Astat

Chester is using some degree of Auto Tune (or a similar plug-in) on his live vocals now. Noticed it immediately on GATS from Lisbon. I think they're only using it for certain parts of certain songs though, because he still goes off-key in some places. The Ballad Medley was another spot I noticed the pitch correction standing out. I know some people will be disappointed by this and probably even try to argue that it's not true, but trust me. The sound of Auto Tune really "grabbing" something and pulling it into key is a sound that stands out a lot. I noticed it on GATS because it actually pulled a couple of the pitches wrong in the first verse and made Chester's voice sound all glitchy for a moment. Guitar-wise, Brad is using a new Strat, it's a Masterbuilt 1962 Ultimate Relic Strat from Fender's Custom Shop, in an aged Coral Pink finish. He also used this same guitar extensively in the studio for the new record - http://s19.photobucket.com/user/bulletsforthebeautiful/media/freewebs/b73.jpg.html - but that guitar belongs to Ethan Mates. LP has used 2 touring rigs so far in 2 shows and Brad's had this Strat at both shows, so he bought at least 1 identical copy of Ethan's guitar and may be using Ethan's on tour as well, or he could have bought 2 of them. I haven't seen the Rory Gallagher Strats make an appearance yet in either show they've played. Mike used Brad's old Scarlet Smokeburst Custom 24 with the Fernandes Sustainer on Waiting For the End at Lisbon, he hasn't used that one live before (Brad also rarely used it): http://s19.photobucket.com/user/bulletsforthebeautiful/media/freewebs/b37.jpg.html Mike also used his rarely-seen Classic Player '50s Strat with a maple neck/Shoreline Gold finish at Lisbon, which was the first time I've seen him use it on stage, despite it being a guitar he's had around since the Minutes to Midnight period: http://s19.photobucket.com/user/bulletsforthebeautiful/media/freewebs/m44.jpg.html In terms of other guitar-related gear, neither the band nor their techs are doing any effect patch changes anymore, Brad doesn't even have a pedalboard on stage now. All of the effects patches for ALL of the instruments are triggered automatically by the Ableton Live-powered "brain" computer that basically controls the entire show now. As I said before, Brad's effects themselves (as well as his amp models) are coming from a Fractal Audio Axe-FX II. The only pedal Brad still has on stage is the expression pedal he uses for the octave sweep effect on the Waiting For the End solo. Still haven't figured out what the Pintech pads on either side of Mike's new keyboard setup are used for.

Brad actually didn't mess up GATS at all. Mike plays the main riff after the piano part of the intro (Brad plays the secondary harmony part there), he screwed that up several times.

Alright, changes that need to be made to the show page for Tucson by going off this show: -Points of Authority should have a "shortened intro" note. They count in and launch straight into the guitar riff rather than looping through the synth intro a couple times first. -Add Wretches and Kings to the Joe medley. -The Catalyst/No More Sorrow intro to Until it's Gone also features one particular sample from the bridge of New Divide (Mike plays it on his sampler). I don't think it's worth changing the intro to "The Catalyst/No More Sorrow/Until It's Gone/New Divide" or anything, but a note should be made of it somehow like the In My Remains samples in Mike's medley. -Lost in the Echo should have "drum transition outro" after it, the drum beat kind of morphs into the one from Crawling. -Crawling was just Intro>Chorus, and yes, the tempo was faster (it basically serves as a bridge between LITE and New Divide). I have it as "Crawling (faster tempo, shortened)." -New Divide was Intro>Verse 1>Chorus 2>Bridge>Chorus 3>Outro. They just skipped Chorus 1 and Verse 2 like they do on With You. -What I've Done has a short extended intro (the "ticking" sample loops a couple times before the piano comes in now). Things that were unique to this show: -No Wastelands verse on the Runaway outro, Mike threw CDs into the crowd at that point instead. -Encore break added. -Steve Aoki came out on stage during ALTNC, but didn't do anything musically (his gear wasn't set up).

Nothing that I can tell, other than Mike being better at generating feedback than Brad so the ending of the song actually sounds somewhat right for a change. Wretches and Kings needs to be added to the Joe medley, there's a sample of it in there too. Also no Wastelands verse over the Runaway outro at this show, and they added an encore break.

Dear Jordan Berliant & co: The Collective can collectively suck all of our dicks. Sincerely, Everyone on the Youtube stream. The SIC Radical stream is so pitifully low quality compared to the Youtube stream I'm not even going to bother recording it.

Is it the international Youtube stream that's saying Steve Aoki next, or what? I'm on the U.S. stream and it's still saying "In a few minutes: Linkin Park" in between each loop of the promos they're airing...

Alright, closing all my other Firefox tabs and stuff for minimum CPU load for the stream. I'll be back on after the show.

