Geki

grandson has kind of a rap/rock type thing that he does so maybe the song will kind of have that sound. But who knows. I don't mean rap/rock like nu-metal sounding, kind of like a more hip hop version of RATM riffs and shit. But it will still probably be pop. Lol.

I'm going to see them in Boston. I imagine that playing before 3 pretty big bands, they'll only do about 5 songs, but that's cool with me. I'm sure they'll do way more at their own shows around the Bush Tour, obviously.

Yes. I also like how with MTM, yes, they changed their sound drastically, but it still felt like ‘’Linkin Park’’ to me. And they still kept some of the heavier sound with a few tracks. I also genuinely liked the experimentation on the album. I felt like later albums kind of didn’t feel like that for me.

That would be badass.

Just bought the What I've Done shirt, which is extremely badass. I already own an identical hoodie except it doesn't say Minutes To Midnight above the Linkin Park logo, but it's literally a black pullover that looks identical. So I won't get that. Might buy another shirt later this week. Glad that they did this because Minutes To Midnight is by far their best album. It's cool that they are honoring it. A lot of new fans probably won't understand just how epic the shit was back in 2007/2008.

Today I was going through my collection and pulled out a skate deck that I purchased from Mikes art show in 2006 (Diamonds, Spades, Hearts, Clubs). I was just wondering how rare or not rare of an item it is. Heres a photo of it

More pop, yay.

