blackout

I like this version very much! I wish it were longer.

That'd be awesome!

I don't know if it's the best topic to talk about everything that has happend in the recent days, but I have a need to summarise it all somewhere from my perspective. I didn't want to post something right after the comeback live show because I knew that my feelings and opinions would be changing very quickly and that was the case. Now the emotions subsided a little bit so I'm ready to talk about the matter. When the news popped out a few months ago, I was pretty sure that they would turn out true. There were too many rumours flying around, including some from reliable sources. When people started speculating what the countdown on the website would bring, I was sure that it would be the band's comeback with a female singer. To be honest, when I saw the news that it would be a female singer, I wasn't too happy. Most of the music that I listen to has men as vocalists. Although I listen to some female pop aritsts, they have been neither my idols nor my favourite artists. A few months ago, a part of me was still hoping that the female singer rumours were not true, because I simply prefer the sound of male voices, usually. I won't hide - in my head the ideal solution was for the band to come back as a 5-piece - as it was in 2017 but, obviously, without Chester. The reality is different though and not hearing One Step Closer or having too many "tributes to Chester moments" during a concert would be certainly weird and a little bit depressing after a few concerts. Can you imagine the comeback show with The Emptiness Machine followed by Roads Untraveled and All for Nothing? Well, for hardcore fans that would be exciting anyway, but some casual fans would definitely ask for Numb or One Step Closer. After all, most Linkin Park songs are built for two voices. The changes have been inevitable anyway as Rob didn't want to participate and Brad is unable to tour at the moment. The comeback show started at midnight in my timezone. I had been so nervous before it! I'd been waiting for this moment since 2017, coming up with different scenarios myself. Although I have some other favourite bands, none of them come close to Linkin Park in terms of my emotional investment. The intro was amazing. I can't describe how I was feeling while I was listening to the entrance intro. Unbelievable moment. Honestly, I was a bit disgruntled when I saw that Rob and Brad werent't on the stage. It was easy to expect that with Rob but I was sure that Brad would participate in the live show. Then Mike's "good to see you again" was the best thing he could say at that moment. It was something simple but effective. One sentence actually made me emotional and hyped at the same time. I don't want to describe every moment of the concert though so I'll just skip to my overall reaction. I had so many mixed feelings during and after the concert. Honestly, the day after the concert I felt that I was betraying the old Linkin Park when I was listening to The Emptiness Machine and the fragments of the live show. I know it's irrational... Something was wrong with the line-up changes, a female vocalist. Not everything clicked with me immediately. I couldn't even have fun during some parts of the concert, because I was constantly analysing everything, maybe overthinking a bit. After some days, however, I realised that I need to simply separate the past from the present and the future. The old Linkin Park is gone. Well, not completely beacuse I can listen to the old albums or watch old live shows... but we'll never get anything from them once again. What helped me cope with the situation was treating the new Linkin Park line-up as a new band. I know it sounds crazy, but I started to focus on the music and not on the comparison between the old and new. Both are great, just in a different way. Obviously, the old Linkin Park will always be closer to my heart. However, when I focus on The Emptiness Machine as a song without thinking about other music from Linkin Park, I can simply say that it's an awesome song. It has the old Linkin Park DNA with something new mixed in. It's catchy, energetic and it has a great production. It has everything that I like in music. I'm sure that Chester would enjoy it too. When Emily sings old Linkin Park songs, obviously it feels different. As I said at the beginning, I'm not the biggest fan of female voices, especially in rock music. However, I can say that she's doing a great job. She has power and a great rasp in her voice. She has stage presence. She is versatile too, being able to sing softer songs and heavier parts. Everything that LP could ask for. I think that Collin will be a great addition too. From what I saw, he has produced a lot of good-sounding modern rock albums in the past and I think he'll help the band achieve a better production on their future works. It will never be the same without Chester, but he's unfortunately gone. What I can do is accept it and get ready for the future of the band. I don't like some aspects of the comeback - it would be much better to see all 5 original members together on stage. The live shows seem a bit less attractive to me with a touring guitarist and a new drummer. I also have an impression that the band is forcing "classic" LP sound again. I hope that it's not the case and we'll see some experimentation on the new album. At the first show, they played mostly heavier and energetic songs, but I hope they haven't forgotten that they have a lot of interesting pop and electronic songs in their catalogue. I absolutely love One More Light to this day and I'd like to see them playing Nobody Can Save Me or other songs again. I have a feeling that they want to convince people who hated One More Light that they can still play rock music. If it's a natural progression for them, then fine - I really enjoy the style of The Emptiness Machine. I just hope it's not an artificial move to make the music appealing to the fans of Hybrid Theory and Meteora. All in all, after some days of processing everything, I can say that I welcome the new version of the band with open arms. It's different but it's exciting at the same time. There is nothing I can do to bring back the old Linkin Park and accepting this is a relief. It brings back a lot of fun and excitmenent to the album rollout and the band's comeback in general. I cannot wait to hear "From Zero"!

