND THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3.5 HOURS TO WRITE!!!!! -Preston

While I may not be the most technically (or musically) advance person on here, I don't know who in the world can say the 08 recordings are better than 07. Auburn is a great show - not the best - but it is very, very good to be Pooch's first SBD with the band. Faint sounds awful in just about every PR 08 recording. Either bass is too loud but you can't hear Mike or you can hardly hear Brad's guitar to where the riff just sounds like a garbage distortion riff. Also, after more than a few listens on RtR, that has got to be on of the worst professionally-mixed CD's I have ever heard. The bass on the tracks are WAY TOO LOUD and while I agree bass needs to be cranked up in some songs, it just overpowers some of the songs where I was like "WTF?" Pooch is great at mixing sounds in the venue, but I want to know what techinques he is doing differently compared to PR 07 for the SBD's which I think is his best work as far as LP's SBD's go. As far as energy goes, I agree with Astat. The energy has just NOT been there from the band outside of Chester. Watch any performance up to 2004 (especially during Meteora touring cycle) or hell, just pop in LIT compared to RtR and you will see a completely different band. Chester really impressed me in Atlanta 07 when he completely blew everyone else out of the water with his aggression, and stage presence. Mike gets into it in a different way - while he used to be all about his moves on rapping, he seems to want to be rock's keyboardist now. Brad and Joe used to be insane and now they hardly move. The band's change in direction with Minutes to Midnight did not just affect their music; it changed their style as well. Brad used to go insane on OSC; now he would rather turn his guitar and watch himself on the screens on Shadow of the Day. I have also just accepted that but I think its their stage presence is going to take an even bigger hit their next touring cycle because of Chester's back situation.

All the shows I went too, the only time I saw SDC was in Tampa and that is because I wasn't coming from the Rev. stage. In West Palm, as Mark said, it seems the played literally as Atreyu came off stage. By the time we left the Rev. stage, they were two songs into their 4-song set. And Mark, we did not get a chance to see SDC in Atlanta, I think we walked to the other side of Lakewood to get a drink or something so we might have glimpsed but when we sat down, AD were about to start (or maybe already started).

Projekt Revolution 2008 Band Rankings Since I had the opportunity to see every band more than once (and more for some) I thought I would rank all the bands and such from PR 08. I'm not ranking based on stage just overall performance and entertainment throughout the shows. Starting with the worst.... 9 | Hawthorne Heights I saw them twice and was not impressed. I had never been a fan but I did download one track earlier this year and became somewhat interested in the band after the death their guitarist. But they were average in Raleigh and almost rude in Atlanta - not to mention they didn't even show up to West Palm Beach because they were filming a music video. If you're on tour, show up at every stop. Music videos should be done before or after tours.... in the end, they just didn't do much for me at all. 8 | Ashes Divide The worst of the main stage acts. They just did not engage enough for me and I wasn't familar with any of their (or Billy's work). They had fair production for an up-and-coming band and their bass was out of this world in Atlanta, but I was constantly bored throughout each time I saw them. Julien-K was a much better main stage opener in 2007. 7 | Street Drum Corps SDC really wasn't that bad but they played 4 songs and were practically done by the time you got settled if you were up front at the Rev. stage. Never understood what the "marching" thing was all about as I never saw anything like that happen. They had some nice theatrics and I gotta good vibe from them in the pit in Tampa - they are funky. Still, not enough and it didn't help that they didn't do much for me on LP's intro's. They have to open their genre up a bit more to be more prominent but they were descent. 6 | Armor For Sleep Pretty good way to start the day considered most people (including myself) had never heard of them. Strong and rhythmic sound along with great energy was a great way to kick off the Rev. stage. Still, a bit too emo for me and, like with most opening bands, they just didn't have the "ooomph" to royally impress. 5 | The Bravery I'll admit that I thought they would outright blow before PR started.... but they really weren't that bad. Certainly helps that I caught a drumstick from them in Tampa. Their banter was good, just so rhetorcal (same stuff every.... single..... show). But their sound was much better than HIM's or TBS in 2007 and I started to enjoy a few of their bigger songs by the end of my southeast tour. Overall, they were surprisingly entertaining in the middle slot on main stage but they are fairly one-dimensional for a bigger act. 4 | Chris Cornell I know it seems pretty low for such a legendary rock star but I didn't think his production and stage presence was that great especially in Raleigh and what I saw in Charlotte. His FOH mixer is terrible and at times, especially in Tampa, he was inaudible. I didn't really enjoy the acoustic "Like A Stone," one of my favorite songs from Chris with Audioslave, and really wanted them to play the song normally. With that said, I enjoyed his set very much, he got better as the shows went on, and I absolutely fell in love with his new stuff (Watch Out, Long Gone). He had great camaraderie in Atlanta, a city he loves to play in, and I love that stuff. He was fantastic overall, but I had more fun with..... 3 | 10 Years Only disappointment here is I didn't know how good they were coming in to the tour so I only got to seem them three times on PR (but saw them again at Buzzfest and get to see them Friday 12/19 in ATL). They really, really impressed me. They had the best sound of any band outside of LP and they were sincere and thankful to be on the tour. Very well-rounded setlist that I thought was very entertaining and has since become one of my favorite bands. Great stage presence and you could tell they were genuinely having a good time. 2 | Atreyu The almighty Atreyu. They were a fucking riot. From the get-go you could tell people were either there to see LP or Atreyu. They did not disappoint. I had some interest in them before PR so I was familiar but they definitely reminded me of LP back when they were first touring. So much energy and so much crowd interaction - and it was interesting and different every day. West Palm Beach was absolutely insane. The circle pits and the last-song knee jump extravaganza made Atreyu a definite highlight of the tour. 1 | Linkin Park I would say more.... but I think everything is obvious about LP.

