Tako

I thought the 2015 shows were actually pretty good. 2014 was obviously an epic year for LP, every show was flawless and they had greet energy that year. They played a lot of great shows and a lot of great places, etc. When Chester broke his ankle, that sucked, it fucked up the momentum. Still can't believe they were gonna do 2 big US tours for this album, that was really generous. Sucks that almost the whole tour was canceled but Chester had no choice. Rock In Rio was great, I love that show, the band sounded amazing. Rock On The Range was decent, but no Brad sucked and everything. The rest of the summer shows were ok, average shows. I think it's awesome that they made a new set for this year. Papercut with the new intro is great. ALITS and FTI, wow awesome. Welcome being played, awesome. The China shows were not that great to me, Beijing sucked. The Europe tour after that was amazing. Monster Mash was one of my favorite shows, the recording is so good, plus the zombie shit was epic. BlizzCon was decent but Chester was sick so it wasn't the best performance, but still good. LP seemed to have had a lot of fun this tour. Seemed really happy. Chester especially. They said the same with LT, about wanting to play the album live, but they can't fit the whole album in a set without sacrificing huge hits. It's understandable. I think it's fine that they played half the album. With THP, they should have added War and maybe Keys. The rest is ok. But still, I did like the set this year a lot and I don't think the shows were bad at all. Next cycle will be something amazing.... Mike said he feels some of LP's best work is upon them, Chester quit STP to be 100% focused on LP, Warren said the band has already been working a lot on it, etc. This new album will be amazing. The tour will probably be even better. I bet they going to promote this album huge since they didn't with THP, come back with a huge hit single, tour with some great bands for a US tour, etc. The set will no doubt be changed as well. We're just in between cycles right now. It's like this every time it happens, people get pissed off and bored, people start to criticize because they're bored, etc. Once next summer rolls around, LPL will be much different.

We just need someone with the game to extract it.

Great discussion. Chester did say to you, Mark, on Loveline 2009 that when he sobered up, he broke up the band. That was 2007 that he sobered up, so maybe he canceled the 2007 shows he had planned with BOW. We still need to get info on that Home Depot parking lot show that BOW did in late 2006. Astat said once that Cheez is an asshole and it's probably not best to ask him, but it's worth a shot. Fuck it. Keep in mind though that Cheez is currently Sublime's manager and openly dissed LP last year about the whole weed situation, so maybe trying approaching him from a different angle.

The band was super pumped for THP... What are you talking about? They toured a lot on this album cycle, much more than with LT. Carnivores was very extensive, it hit up a lot of states and places LP hasn't in years, HCT barely scratched the surface! Then a huge Europe tour with amazing shows, amazing shows in Brazil, more amazing shows this year in Europe, etc. There were also a lot of summits, wtf? Darien Center and Woodlands, Amsterdam and there was gonna be one in Canada this year too (first ever summit in Canada) but Chester broke his ankle. Rock In Rio USA, opening for Metallica, they headlined a lot of new festivals, and even did Warped Tour, which was fucking HUGE for that scene, even though LPL has largely ignored that epic show. Rock am Ring 2014, etc. So many great shows this cycle. Seems like you just really aren't that into LP anymore, which is fine, people grow out of stuff. But LP has been firing on all cylinders this cycle and are gonna go even harder on the next cycle. You can still love and support STP, they said they are gonna find a new singer, etc. And by saying you think Mike should have done a full album and tour for FM just so Chester could continue STP, that's bullshit, sorry. Mike obviously was content with doing Welcome, he didn't want to make a whole album, that wasn't his intention. The FM shows were also epic this year. Chester wanted to leave STP, just accept it. It wasn't forced and you keep implying that it was. He wanted to leave because he wants to focus on family and LP 100%. Sorry that you were a huge fan of STP but don't try to blame LP or anyone else for Chester's decision. Seriously that isn't right.

Saw 'me live in Boston 2013, Mashantucket 2014, Boston 2015 and Clark 2015. All were fun shows. Like I said before, LP is much better and I'm happy he left STP, but I understand his reasoning and I know that it wasn't ''forced''. Only a complete moron would think that, as both STP and Chester have made official statements and LP has been nothing but supportive to Chester the whole time. It's just an ignorant statement to make, IMO.

