Geki

I wasn't sure if I was going to post this thread but I decided to go for it. This entire year so far, I've really started re-listening to Linkin Park's discography. I've really rediscovered how amazing the music really is. IMO, Linkin Park crafts each album to be amazing and a listening experience, I feel like. I've noticed that a lot of bands don't do this. Mike said that he loves albums and doesn't want to stop releasing music that way, I can't remember which interview this was now, but he basically said that a lot of bands are releasing singles and songs randomly now instead of focusing on a big album, but that stuck with me. I love albums do, I just forget about how much I did. Linkin Park puts a lot of thought into how they sequence the album, etc. And even remix stuff like Reanimation, Collision Course, etc. is done amazingly well. Hell, even the demos sound good! There's really no main point to this thread, but I know the Linkin Park news has been slow this year so I decided I just wanted to share this with the LPL community. There might be some other fans out there who could have this same experience taking in the music, looking at the artwork for the albums while listening, etc. and it's really a fun experience, IMO.

Already had this from the LPU but it's cool it was uploaded on LP's YouTube. Good pro-shot.

Amen to that.

We had hardly got any demos of songs that have made the cut over the years. That's a shit ton of songs right there, not to mention all the other songs that didn't make the cut. And we have heard snippets from a lot of them in LPTV, etc., yet the band won't release them to us. I think we have a lot of demos left in the vault. Besides just main albums songs that there are probably a lot of left in the vault, here are songs that we have never received a demo form for from main albums through LPU releases (I know some have been released in alternate forms or early mixes on other releases but I mean through LPU) Papercut One Step Closer With You Crawling Cure For The Itch Pushing Me Away Foreword Don't Stay Lying From You Hit The Floor Easier To Run From The Inside Nobody's Listening Session Numb Wake Given Up Bleed It Out Shadow Of The Day Hands Held High No More Sorrow Valentine's Day In Between In Pieces The Requiem The Radiance Burning In The Skies Empty Spaces When They Come For Me Jornada Del Muerto Waiting For The End Blackout Wretches And Kings Wisdom, Justice, And Love Iridescent Fallout The Catalyst The Messenger LOST IN THE ECHO (Holding Company wasn't listed as a LITE Demo on LPU13 for some reason) IN MY REMAINS BURN IT DOWN LIES GREED MISERY CASTLE OF GLASS VICTIMIZED ROADS UNTRAVELED SKIN TO BONE TINFOIL POWERLESS Keys To The Kingdom All For Nothing Guilty All The Same The Summoning War Wastelands Until It's Gone Rebellion Mark The Graves Drawbar Final Masquerade A Line In The Sand