PR 07 shows are so much better mixed than PR 08. Some shows (Tampa, etc) are hardly audible in my truck at higher volume compared to some other shows. Most of the time you can't even hear Mike's guitar. I think RtR CD is not very good. Took a listen for the first time and reminds me of LPU7 CD. They cut out the talking and the beginning of Given Up with the fade of Wake is awful. However, NMS sounds very good as does Jigga What/Faint. Also, FTI on DVD and CD is best FTI I have heard for a quite some time.

Well, I wasn't going to do these but after getting enough entertainment out of Mark's biographies of each show he goes too, I thought I would give my side of the story since all the shows Mark went to in 2008 was with me and my girlfriend Mary Ann. In case you don't know, I am Preston and took it upon myself to pretty much invite Mark (who I started talking to on AIM after Nashville show in February) to all the southeast PR 08 shows since I knew I was NOT going to miss any show down here in the south. We became pretty good buddies on the Internet and we had a lot in common as far as living close to Atlanta and liking a lot of other things outside LP. I haven't really met anyone that I have only talked to online but I never though twice when inviting him on the trip. Flash forward to around the end of July and we were all getting real excited (Also, I'm starting with this review but I have gone to Atlanta 07, Tampa 07, Nashville 08, and Raleigh 08 - I just wanted to start with this one). Raleigh was a blast but as I'm sure you all know Mark was supposed to meet us at this show since he was already in town but never got the opportunity to go. I thought the whole situation was strange but I felt bad for him - Me and Mary Ann starting wondering if he was "real." Lol. To give a little background, the day before Charlotte and thus the rest of the jaunt, I was in a car wreck after visiting my grandfather (who, ironically, was in a car wreck earlier that day as well). I was fine, he was fine, but I did do some damage to the back of my truck as I skidded into the side of a wonderful North GA mountain. I was able to drive my truck home and thankfully we were not taking my truck on the shows but that put a little damper on my mood before the trip. But I was thankful to be safe and the damage was done but nothing drastic like windows or engine was messed up so that eased my tension. The next day came and we were to grab Mark around 2pm from MARTA (Atlanta subway) and head up to Charlotte - which on my driving time is about a little less than a three hour drive from Atlanta. Mary Ann and I saw all the bands in Raleigh and knew we would have other opportunities to see them later on this trip so we weren't too big on getting there at any time, just sometime reasonable. Me and her ate and went to the bank and finally got to the "Kiss Ride" at MARTA around 1pm. It was hot as fuck. And yes, Mark I want to reiterate - it was hot as fuck. Anyways, so Mark had been in contact with us via text messages but it seemed he was sending most of them Mary Ann's way which I thought was entertaining. So we just let the windows down and chilled and talked while waiting for him but his time tables kept dipping further and further. He told us he was running a bit late and and had to cut the grass. Needless to say, after a trip to Walmart, and changing parking spots a few times, Mark shows up at like 5pm. Haha. Now, because this is my version and Mark made a comment about this in his Charlotte review, I wasn't really perturbed but Mary Ann was pretty aggravated. I was totally prepared to miss most of the show but I did expect to get there around the time the Bravery popped on. I knew now that we would have to book it up there but it was fine. When we finally met, we were just glad to find out he was a "real" person haha. We shook hands, did formal what's up, and we bolted for Charlotte. Mary Ann and I, as I'm sure Mark knows, are real laid-back so naturally I wasn't ever gonna say anything about being late - shit happens and we all know that. No need to be a dick and create awkwardness for the rest of the trip so we were just glad to be on our way and we both really liked Mark - for anyone who doesn't personally know him, he is a great guy and after hindsight, we were really glad he came along for the entire trip. We talked a great bit on the way to Charlotte and listened to some LP shows and some other stuff here and there. Mark and Mary Ann decorated a Teddy Grahams box with LP lyrics lmao. I wonder what happened to that box, Mark? Anyways, I had already been to the Charlotte venue about a month before for Dave Matthews so I knew the area fairly well. We got up there around the middle of Chris Cornell's set and when we got out and walked to the venue, we could hear his voice echoing through the lot. It was a beautiful night and I was ready to get in the venue because I knew we had better seats than what we had for Raleigh. We all got in and passed the screeners and I grabbed a free cup of water. I like the Charlotte venue but not as much as Mark does. I think Mark is in love with Charlotte. As we are walking around the venue, it was apparent the sound of Chris Cornell's voice flusterred the great Mark and he dropped his phone and such and it broke