I agree with you on the first three shows of 2015. They were definitely epic. I wasn't there but just listening to recordings, I can tell how epic it was. As well as people like yourself that were there, saying how good it was. The band was on fire. I think Chester breaking his ankle upset him a lot and I regret being mad about the cancelled tour back then because of it. His hands were tied and it's obvious he felt bad about it. But when the tour picked back up in May with Linkin Park, I just think the shows weren't as good. Yeah, we got ALITS, but the overall performance from Chester wasn't as good as those first three shows, or 2014. BlizzCon and Monster Mash are probably some of their worst shows of their entire career. At least Monster Mash was cool with the zombie costumes and what not. It was definitely better than BlizzCon, even in terms of performance. Chester wasn't very good at BlizzCon. But people say he was sick, so yeah. I mean this is Chester Bennington we're talking here so of course he was still better than 99.9% of vocalists in my mind. Haha. But the rest of 2015, those in between shows, Europe was OK. Berlin was pretty good. But 2015 as a whole just didn't stand out to me. 2014 was actually pretty good now that I truly look back on it. Carnivores was pretty good. Europe was great, you're right. We got a shit ton of cool shows in 2014, too. All shows before Carnivores were pretty good. A lot of special shows like Warped Tour, Comic Con, Red Bull, Download (all of HT + more), Rock AM Ring, etc. I wish Rock AM Ring had better quality. The show always seemed super low in volume to me. I bet being at that show was epic, though. So yeah, I'll agree with previous posts that 2014 wasn't really bad at all. It was different than previous years because of minimal crowd interaction, but I got over that. In terms of performance from Chester, 2014 was good, 2015 was meh, besides those first three shows. At least to me. Now, Meteora tour was epic, everyone knows that. But I feel like as epic as 2004, it's overrated in some ways. PR04 is amazing but I think the band sounded even better in 2003. Listen to any recording from 2003 and you get an EPIC fucking performance. Live In Texas, Nippon Budokan shows, LPU Tour, Europe 2003, etc. Everything about 2003 was epic as hell to me. Summer Sanitarium was damn amazing and I honestly think the band sounded better on that tour over PR04, if I had to say, and I know that's probably an unpopular opinion. PR04 and 2004 in general was fucking amazing, don't get me wrong, I just think 2003 was slightly better. I often find that the year the album drops, the tour is better, like 2003 for Meteora, 2012 for LT, etc, But I'll get into that as my post goes on. 2007 was truly fucking amazing. 2007, IMO, was the absolute best live year for the band. PR07 was amazing and every show was amazing. I loved every band on the tour and Linkin Park performed at 100% each night, IMO. I absolutely loved that tour. I can't say anything more about it other than the fact that I absolutely adore it. Pre PR07 was epic, too. A lot of great promo shows, and Europe. Bamboozle, my first ever show, was amazing. Berlin before it was amazing, Astoria too. Rock AM Ring was amazing. Lisbon was amazing. All of those shows pre PR07 were epic. Even after PR07, Australia and New Zealand were badass. Chester broke his wrist, continued playing the whole show, and whole tour, without cancelling anything. And the shows sounded great, too. They met Chris Cornell at that tour, too. Asia after it in November was also amazing. I bet a lot of people forgot that tour but listen to the DSP's, they are amazing. Bangkok, Shanghai, Taipei, Osaka, Seoul, all of those were EPIC. They sounded so good. And then they closed off they year with an epic show of Almost Acoustic Christmas, my favorite out of all the AAC shows by far. 2007 was solid through and through for me. Zero complaints. 2008 was also really good but not as good as 2007 to me. The winter tours were great, even with Chester getting sick halfway through the USA tour. Shows were still good. I just didn't find them as good as 2007 shows. Europe 2008 was amazing from what we can tell, I just wish there were DSP's or better recordings. But yeah that tour was fucking epic and probably was on par with 2007. PR08, you could tell that the band was getting tired out, but it was still epic. Tons of cool bands and the shows were great. I just thought PR07 brought it more. MTM as a whole, for a cycle, was good. But I thought 2007 was the best year. 2009 was also amazing, I liked it more than 2008, actually. Not a bad show in 2009. Lots of good shit. Band sounded great. Not too many shows but it was to be expected. So yeah, 2007 was the best, and 2009 was about the same. 2008 was amazing but not as good as the other 2 years, IMO. Now we move on to ATS. 2010 actually was quite good. I didn't realize it until recently. I saw the band in NYC in 2010 and I loved that show. Never was a good recording that surfaced or a DSP, but I have fond memories of it. I never got around to listening to all of the 2010 shows until recently, though, and they are quite damn good. Tel Aviv is amazing, probably my favorite of the year. Canberra and Melbourne 2010 are both also amazing. Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Paris with the epic APFMH, London, wow. Linz is also good. I like 2010 a lot. Even though the only real U,S, show was NYC (not counting the 5 song Kevin & Bean show in LA), I loved the year. 2011 was also really good. ATS is probably the only cycle that all years were great. I honestly liked 2010 more but 2011 was still epic. Lots of good shows and cool places like Moscow, etc. Not much else to say about that cycle. It was kind of short but was still great. Was definitely a weird touring route, but was awesome nonetheless. Now there is LT. 2012 was amazing, like Hahninator said. I loved Honda Civic Tour, it was my favorite tour in the U.S. since PR07. The band was on fire each night and Mansfield 2012 might be one of my favorite shows of all time. I thought the band sounded good all throughout 2012, honestly. Europe, South America and South Africa were all legendary and awesome. I loved the 2012 sets a lot. It was cool that they closed out the year with debuting COG, too. AAC from 2012 was a good show, although a shitty webcast. 2013 wasn't bad at all. Soundwave and Asia were both great tours. I saw them in 2013 at SSMF and it was good. But I thought 2012 was much better. They still had good energy in 2013, but 2012 just seemed epic to me. 2013 also had minimal touring, so that might be partially why, it was the shortest touring year for the band ever, next to 2016, which they didn't tour at all. I already covered THP cycle, so all that's left is OML cycle. OML cycle I thought was weird, but good. A lot of promo performances to kick it off. I don't count those. South America, with the first real shows, those were good. I loved all of those shows. Europe was good. I thought the band sounded great. Not as good as 2012, 2007 or previous, but better than other years. They seemed happy. And then tragedy stuck. So it was cut short. That's all I can really say.... Final verdict, 2007 was the best Chester ever sounded, to me. 2003 was close behind, and 2012 was third. After that, who knows. But yeah. EDIT: I forgot HT cycle. There is no question that 2001 was a huge year. The most touring that the band ever did. Lots of huge tours and shows. 2001 is when the band blew up into the mainstream. I wasn't a fan during the era (got into the band in 2003) but it seemed epic. 2002 was also really good, judging by recordings. 2000 gets overlooked a lot, but I find myself listening to 2000s shows a lot. Orlando, The Roxy and many more. The band sounded young, angry and non-commercial, which I enjoy. It was raw. So I honestly think 2000 was the best year for HT cycle. I know it's wrong, but personally, I just enjoyed 2000. HT came out in 2000 in the U.S. btw. A lot of people forget that, they think it came out in 2001, it did in Europe in 2001, but not the U.S. I feel like you can't compare HT touring cycle with the rest, though, because it was the first and the band was just getting going. Honestly. too, if you are a fan of Chester's screaming like I am, check out some 2000's shows, because he sounded awesome. Raw and often times out of pitch, but it was so raw and underground sounding, that I love it. 2000 is special to me for some reason.