Don't read this review until you read my Uncasville review first, and then my Mansfield review, second. It's all one big story. This show took place 3 days after the Mansfield show that I went to. It was my first LPU Summit as well, which took place before the show, the day of the show. A lot had happened in the 3 days between this show and Mansfield. My girlfriend had tried coming to my Grandma's house again and her family harassed me, etc. It wasn't a fun time. I just blew it all off, even though it bothered me a lot. I didn't want to be home alone, so some family members waited with me at my house at times, which was cool. The night before the show, I got hammered, the stress had gotten to me. I had been drinking A LOT that year already, but now that all of this went down, it was even worse. I was drunk when we left for the show, my Grandma drove. Yeah, it wasn't a flattering time in my life. We left at like 1am, since Camden is about 6 hours from where I live, and I needed to be there by 8am for the LPU Summit. I'm not sure if she knew I was drunk on the ride down, but she probably did. The ride down wasn't too bad, I don't remember much of it though, being drunk and all. It was a weird feeling to be driving for 5 hours in the middle of the night, while being a drunk passenger. I played LIVING THINGS the entire way down, I remember that. Powerless was so hard for me to listen to because it fit so well to what I was going through. The entire album did, really. I remember that once we got in Camden, we stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts and I used the bathroom and got a breakfast sandwich. I was basically sober at that point. We checked out the area, which was pretty ghetto (LOL), and I ended up buying a long-sleeve t-shirt to wear to the show that was a pretty cool shirt. Once we got to the venue, people were all lined up and I got in line. Within a few minutes, Adam checked me in. We finally got let in and I met Mark and Jonas and a few others from LPL.That was cool. I signed up for the raffle thing that the LPU was doing, where you could win certain things. I put my tickets in a personal photo with the band, which I didn't win, ultimately. I also signed this art wall that they had. Eventually, we chose whether we wanted to see the backstage area, or check out the tour buses. I chose the backstage area and Pooch was our guide, really cool guy, super nice. It was cool seeing the band's dressing room and everything else, definitely a cool experience. Once that was done, it was time for lunch, which the LPU had planned at the Hard Rock Cafe in Philadelphia for us. We got on these trolley type things that took us there, I rode in the one with Adam from the LPU. It was pretty fun, actually. At one point, our trolley got lost, much to Adam's dismay, which was funny as hell. Once we got there, everyone sat down in the seats that they had reserved. They were playing Incubus and Linkin Park music videos on the TV's there, that was cool. I actually ended up sitting at the bar, which they allowed, and I ordered a Jack and Coke along with my meal. LOL this was such a bad time in my life. I was 21 at the time though, so it wasn't illegal for me to order it or anything. I was just the only dude at the bar. I didn't even care. Not sure if Adam or anyone else knew. Once lunch was done, we headed back to the venue. Then it was time for the band Q&A, special acoustic performance and Meet & Greet. The Q & A was cool, it was funny at times, and cringey at other times with some of the questions. LOL. They played IN MY REMAINS acoustic, which was really fucking awesome and I loved it. The Meet & Greet was great. I told Rob that I loved his drumming and I gave Chester a handwritten note from me, which he said he would absolutely keep, not sure if he ever did, but whatever. I put a lot of my life and my story into the note, telling how much he and Linkin Park had helped me over the years, etc. Once the Meet & Greet was over, the LPU Summit ended and everyone disbanded. My Grandma met up with me inside because she was going to go to the show since it was a 5 hour drive and there was nothing for her to do in Camden. I got some merch and then we headed to the actual concert part of the venue. We went to sit down and eat the food, and Mutemath came on. We could hear them from the place we were sitting to eat. I had lawn tickets at the show, so I didn't need to be in the pit on the bar or anything. It was actually cool because I got to relax for the first time at a Linkin Park show. Incubus came on next. We had moved to the lawn by this time. They put on a great show. I was excited to see them since I missed them at Mansfield due to the Meet & Greet. People around us really seemed to love them and there were a lot of drunk people. Once it was time for Linkin Park to come on, it started pouring rain. A Place For My Head opened the show which was fucking EPIC. I saw the other sets in Uncasville and Mansfield and this was by far my favorite opener of the 3. I rocked out in the rain to the first 6 or so songs and I went to buy a drink during Somewhere I Belong. My Grandma had left by that point too, to go wait in the car. No point for my Grandma to sit in the pouring rain for something she didn't even know about. LOL. Anyways, it was 8 bucks or something for a beer, that was crazy. I ended up getting a 24oz can of Mike's Hard because it was cheaper, fuck it. The band performed really well the whole night, IMO. It was the first time that I drank at a Linkin Park show, too. But the show was definitely a magical feeling. Something happened towards the end of the set that I have never experienced at any other show. It was pouring down rain harder than ever, and people were falling in the mud, laughing, singing, crying, having fun, etc. and it really just clicked with me. Everyone was there out of their love of music, particularly Linkin Park, and something about being there in the pouring rain, with everyone singing, etc. was just really cool to me. It made me tear up. It's something I will never forget. I remember crying during the Ballad Medley, which was strange for me. I think the lyrics really hit me hard, as well as the emotion. I was also leaving behind a huge moment in my life, with my girlfriend ending, etc. And just everything that had happened that week. The set closed with Lying From You/Papercut and One Step Closer and the crowd went NUTS. Really fun. Once the show was done, I remember standing there, SOAKING wet, teary eyed, and I thought about my ex-girlfriend at that point, everything that went down during that week, the show, etc. It was a big moment for me, by myself, that I needed. After the show, I went to the parking lot, after walking around forever to find it, since I had never been at that venue before and I was all the way up in the lawn. I got in the car, soaking wet, and we drove home. I must have DRENCHED the car. I think we may have stopped somewhere, but I don't even remember. I think we stopped at like a McDonald's or something. Overall it was a cool tour, despite all the craziness that went on for me personally. It's a time in my life that I'll never forget, 2012 in general, but Honda Civic Tour and LIVING THINGS defined that year for me with everything that happened around it.