into all these pieces haha I thought that was amusing. His phone was OK though so that's why it could be funny. When we got into the amphitheatre seating, Chris was doing his thing and the crowd was bleak. Much smaller crowd than for what I saw MCR have last year at ATL and Tampa 07. Raleigh didn't have a very big CC crowd either. Anyways, we all had different seats but they were in the front sections. My seat was awful, way over to the right side of the stage about 10 rows back. I couldn't see shit. Mary Ann's (the only show we didn't have tickets together) was about the same as mine just 10 rows up. And I think Mark had good seats just on the oppposite side. So we all just kinda stood around my seats and watched a bit of CC, and at this point I was getting a bit weary cuz I knew my seats weren't good and I was tired from the truck thing and driving but Mark made it up to us. After CC got off or sometime before that, Mark met up with some people of the LPU (Jason I think his name was) and he showed some pics of Mike and Chester at the M&G which Mark thought was interesting. LP's stage was getting set-up and this is the time of the show where I get antsy and I get real excited. The last 10 mins of the stage set-up is big time anxiety inducing because I am so excited haha. Sound like such a fanboy haha. We got checked by security because we moved closer to the middle of the venue around where FOH was. We were all good but we had to make a move. There were so many empty seats in the front sections that we were like 'Hell, let's make a move.' So following Mark, who after going to some other concerts with, is great at getting us all good seats, we got front row, dead center seats without anyone checking us. The seats were great but I was like "There is no way these seats can be empty." I got a bit worried that someone would come because those were their seats or something and I don't like to be all unsettled right before LP comes on. I learned that lesson in Nashville lol going to the bathroom 2 mins before they come on. Needless to say some of the seats next to us and in front of us get more filled but NO ONE comes and gets ours. Amazing. Kudos to Marcus. The stage is set-up. And boom, the lights go down. The seats were very bad ass we were a few rows behind the pit but right IN the middle. We had perfect view of the stage. It was the same setlist as Raleigh a few nights before but that didn't stop me from being so excited. SDC intro didn't ever do much for me, live or on the DSP. I just never got into it and no one else really did either. To be honest, I really didn't like it but it did get me a chance to soak it in and I do love the raising of the "Linkin Park" sheet in the back of the stage. They end there 2 minute intro and the machine-gun OSC intro comes back. It was great to be able to see everything I wanted to see. I really prefer this intro rather than the one they used for PR 07 and when OSC started, I started going crazy as usual. But unlike at Raleigh, most people just didn't get that much into it at Charlotte which was a bit disapointing but didn't stop me. I was a bit disapointed Mark didn't get into but I forgot he likes to tapes some shows so I understood what was up there. OSC was a riot and I love the outro and it was a great way to get things going. It's not my favorite song to intro the set but whenever it's played live, it is A GOD like Chester says. LFY, my favorite LP song, was next and I also enjoy the new intro for that. I really like the sample they start off with. Varrry nice. The song is really fun to get into and I enjoyed watching Chester do his "rap star" version and I went all nuts on the bridge. Me and Mary Ann really get into it and its very fun going to concerts with her. She has been a big time LP fan since literally Day 1 (before Mark and I) so its always fun to have someone tag along with you like her to enjoy the show. SIB was next and I have never been a big fan of the studio intro and I really missed the PR 07 intro but this song is a true riot to most fans, which caught me off guard. So many people jump and get into this song, a lot more than I thought. The bridge and outro of the song are really great and this song was great to rock out too. I know Mark likes the outro drums and so do I. Very good song done live. Thing I noticed at Raleigh was (and I assumed it had to do something with Busta Rhymes leaving the tour) was the band hardly talked between the songs like the setlist calls for, SIB being one of those. It was dissapointing but when you're at the show and all that, your there for the music and thats what it was about. Next came the almighty No More Sorrow and I absolutely love that the band puts the full intro to this baby in the middle of the set. It owns and I love seeing everyones face and reaction when the sample and lights hit in the middle of the intro before the ebow. The intro is epic and I love it when they shut down all the lights and build it into this crazy light show. Best lights I have ever seen for a LP song. I love it very much and this song is great to rock to live. I went apeshit on this song and followed Chester with the groovy (and super loud live) bridge riff. That song should be a setlist staple for many tours to come. Papercut was next and this