This interview was really good. I liked that interviewer a lot. He was super respectful and seemed to know Mike well, as well as Chester. Unreleased Chester songs is awesome... I can wait for them, but I am super excited if they ever do put them out, of course. I guess that clears up why we didn't get music with LPU17 now. I also enjoyed all the other topics - Collision Course and It's Goin' Down. Old school shit right there. I wish Mike mentioned that he toured with Cypress Hill on PR02 when the interviewer mentioned them and also that he even did a song with them that's on their album Rise Up that came out in 2010 because that track is amazing. Easily Mike's best guest feature, IMO. It's also awesome to hear that the K-Flay track was originally a OML demo, just like Place To Start, which we already knew. Really cool. Great interview.

You were right before when you said that 2014 was vastly superior to 2015, at least IMO too. But I genuinely think 2017 was pretty good. I wouldn't say 2017 was his best of all time but I thought he sounded pretty damn good, especially when compared to 2015 and stuff. His top years of all time to me are like 2003 and 2007 but those are old times at this point.

I agree. Epic performance. That entire show is so good. I actually ripped audio of all that uploader's Orlando videos because it was such a good show. All the shows in 2015 from May to November (Rock In Rio USA, Rock On the Range, Beijing, BlizzCon, Monster Mash, etc) that I've heard aren't really that amazing, IMO. Especially BlizzCon and Monster Mash. But the others were not great to me, either. The Europe tour in August/September was decent but it still wasn't as epic as the first few shows of 2015.

He was pretty good on Carnivores. But a lot of other 2014 shows and 2015 shows he wasn't as good as 2017 or other years, IMO. Listen to the screams on WID from OML Live. Fucking amazing. Same with Bleed It Out's screams. He was top notch in 2017. Not all of 2015 was bad. Orlando, Nashville and Indianapolis were great. Orlando was probably the best show of THP cycle, honestly. He sounded amazing and people who were there agree. You can tell just by watching videos.BlizzCon and Monster Mash were horrible. I guess he was sick but idk. I didn't particularly think he sounded that great from May to November of 2015. Comic Con 2014 was good, sure, but it was like a 6 song show. I'm judging by actual full shows. Carnivores was pretty good, I'll say that. But he definitely has sounded better in other years which is 100% normal, I'm just saying. A vocal coach is good.

Yeah, you're right I think. I remember that. There was a lot of unreleased music and stuff shown in LPTV over the years. They even played Thoughts That Take Away My Pride from Meteora in an episode, as well as many other random unreleased LP songs.

Ghosts sounds like a dope track.

Thanks man. Slip Out The Back has always been one of those ''epic'' songs to me, similar to stuff like Powerless or A Line In The Sand. I've just always loved it and it would be cool to hear live. 100 Degrees is another song that I really liked a lot back in 2005 and 2006 and just recently have started listening to it again. It's really a great track, IMO. It would be really cool for him to play it. There is a lot of unplayed Fort Minor music. I think for his solo concerts, he should focus on his own new stuff (16 song album), as well as all the Fort Minor stuff. Maybe 1 or 2 Linkin Park tributes but he shouldn't play so much Linkin Park, IMO. Save that for when Linkin Park is back together touring. I'd also add Kenji to my Mike set because it's epic. I like your Linkin Park set a lot. Great set and they could do that no problem.