It's not much, of course, but there is some footage with Rakim and Page. I think that there were also some LPUTV videos about these songs with a few additional scenes, but I cannot find them at the moment.

We actually got making-of footage with both Rakim and Page Hamilton. It's on YouTube. At least it was a few years ago. BTW, I'm not saying it's enough but we actually did get some videos with GATS and AFN. Same with Tom Morello. The only artist who contributed to THP but we didn't see was Daron Malakian from SOAD. There was no video about Rebellion, unfortunately.

Well, the OML making-of footage was a bit short and superficial. One thing is that it didn't have the name LPTV in the title, but it also was much shorther than, for example, LPTV episodes about making of Burn It Down. I remember Burn It Down got two seperate episodes and I absolutely love both of them. OML making-of videos were rather short and focused mostly on "Heavy". I'd love to get the full-fledged making-of documentary like we got for A Thousand Suns or Minutes to Midnight. Some episodes would be cool too, of course. We've been getting less and less since ATS, basically. We got the making-of documentary about Living Things but it was a bit shorter and less in-depth than the one for ATS. But even something like for LT would be great. Honestly, these documentaries have been one of the most interesting aspects of each new LP release for me, so I hope we'll get something for "From Zero".

I hope to see some new making-of footage! I loved those in the past.

Historical moment we've all been waiting for! Can't wait to see what it brings. I'll be watching the stream from Poland. It starts at midnight here. I wish everybody a great time either watching the stream or participating in person.

This is, honestly, one of the most interesting aspects. I hope someone will ask Mike about it.

Well, so we're entering a new era... I've been waiting for this day for 7 years. Let's see what the future brings. I'm excited! I guess a new single + tour, but both might not come at the same time, I think. Probably there'll be something more - maybe a pre-recorded live performance with 2-3 songs, probably Bleed It Out included.

The article suggests that only 3 members are involved. BTW, I said "IF everything mentioned in the article is true...". I was only speculating basing on what Billboard provided.

I feel like it's some sort of a historic moment happening here so I need to write a post as well to mark my presence. I think that the information is rather credible, considering that the news about the new booking agency and the involvement of only three members is brand new. Billboard is an esteemed brand so they probably wouldn't like to risk their reputation. Of course, we should wait for the official announcement so that the all the details are confirmed, but there must be something on the horizon. If everything mentioned in the article is true then the information that Joe is not involved in this reunion is totally unexpected for me. He has always been present with the anniversary releases, most recently with Papercuts as well. We'll see what's going to happen with this one. However, I can totally imagine Rob not being involved at all. Not having all the original members of the band will be quite weird - I would prefer all 5 members to be involved, but what I can do... I can only accept their decision. First, I think that the decision to continue is correct. Chester will never be replaced, but I think it's time for a fresh start and although it will be much different than anything that the band's done in the past, I am curious what the future will bring. When it comes to a female vocalist... I've never idolised bands with women as a front. I like some female pop artists, but they have never been my favourite artists for some reason. I simply prefer male voices in music. However, I can imagine me enjoying the music that the band will create, even with a female vocalist, because I enjoy the style of production and songwriting of Mike and Brad. What I hope for most is that the reunion won't only give us a tour but also new music. I'd be hyped for the tour as well, but I'm mostly waiting for some new music from the band. I think it's likely that we'll get the first tour without new music in 2025 and then they'll release some new songs a year later. I hope it doesn't go this way and we'll get a new album first. What's more, a lot of people claim that a new singer should be able to scream, sing softly, and have all the skills that Chester had. However, I'm totally open to some new versions of LP's biggest hits and I wouldn't mind a pop vocalist joining the band. We've heard One Step Closer in its album version so many times that I think it'd be interesting to hear a new more electronic/experimental version. I think that playing live new versions of their old songs would be a great mark of the beginning of a new era. Let's see what the future holds. I am really hyped to be part of it!

I can see this scenario happening, but I think he was part of HT20, wasn't he? There were a few comments from him in the HT20 book and he was present in the livestream as far as I remember.

Isn't Forgotten the last one in the unmastered HT tracklist? https://linkinpedia.com/wiki/Hybrid_Theory_(Unmastered_Studio_Finals_5/7/00) That's what Linkinpedia says at least

I've just listened to Friendly Fire for the first time. What a song! I love it. The minimalistic beginning is awesome. The verses and chorus are powerful and catchy. The bridge is probably the weakest part of the song. The production of One More Light album is incredible and it's visible with this release as well. Polished, clear sound - beautiful! The acoustic guitar and drums here sound great as well. I hope we'll be able to listen to some more songs from OML sessions - we know that they worked on the vocals and lyrics first so I think there's a huge possibility that they have a lot of songs with vocals.