has always been one of my favorites and I love the intro samples and Mike's little speech, although most of them sound very rhetoric to what he did last year at the same venues. This is a part that they need to change along with the whole 'Say whats' in LFY and 'Bring it back y'all' in POA. Those little live things get worn out very easily if you do it every show every tour for a cycle. Papercut is a great song and I love listening to it. The bridge is epic live and the band has always had a ton of camederie on this song, even if it is old-school. Another old-school favorite of mine is POA, my favorite song from Hybrid Theory and I love always wondering what the FM verse will be over the drum sample. It was Bloc Party which I had heard Mike debut in Atlanta last year and also heard in Raleigh the week before. I love the verse so I didn't mind. However, hindsight, POA at this show was a bit weak because its apparent the band just doesn't get into this song like they used to and Joe really fucked up the outro, which I think is the best part of the song live. Either way the song rocked and the outro was great - I hope there is more of that stuff to come in the studio. Wake 2.0 and Given Up were next and I agree with Mark - this version of Wake is much better for the middle of the sets whereas the regular studio Wake is great for opening shows. Given Up is a very fun song but not my favorite. I wish Chester could do the whole scream every night which I know he can't but I just don't think this song live has as much power as it does with the studio version. I still get down with this baby and lights are great - also Chester clearly loves this song as does pretty mcuh everyone in the crowd. I do think its a very good middle setlist song and I could see it becoming a POA-ish song through the years in terms of it getting remixes and stuff - so long as Chester can keep screaming like that. FTI is next and I love the intro. I always have and I always will. The lights are great during the intro as well, I love them. I knew I better rock out this song because the next few is where the set gets calm (and rather boring at times.) Like I said after the initial 8-10 rockin' songs, they slow it down and this is where I catch my breath, look around, and take it in. Leave Out All The Rest I think is an awful song live. I just cannot get into it. Studio, its not that bad, I just think its a very odd song for LP especially as a single. It just does not do much for me and Mary Ann and Mark agree. I also really dislike the fact that Joe will sometimes leave during this song and Brad and Phi leave until the end. I know thats commonplace to do that when at that point of the song you don't have a role but I think unless its something acoustic or piano, all the members should be out there. Anyways, Numb brought things back to life and I think this song is really good live. Chester always nails the bridge and for someone who used to hate this song, I really enjoy everytime this song comes on. It may not be on you bang your head up and down to but its always one I get passionate about sing-a-long wise and even though a lot of people call for its ouster in the set, I think its a great fit in between the slower songs since LP will not rid itself of that part of the set. Little Things was next and after hearing Atlanta 07, no other version of this song can ever stand up to it. The piano intro from Mike is long and drawn out and while I think this is a great song, its way too long for the set and is really a set killer. I hope this song will find the retirement list - its a great song live, it just is too long and and whaney. Breaking The Habit has a Numb-like effect to the set and brings things right back. This song has always been a favorite of mine, studio or live and Charlotte's was epic. As Mark said, Mike went crazy on the keys on the bridge like we have never seen before and it was great to him "break it down" so to speak, with no pun intended. The song should be a setlist-staple and the outro is fantastic. Really great song live. But look what we have here. The disasterous Shadow of the Day which I really just don't like as a whole. There are certain dynamics about the song that I like such as the dominant sounding drums and the strings (which really dominate the song live, which is a plus). But overall I just don't like the song and I don't like it live but I deal with it. I still sing-a-long and enjoy it but I the song just really doesn't do much for me. Crawling was next and the intro was great. Love the Reani intro and Mike performing the HHH verse as pretty much a silhouette thanks to the excellent lighting is terrific. This is still one of their great live songs, even though I think hearing it live is a lot better than anything on the DSP. I usually skip over this song on the DSP but live, it really is powerful and so many people get into it. So many different aspects about this song make this a terrific LP-style song. Of course, Chris Cornell came out and I could tell Mark seeing that for the first time. I was kinda neutral on him coming out, I enjoyed it as it was different but I didn't get too overly excited about it. It was a good thing to add to the tour though. After that came In The End, which unlike Mark, I think is a bad way