This is a much better post and I understand you now. Like I said earlier, I genuinely feel bad for people like NumbRocker and yourself because you guys really liked STP with Chester. I liked it too... Just not as much as Linkin Park. I bought High Rise on CD and Vinyl, bought the 98KUPD CD with Pretty Penny and went and saw the band 4 times - once in 2013, once in 2014 and twice in 2015. I'm not going to say that I'm sad that he is leaving because I always wanted him to focus only on Linkin Park but I did support him as a fan through this period. I know I can be hard on people and come across as rude and unreasonable but Chester is my favorite person in the world and I look up to him more than anyone else. Not in a weird stalker type of way like that one fan did, but I certainly think he's a really cool person and makes awesome music. My heart lies with LP, though, LP is what got me into music in the first place. I bought Meteora on it's release day and have been a fan ever since. This is going to be my last post in this thread because I feel like I've said what I wanted and don't want to go off topic or argue with people, but basically my entire point of it all is that Chester obviously had to make a difficult decision and I think we should support him in it. It's probably really hard to be away from your young kids and wife and everything else a lot during the year. You think of a lot of families that come home from work everyday and get to spend time with their family everyday, etc, but Chester has to be on the road a lot during each year (sometimes a lot more than others) just with LP alone and then on top of that he had to be on the road with STP and worry about how he was gonna fit in time to make new music with them too, etc. He probably just realized that he is getting older and wants to spend more time with his family. He mentioned last year in an interview that he had to miss his kids graduation, he had to miss his youngest kids first day of school, etc. because he was on the road and it sucked. You're also right about MTM, that album was unique (you know as well as me) that the whole band worked on that one, all contributing ideas, even letting Joe and the rest of the guys review Mike and Chester's lyrics, etc. I think the band works well this way, when each member can focus on the album, just like MTM and ATS. Chester recently said in an interview before the Monster Mash show last week that he thinks ATS is still their best album because everyone was allowed to be creative and weird and the whole band came together, etc. I remember Cbester saying in 2013 that before he left for tour with STP, Mike was writing indie electronic songs and when he came back at the end of 2013, Mike was writing super heavy music. Maybe Chester wants to be part of the process this time and I think there is nothing wrong with that. It's obvious LP was always his baby (he said that before) and we know LP is very important to him, so if he feels like he wants to just do LP, he should just do that..

Actually, it lasted over 2 years. He joined in May of 2013. He was still part of the band in May of 2015. High Rise was released in October 2013, he just played a show with STP at the end of October 2015. So not sure what you're talking about. And even so, this is Chester's decision, it really doesn't matter anyways. The other projects he has been a part of actually did take some time. Not sure if you were a fan back in the day, because I didn't see you around back then, but Chester actually completely postponed DBS (at the time Snow White Tan) to work on MTM with LP. It originally was supposed to come out in late 2005, then 2006, etc. He further postponed it so he could tour with LP for MTM too, and resumed work on it after PR 08 and released it the following year. The other bands I mentioned were live bands and may not have taken away a lot of time away from LP, but still. He also largely helped Julien-K get started, he even taught Ryan how to sing. He ended up being executive producer for their album in 2009, too. He even postponed the Grey Daze reunion in 2003 so he could continue work on Meteora as well, and I'm sure as you know, Bobby died before they could reschedule it. Bottom line is that Chester has sacrificed a lot in the past for LP as well, this isn't anything new for him. He also has said in several interviews back in the day that he had troubles being away from Talinda on tours, which inspired songs like Inside Of Me and other songs, watch the KROQ DBS 2009 interview on YouTube. He likes being with his family, if he's constantly doing LP and STP, he can't spend very much time with them. Once again, this is his personal life and it's wrong for any of us to tell him how he should spend his time. He is a family man and always has been, he said family is even more important to him than LP (which is obvious anyways). Another thing I just remembered is a video that Mike posted on his blog back in 2010, when Chester returned to work on ATS for all that DBS touring, and Chester said ''DBS kicked ass. LP kicks a whole bunch of ass.'' And was happy to work with LP again. Obviously he likes it this way, and he has made the call, so I think everyone should be understanding. The thing that annoyed me the most was how Hahninator basically implied that he was forced to do it, which is not fair, the way he worded it. LP has been very supportive of him doing STP from the beginning and are supportive of any of the members doing stuff outside the band. Chester has made the call himself. It looks his being away from his family so much is his main reason, read some of his tweets, read his statement, etc. And there's nothing wrong with that. He had a lot of fun doing it but he is putting that chapter behind now. They made an EP and toured A LOT in the US. They also ended on good terms. Read the official statement. No hard feelings or anything between STP and Chester. The fans should have that attitude as well. Further more, anyone who loves STP can still be a fan of STP. They are going to continue on with a new singer. They are planning on making new music it seems and are still going to tour. Any of you guys can still go to STP shows and support them that way. Chester encouraged it as well. Just because Chester is leaving (who wasn't the original singer anyways), doesn't mean you can't still be a fan of the band! They're even performing tonight on Jimmy Kimmel.