Good point. Chester sounded not so great in 2014 but he was pretty good in 2015. 2017 he was better. And like you said he worked with a vocal coach during the OML recording era (2015-2017). Mike can sing pretty good. He has before. His solo shows weren't THAT bad. I just think Sorry For Now wasn't too good. But with even a little bit of training, he could nail it. When you look at how he did Papercut and In The End, he can definitely re-create Linkin Park songs easily and make them suit him. And I have no problem with Linkin Park doing that. I just don't think Mike Shinoda solo shows should have a lot of Linkin Park, that was my issue. But Linkin Park is Linkin Park. If Mike wants to continue Linkin Park with him fronting and it's just the five of them, I'll support that shit all day. Nobody is expecting Linkin Park to sound exactly the same as they did before Chester died, I don't know how anyone could. It's not the same. But this is a new era for the band. Mike can easily whip up an hour long set, maybe even longer. There is TONS of material to choose from. And you have the other 5 guys backing him so it will sound much more huge than just Mike himself.

The problem is that a lot of people always end up comparing him with Chester, I'm even guilty of it. But he isn't Chester. Nobody in the world is Chester, that's why Chester sang with legendary artists and shit and was recognized all over music for his voice. Mike has even said numerous times that he thinks Chester is one of the best singers of all time (MTM DVD, many interviews, etc.). Mike is totally different vocally. His voice is much different. But that's normal obviously. If he gets some coaching, he can easily perform stuff, IMO. While I did think that he wasn't good on Sorry for Now live and a few others, it was his first show (s). With time and with some even minor coaching, he could become quite good. And if he tours for his solo stuff for 2018 and 2019, he will definitely be ready to front LP.

Don’t think it ever came out for either. Definitely not officially. But I don’t think we ever got any of it. I think there was a partial instrumental of Let Down for some Japanese film.

Mike needs a vocal coach but with some work he can easily front the band. He can easily handle like 80% of each of the seven albums IMO, except for maybe THP, but he could do a handful from that album probably. There isnt much challenging on MTM, ATS, LT or OML, as Ive said before, and about half of THP. So thats a LOT of music right there and add in all the random songs like It Goes Through, Devils Drop, New Divide and more. He can suit them all to make them easier for himself like he did at the solo shows this past weekend. Also he can let fans sing some parts too, like the shut up part of OSC. He can handle the rest. Fuck bringing in a new person. I wont support that shit whatsoever in any way, shape or form. They dont need to anyways.

Ripped it for collection since it was never played in 2017. Still think it sounds bad live but who cares. At least it is better quality.

You have a few good points. Some of your list would be cool to own on physical CD, and you are also right in the fact that it's possible we could get other performances like Hunger Strike. I have been kind of sick of demos for a while now. I used to love the live shit we would get on early LPU albums because of the exceptional quality and often times we didn't have a HQ version of the stuff.

M.S. 2018/2019 Setlist 01. Place to Start 02. Petrified 03. In Stereo 04. Over Again 05. Watching As I Fall 06. Get Me Gone 07. Crossing A Line 08. It's Goin' Down 09. About You 10. In The End (Chester Bennington Big Speech Tribute) 11. Red To Black 12. Nothing Makes Sense Anymore 13. 100 Degrees 14. Where'd You Go 15. Slip Out The Back

What's the point of getting a bunch of live performances that we already have? And some of those aren't even Linkin Park so we might not even be able to get those. I'd be open to 10 live tracks featuring Chester that are exceptional from all touring years. But idk if they would do that. They ignored the DSP petition like three different times. Maybe they would, who knows. They have a lot of good shows in the vault, look at all the tracks on singles and stuff. Summer Sonic 2006, PR04, PR02, RAR14 and many more. That last OML should def be one of them. I was shocked when they never released his final show to fans. I still can't believe they didn't do that. Such a special show and they have it recorded obviously since they've released a track from the show on OML live and also the Chester speech from Hollywood Bowl.

There is a video of about half of the show uploaded now in much better quality without any ear piercingly annoying singing in it. I ripped Sorry For Now from the video for myself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq4tYUpSK1E

As far as I’m concerned he has no place playing anything off of MTM, Meteora or HT. The rest I don’t care about but cmon.