to close the regular set. ITE is always a great song but I don't think its every played that well live. I will always prefer the studio version to any live version. Needless to say, I enjoy the song and the bridge parts. LP said its typical good-byes and what not, and then it was time for encore-time. The show thus far had been great, but really quick. I was already shocked they were done with that much of the show but I was still excited as ever. Beating on the seats and waiting for the epic What I've Done intro. I was glad Mark was getting to see this for the first time because it was one of the first things we talked about after I started talking to him after Nashville (which had THE MOST epic WID intro, so loud). He always said to like it but he said he really enjoyed the studio intro, which I dislike. Watching this I believe led him to change his mind. The ambient sample and sirens popped on and people started cheering. There are certain parts of the show that, for some reason, are extremely loud and Brad's guitar in this intro is one of those times. I love this intro and even though it doesn't have the same "vibe" as when I saw it the first time in Nashville, its a great way to start an encore. The song starts and we all go wild. WID is a fun song, its definitely mid-tempo but it still has a very strong beat and the band you can tell really enjoys playing it. Then. Faint. The best live song from the Park. Me and Mary Ann went crazy on this shit in Raleigh and nothing gets me more excited during their setlist when I hear the Faint sample start. We had center view and I was ready to get down. Brad does his famous ass dance and BOOM here we go. The place jumps up like never before and I start going crazy since I have a little extra room because the people next to me left. My favorite thing to do on this song is during the bridge and outro is grab the seat in front of me and just go up down insane-style. I can only imagine what the people in back of me thought but who cares - that song is so much fun. The intro is incredible and the outro is crazy insane. Chester goes crazy on that song and I absolutely love watching him. Probably one of the reasons his back got fucked up. I still haven't seen Faint close a show but I no matter what, this song is #1 live. Man, what a riot. After the riot, LP leaves again and a lot of people start to leave which I cannot stand. I hate that LP does 2 encores. I do take enjoyment in the people trying to rush back after the 2nd encore starts and the looks on their faces. Anyways, the lights were dim and the crew roll out Rob's small drum kit and Rob comes out and does a wave and proceeds with his slightly amateurish drum solo. I enjoy the intro drum solo and it was awesome to see him like RIGHT THERE. The man is a fantastic drummer and he is so tight (drumming-wise) but I really do think he never hits his potential as far as tracks he comes up with for songs or his drum solos. He has always claimed to be a be a man not wanting to show-off and you can still tell in his solos he feels that way. Either way they are entertaining and really gets the crowd going. Brad comes in the with the BIO riff and we are underway. I have seen this song close a set I think like 6/8 times and I really don't think its the best song to close with. I think its a great song to end a regular set with but even with the outro and all the other added extenders, the song has never really done a great deal for me live. I still enjoy it to the max and I do like when SDC comes out for this one, when Rob gets back to his regular drum kit, the beats are insane. They proceed with the bridge and outro and that show number 4 for me is done. We wait around and watch the ending festivities and I always enjoy watching the members and their reactions and stuff until they leave the stage. Me and Mary Ann and Mark do a lot of talking on the way to packing up our stuff and our ears are burning as is the norm after a rockin' show. Mark makes his way up to FOH and meets Pooch and we thought that was cool. I could tell Mark was pretty much on Cloud 9 after seeing the show with as good a seats as we had and I could tell him meeting Pooch was a big deal. We had a good talk going back to the car but as I knew from Dave Matthews, getting out of this venue is AWFUL. We waited about an hour to leave which is ridiculous. But we had a lot of talking to do and it was nice to just chill for a bit before the ride home to ATL. It had seemed like we knew Mark for a decade and I enjoyed that, he added a lot to the trip that would have been missing had it just been me and my girl. We finally get going and we hit up a Waffle House about 10 miles outside Charlotte and eat head down 85 to my house. We got back, did some business, and clonked out for the big 9 hour drive to West Palm Beach a few hours later. Overall, I really enjoyed Charlotte but it wasn't the best show of the trip. I really gotta give it to Mark on guiding us to the seats, the seats were great. I really like the venue, I mean, its a typical "cookie-cutter" amphitheatre much like Raleigh's and Atlanta's. But it's nicely kept and the greenery is really nice outside of the lawn and in the concourses. The people/security were also real nice as well. Linkin Park, as always gave 110%.