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Don't read this review until you read my Uncasvile one first, because it's really one big story. This show took place 2 days after the show in Uncasville that I went to. My girlfriend was supposed to go with me to this show as well, but she ended up not coming, which I'll explain why in a bit. My Grandma was driving me to the show, once again. The morning of the show, my girlfriend started acting like a bitch and was saying she didn't want to go, etc. and that she needed money. You can assume what she needed money for, if you read my Uncasville post. I said I didn't have money or much time, and I wanted her to go, etc. The day of the show was also the day that I got paid from my job at Sunoco, so I decided to drive there early in the morning to get my check, despite thinking the checks wouldn't be ready yet. When I got there, sure enough, they weren't ready yet, and wouldn't be ready by the time I was leaving for the show. So this really pissed off my girlfriend, who 100% didn't want to go to the show at this point. I decided that maybe she could pick up my check for me during the day and cash it, not thinking about that she wouldn't be able to cash it because she wasn't me. I ended up calling my friend, the same friend who went to the 2007 and 2010 shows with me, and he left work ''sick'' so he could come. Pretty funny but cool at the same time. We picked him up and headed out. Now, this is where things get crazy. Halfway there, my Grandma got a call from my Mom. Turns out my girlfriend had went to my Grandma's house and stole a bunch of shit, computers, cameras, a TV, etc. to try and cash in for money for her drug addiction. My Mom called the cops and everything else and finally found my girlfriend after that. She apparently sold the stuff to some local drug dealer, and my Mom ended up being able to talk with the guy and get the stuff back. My Mom told my girlfriend to never come back to my Grandma's house and never talk to me again, and that my Grandma would be pressing charges once she returned. Now, this was a HUGE relief for me, since I was feeling like I would never escape my relationship with her that I wanted to so badly. But I was anxious and kind of sad at the same time. It was a weird feeling. I didn't have a cell phone at the time, since I had stupidly smashed my iPhone up a few days before the show out of rage. We decided to stop at a Staples nearby and buy a little flip phone for the time being until I got a new iPhone. I didn't give my girlfriend my number, obviously. But I finally felt free again. I didn't know what the fuck was going to happen in my life but all I cared about was seeing Linkin Park at that point. Once we got to the venue, we lined up and waited. Not too long, but long enough. We were some of the first people there. Once we got let in, we rushed to the stage and got right up front on the bar. Mutemath opened and they played well, better than they played at Uncasville a few shows earlier, IMO. At the end of their set, I left the bar to go find out where the Meet & Greet line was, since I had one at that show. I missed Incubus' set completely, which sucked. The Meet & Greet was cool, the band were all in a great mood and it meant a lot to me, even though I had met the band before in 2007. The combination of the chaotic day that I was having plus meeting and seeing my favorite band was cool, but jarring. After the Meet & Greet, I headed back to the stage. My friend helped me get back up to the front row, which was really cool of him, he saved my spot. Like I said before, Incubus was done at that point, so we were waiting for Linkin Park to come on. I was bummed that I missed all of Incubus, but that's the price you pay for a Meet & Greet. TINFOIL finally started and we knew it was time to rock out. I loved it as an opener. It went straight into Faint and the place went off. Not as much energy as the 2007 show in Mansfield but pretty energetic nonetheless. VICTIMIZED/Qwerty sounded AMAZING at this show, and I find it to be the very best performance of the song to this date. All the songs played sounded great to me, especially BURN IT DOWN, which really hit me hard as I was ending a relationship of a few years at that point. The band ended with Bleed It Out and I felt a huge sense of relief after it, knowing that I didn't have to go home to my chaotic girlfriend, and that it was the end of an era in my personal life. After the show, we met up with my Grandma, who bought me some merch, which was really cool of her, even though I felt guilty. We left the venue and stopped at a McDonald's/gas station at some point and ate. I wanted to prolong going home as long as possible for some reason, despite being relieved. Once we got home, she was nowhere in sight, and we had to set up the TV and everything else that she stole during the day. She had no way to blow up my phone since she didn't know I got a new phone, which helped a lot. I went to sleep and didn't think about what would happen next.