Jze, you've always been a great friend to me in the LP world

The thing that pisses me the fuck off the most about all of this is the lack of people understanding WHY Chester left STP. He has 6 kids, a wife. He is in Linkin Park, one of the biggest bands in the world. Why the fuck would they have to ''slow down'' for one of many Chester's side projects??? They didn't slow down when he was doing DBS. They didn't slow down when he was doing BOW. They didn't slow down when he was doing shit with Camp Freddy. They didn't slow down when Grey Daze wanted to do a reunion show. Chester said from the get go in 2013 that he will never leave LP and LP will always come first because it's the most important thing to him in his life besides his family. Obviously he wanted to leave STP, or he wouldn't have done it. He wasn't forced. He made the call and every single person here should respect that from him. STP was cool, yes, but it wasn't ''better'' than LP. Not even sure why people have to compare in the first place, because they are two totally different bands who have literally nothing to do with each other. But when people are gonna compared it, saying its better than LP, fuck yeah I'm going to speak my mind about my love for LP. Get over it. This was obviously a decision he had to make and he made his choice, respect him enough for that. It's not only about what the fans want. He is only human and will be 40 next year, and he has a big family that he loves and wants to spend time with, what the fuck is wrong with that? We should be lucky that LP even does what they do touring so much and giving us music. LP fans are so ungrateful and disrespectful sometimes. And yeah, Mike and the rest of LP can write music without Chester if they need to. But what if Chester WANTS to be part of it? He loves LP, he should be able to make music with them whenever he wants to. It's not a fans decision what he does. And the MALL soundtrack was largely already recorded and Chester didn't need to be the head creative for that anyways, it was Joe's project. The HT show being released last year, that has nothing to do with Chester or anyone in the band really, that's Ethan Mates mixing it and the band releasing it online for us. LPU demos are already recorded years ago, that's all Mike just picking which demos he wants to share and putting them out. Your argument is basically invalid. Did anybody even read Chester's official statement besides? Because if you did, you should probably understand why he left, it's very understandable. I genuinely feel bad for people like NumbRocker, because I know she was a huge fan of STP. But still, it was going to end eventually. The way I view it is be happy that it happened, not unhappy that it ended. All good things must come to an end eventually

Ouch... Thought LP was a passion of yours. The name of this site should be changed to www.lphaters.net

Why is everyone still talking about this when we have LP7 coming next year and LPU15 coming this month?? I thought more people would be excited like me.

I'm all for everyone being entitled to their opinion, but... C'mon, you're saying that 5 song EP was better than A Thousand Suns, The Hunting Party, etc.? For some reason I can't take it serious. STP was good with Chester but obviously Chester really wants to be with his family and focus on LP, he has made the call and I respect it. Good to have a final confirmation now, though. You guys who saw him with STP will have good memories, but the ones who didn't won't know what it was like I guess.

I'm sorry that you feel disappointed, but you have to think of Chester. Chester wants to spend time with his family and focus on Linkin Park. I'm sure Chester wouldn't leave STP if he didn't want to. It's his choice. I know it's hard to understand from a fan's perspective, but if you think about Chester, he probably just misses his family and wants to be with them. That's understandable. Chester is a good guy. He's a good Dad and he just wants to be a good person and rock out with Linkin Park for now. I don't agree about him having more energy on stage. In 2013, he had a lot of energy with STP. But this year, he definitely seems to have been having a blast with LP on stage. Just listen to any recording from LP recently. And 2014 was a pretty good year for LP as well. Even before Chester had joined STP, back in 2011 and 2012, etc. he has not had the same energy on stage as he did when he was younger. He will be 40 years old next year. LP also has a lot of music that isn't ''high energy'', he isn't gonna rock out on every song because not every song calls for that. STP makes only rock songs, so it's only natural, plus he loved STP growing up so it was probably fun for him. Don't be so hard on the guy. The LP album next year will be great and the awesome shows will start once again, this is just a down period for LP.

Yes, I think it had something to do with one of the games featured here. Don't know which one. But it was very short. I think it should be noted that Chester is sick as well.

Eager to see what this ''surprise'' was. If it was just the intro before Papercut then that is kind of deceiving to fans!