I love the DVD. It's brilliantly recorded and shot. The setlist is not the best but the shots (Brad FTI intro is epic) are. Also, does anyone notice when Brad starts the riff to Jigga What/Faint, Mike does not have his guitar. I thought this was pretty interesting. There's a fade shot of Brad doing his dance and you can see Mike just walking around clearly without his guitar at that time. Just an interesting observation.

Lying From You. Fell in love immediately. When I found out LP sang that song, I was like WTF? because I associated them with like this garbage/wacky band like Limp Bizkit. I really didn't get into LP that much though until middle of 06 when I rebought LIT and fell in love with Papercut/Points on that album. Lying From You still remains my favorite song though.

Sorry if this has been discussed but I am sitting here watching RTR and really for the first time listening to Crawling and ITE and I don't have my volume real high but the bass is insanely loud. I love when the bass is cranked in LP songs because it adds so much more depth to their songs but this is like distorting the vocals even. Has anyone else noticed this? Why is this thing mixed so oddly? BTW, I haven't really noticed that loud of bass in any other songs beside this one. It's not even this loud during Given Up. Just an observation.

Great review but I think Chester's voice was top-notch that night. I never recall (live or through the DSP) him having signs of being sick.

Attendance was about 19, 000.

The had about 200 copies of SftU at my local Best Buy. I was surprised because I thought it was going to come out on Friday. Was only $5.99 but I passed - tracklisting is not impressive. Did pick up Road to Revolution which looks very impressive and will be viewing momentarily.

I agree.

Like the snippet better than the entire original song. That song got old so fast its not even funny. And on the Media Player its labeled as LOATR (M. Shinoda Remix). We all know he does everything as stuff like this goes. Would not be shocked at all to see on LPU 8.

Jack - Good work. Sorry I wasn't able to talk much at the show, we kinda got separated there. Hopefully we can all hit up another show sometime.