I was really, REALLY excited for this show. I was obsessing about it for months before. At the time of this show, I was going through a really shitty period in my life, however. My girlfriend was a drug addict, but also a liar and just not a good person overall. It was really affecting my life in a very negative way at the time of this show. She was going with me to this show and my Grandma was driving us to the show, because I just didn't want to drive, and she has always offered to drive me to concerts, like she did in 2007. The morning of the show, when we were basically getting ready to leave, my Grandma found out that a bunch of money was missing that she had saved up for the trip. My girlfriend had been known to steal money for drugs and I also wasn't trusted amongst my family at that point, either, so it overall just plain sucked. But it's assumed that she stole the money at some point since she was over her house a lot. Either way, she still decided to drive us. The ride down was awkward as fuck and really shitty. I felt like shit and I was pissed at the entire situation because I had a gut feeling that my girlfriend did actually do it. It ruined the hype for the show almost completely for me. Once we finally got to the venue, I just wanted to wait in line to see Linkin Park. I didn't want to do anything else. My girlfriend was being a bitch and didn't want to wait, so she went to walk around the casino or something. Keep in mind that the line to get in was in the middle of the casino, indoors, etc. Anyways, Mark from LPL was at the show and I remember he came over and said whats up, etc. I'm not sure if I made a good first impression since I was severely depressed and pissed off and just out of it in general but I said hello, etc. The guy in front of me was kind of annoying, too, which didn't help my mood. I remember he had some Fort Minor tattoo or something and he just acted like he was better than anyone there, which was strange, since it was a Linkin Park show, not a Fort Minor show. LOL. Another weird thing though was that this girl that I used to be good friends with was also at the show, way up in the seats. I didn't see her during the show, but it's worth mentioning. My girlfriend hated her, too, which was another awkward thing to happen at this show. My girlfriend finally came back and we waited for a little while longer until we were finally let in. We got right up front, on the barrier, which was cool. Mutemath took a while to come on from when we were let in. I wasn't really a fan of Mutemath at the time of this show, but I thought they put on an alright performance for what it was worth. My girlfriend hated them. After Mutemath ended, we waited a while longer and Linkin Park was ready to play. Due to my horrible mood, it felt like forever. They opened with With You, featuring the epic Games Of Thrones intro, not heard in the DSP recording due to legal reasons. I loved it, was definitely an epic as hell opener. Next up were Faint and Given Up. I remember really loving Given Up, as Chester's screams hit me hard, all the anger and depression and negative feelings were coming out of me during it. I actually teared up out of anger during it. I started getting really pumped up at that point and pissed and I let out my aggression during VICTIMIZED/Qwerty. I remember kicking the barrier and just rocking out, even though nobody around me was during that song. It was an epic performance of it, too, one of the best ones of the tour, IMO. I loved seeing IN MY REMAINS, I love that song on the album and it was cool seeing it live. When They Come For Me sounded epic as fuck, too. Really cool song. The Catalyst also sounded amazing. I love both of those songs. LOST IN THE ECHO was awesome, definitely a highlight of the set for me, I remember rocking the fuck out during that one, too. Bleed It Out was also cool and we got to see Sabotage for the first time. What I've Done and One Step Closer closed out the show. Once the show was done, I remember standing there on the barrier and thinking ''fuck, now what?''. Not a good feeling to have after just seeing your favorite band tear up a venue. After the show, we headed back out into the casino to meet my Grandma, who was obviously driving us back home. I remember thinking about what was going to happen with my relationship, the next few shows I was going to, everything. I was sick over it. I didn't eat anything after the show due to being so sick. Man, it was such a bad time in my life...

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This was a really cool and unique show. The only U.S. show of 2010! I knew that I had to be there, and NYC isn't too far from me, it's only about 3 hours away. I remember getting hyped for this show. My friend was going with me, the same one who went to all the 2007 shows with me. ATS had leaked about a week before or so and we were playing the album nonstop and just hyping ourselves up for the show. The morning of the show, we got ready and headed out. This time around, we drove down ourselves, since we were 19/20 at this point, where as I was only 16 in 2007. We stopped and got some pizza from my Dad's pizza restaurant just to have for the ride down. He gave us some money, too, which was cool. After that, we got on the road, and it felt like a super long ride. At one point, I just started goofing off and I remember putting on my girlfriend's sunglasses and sending her pics of it. Really stupid, but I thought it was funny at the time. Once we got to NYC, it was crazy. Tons of traffic, which is obvious, since it's NYC. We made it through and found the venue. I can't remember where we parked. I think we paid to park in some garage, but I could be wrong. After that, we headed straight to the venue since we wanted to be up front. We waited a good 6 hours + at least. Tons of fans were there. I remember meeting LPxDC there, amongst others. The 6+ hours didn't feel too bad, though, because everyone was having fun. There is an epic video going around of the line singing 99 bottles of beer, etc. I also remember a funny moment when somebody walking by asked who was playing and someone said Lady Gaga. In retrospect, it's not even funny, but I thought it was funny at the time. Haha. Finally, we were let in, and ready to fucking rock. We rushed to the stage and we got about second row. We tried to get first row but the fans were crazy. Second row is still great, though. And I'm pretty tall so really it was like front row for me, and the venue wasn't that huge, either. The show started much different than the 2007 shows, which I knew it would be. This was the first real show for ATS so nobody knew what to expect. The Requiem/The Radiance opened the show, and to this day, it's the only show that featured the album version of The Requiem/The Radiance. Pretty cool. For a moment, I thought they were going to just play the full album in it's entirety, but New Divide kicked in right after The Requiem/The Radiance. I didn't care, it was epic. The band played such an awesome set. The live debut of Wretches And Kings was fucking SICK. I remember going crazy during it, as did like everyone else. It was also cool seeing all the other ATS songs like WFTE, The Catalyst, Iridescent, etc. Jornada Del Muerto and Fallout were also cool. The heavier songs of the set sounded great, like Given Up, No More Sorrow, Faint, OSC. Bleed It Out sounded awesome too and it was cool how Mike did the beginning of the song. It was really a great crowd at this show. WID closing the set was strange but cool to me, because WID is my favorite LP song. It's not as good as a closer as other staples that usually close, but I liked it. Truly a great, intimate show. Once the show was over, I just stood there for a min thinking about how epic the show was. Chester didn't leave the stage right away, he came into the crowd, and I got to shake his hand. Pretty cool. We tried to get a setlist or a drum stick but we were unsuccessful. LOL. After Chester left, we decided to go check out what they had for merch. They had an exclusive show t-shirt and poster, and some other things. We both got the show t-shirt. In hindsight, I wish I had got the poster and got it framed, but oh well, too late now. The t-shirt had the cover of The Catalyst single on the front and the back had the tour date and city, etc. Awesome shirt. We then headed outside to that car garage and got my car. Can't remember if we stopped for food, I think we did. Great day.

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MTM was a four year wait but they weren't in the studio the whole time. They took half of 2004 off after PR04 and Brazil was done and all of 2005 off, only having Mike messing around in his home studio in late 2005. They entered the Korn studio in January 2006 and were there until July 2006, then they went to the Houdini House studio until February 2007. Then NRG for a few months. LP have been in the studio now since September 2015. It's basically November 2016 now and they're still in the studio. I think ATS actually took the longest, they started work in September 2008 after PR08 and the album didn't come out until September 2010. They probably were in the studio until like June 2010. So this wait is actually the second longest wait in between albums at this point.

Tinfoil (Original Longform Powerless 2010 Demo): Mike once mentioned that the original idea for this song came about during the A Thousand Suns sessions and it was originally a much longer song. I want to hear the original version of it badly. I feel like it's probably of the same calibur as Primo was on LPU13. The Messenger (Demo): There is an old LPU-TV episode called ''Happy Birthday, Joe''. In this episode, you can hear the band messing around with different ideas and stuff and they're messing around with this audio from an ''English Country Pub'', as they called it. And it sounded fucking awesome, IMO. I would love to hear the audio of that mixed in with the song, which obviously didn't make the final version. But this version I would love to hear.... Sick (Don't Stay Demo): In the Meteora booklet that comes with the CD, it says that this song originally had a reggae vibe to it. Now that's fucking cool and interesting at the same time. I'd love to hear an early incarnation of this song. It's also one of the first Linkin Park songs that I ever heard and it would be cool in a nostalgic way as well for me. Accident (Bleed It Out Demo): I've wanted to hear this since 2007. During the making of feature for MTM that was shown only in theaters at the Webster Hall showing, the band showed us the noise of the party in the background, and a different version of Bleed It Out as well, basically. I think the idea for this song was really cool, how they recorded an actual party that they had in the studio and infused it with this song. I would love to hear the original version that they had for this. Mike also claimed to have written over 100 different versions of lyrics for this song, so you know there is some good shit here.

I actually kind of like Boulevard Of Broken Dreams more than In The End. Now, if it were a MTM, ATS, LT or THP against it, I'd vote for LP. Not gonna vote at all, though.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it seems like there is hardly any hype at all for the next album. I think because it's been such an extremely long wait unlike past albums, and also because they haven't released literally any information about the album at all so far. There will probably be some hype once stuff starts getting announced (single, world tour, LPTV, etc.)

LP might do some shows on their own, too. In Europe, Linkin Park is so big that they can sell out venues on their own, several times per tour. I think they might do that with a few shows, because I think this will become a European promo tour like they have done the past couple cycles. Hellfest will probably have LP as well.

Been confirmed on LP's social media now. Pretty awesome. Still in the studio, though, they say.

Very excited. Always my favorite part of any album cycle, the touring. I love when the first tour dates are announced, etc.

Wow!!!

I actually think you may be right now. I used to think it was going to be a song for the LP album, but now I don't. I think it may just be for Blackbear's album or a single with Blackbear, collaboration with Mike. Why else would merch be made combining the LP logo and Blackbear logo if he was just doing a song with LP on their album? That means Owen Pallet, Page Hamilton, Rakim, Daron Malakian and Tom Morello should have also had the same treatment... The only known picture of Blackbear with LP is just Mike and also, that's Mike singing in that one clip that Blackbear shared that everyone thought was new LP. I don't think it was new LP, because Mike also wouldn't want that out there like that if it was.

Going to the Boston show! Saw Chester with DBS a few times back in 2009 and went to 4 STPWCB shows over the years so I figured why not do this. Gonna be cool.

I got the idea for this once when Hahninator said that they should pick one show per tour to be webcasted to us or released DSP style, I can't remember which. But it sounded kind of cool. So, in your opinion, what would you say the best show of each tour is so far? I know there are tons of people who listen to like every recording, or at least a lot of them, so it would be nice to know what people think. It would also be cool that this thread would include each leg of a tour, in every country, etc.

The thing about Live 8 is that I think the webcast sounded shitty and the LPU 5 CD was really just a polished up version of that. If Pooch had been with the band in 2005 and there were a DSP of Live 8, I'm sure it would have sounded different and probably better, and I don't mean just because Pooch is good at making the band sound good, but the feed would have been better. The mixing on the webcast and LPU 5 CD are horrible. I don't even think LP performed that badly, honestly. I mean Chester was going through a divorce and was on drugs at that time, so maybe it affected his voice somehow. But I think it's really just the way it was mixed. Look how much different Pooch's DSP mix of Milton Keynes 2008 sounded compared to RTR. Or the webcast of MSG 2011 and how different the DSP for that show sounded, etc.

The lyrics will probably be pretty good. The band said they are writing more personal lyrics and stuff. I think they are focusing a lot on the words and vocals on this album, which is a good thing, IMO. I don't think it will be full on pop, but it will probably be a pop sound infused with your typical LP sound, if that makes sense. I think some hip-hop influence will also make it onto the album but I don't think it will be as much so as the pop influence. LP has done poppy stuff before a lot in the past, but I think this album will be a little different in terms of it.