"In a few minutes: Linkin Park" We're good.

Very cool, but you can definitely tell something wasn't right with Chester's voice during this period, particularly when you compare it to how he just sounded the other night in Tucson. He even sounds hoarse when he says "make some noise for Travis Barker" after the song's over, it's pretty rare for his voice to get shot to the point where you can hear it when he's talking. Glad he seems to have turned it around during the last few months.

Josh Homme from QOTSA is tearing apart a heckler right now. FYI, at least on the U.S. webcast - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-dCpkxeheI - you actually CAN rewind the footage. So if anybody misses part of the show (people planning on recording it in particular), this is going to save you a whole bunch of trouble! No reason we shouldn't be able to get a full recording of this one up within 24 hours. I'll be recording audio "just in case," like I always do, but I'm predicting that a video source will be posted pretty quickly and render my recording pointless. If one doesn't pop up for whatever reason, I'll gladly post the audio.

The Rock Am Ring organizers don't even know where the show is taking place now and it's 8 days away. I'm not about to trust this statement.

8. Album version, demo version, promo version, radio edit #1, radio edit #2, video edit, instrumental, "scratchapella." I made a thread about this topic years ago but it's probably outdated by now. I don't think I knew about the 2 different radio edits at the time.

I've said about all I will say regarding this story, but figured I'd share a random tidbit: Sublime's manager Cheez is Mike "Cheezboy" Brown, the same guy Chester played with in Bucket of Weenies. No surprise he went out of his way to talk about Chester being cool while pointing the blame at Brad. What I'll leave my opinion at is that I can honestly see Brad doing something like this (more so than just about any other member of the band anyway), and it's definitely not the "cool" thing to do in this situation. However, Linkin Park has had a "no drugs/alcohol back stage" rule that's been pretty strictly enforced since at least 2007, and their management expects that to apply to everybody backstage at their shows, including opening bands. When LP has the headlining slot on a festival like this, other bands on the bill are expected to follow their rules. Rome Ramirez also has a VERY bad reputation for being an absolute douchebag with one of the worst cases of entitlement syndrome imaginable. He was a completely unknown kid in the music business who had the Sublime frontman position basically handed to him on a silver platter when he was only 20 years old, and he's thought of himself as some kind of big-shot ever since. Boo hoo, you got your weed taken away that you probably had some record label intern run out and buy for you with money that wasn't even yours (every record label has people like this, they're called "runners." Their job is literally to run around and make any purchase an artist needs so they don't have to do it themselves, and drugs are no exception). No charges were filed, nobody got hurt, and you probably turned around and got yourself another basically-free stash of weed the next day anyway. Quit bitching and be thankful you didn't get booted out of the show or arrested. I feel really bad that Josh Freese is stuck playing in a band with this guy.

...How anyone can think that singing sounds like anyone other than Mike is beyond me. It's not 2007 anymore, we've heard him sing on a ton of stuff by now. It's him.

There are multiple interviews from the Minutes to Midnight-present era where Chester says he smokes weed. I haven't seen him say anything about it in maybe 3 years or so, so it's POSSIBLE he's quit since then, but either way, he was still doing it for years after he quit all the other stuff he was doing. Trust me, that's not the kind of thing I'd openly comment on if I hadn't seen Chester publicly talk about it himself.

Guitar was in the wrong tuning.

He did sound pretty good! Definitely more "2007 Chester" than "2013 Chester" on this performance. Hopefully he can find a happy medium on this tour, I don't expect him to ever sound like he did in 2004 again, but he's had a particularly rough last couple of years.

Pretty confident on the setlist now! All we're really missing videos of are WFTE (which we know was the 2012 version anyway), the drum transition outro from LITE into Crawling, and most of Crawling/New Divide. Updates I would make to the LPL show page: Given Up: "Ext. Outro" > "Ext. Outro w/extra note" - It did have the extra note at the end like it has in recent years. Blackout: "Shortened (Intro and Partial Bridge Instrumental Only); Ext. Papercut Beat Outro Transition" > "Shortened (Intro and Partial Outro Instrumental Only); Ext. Papercut Beat Outro Transition" - The second portion of Blackout is basically the ending of the song without vocals, not the bridge (which would be the part with Joe chopping up Chester's scream samples). With You: "2012 Ext. Intro; Shortened (No Second Verse or Second Chorus)" > "Shortened (No First Chorus or Second Verse)" - With You did NOT have the 2012 intro, it was the album version intro. Also, they actually cut out the FIRST chorus, as the chorus they played after the first verse was a double-length chorus, which means it would be the second chorus if you go off the album version. Runaway: "Shortened (Up Through First Chorus Only); Ext. Outro Transition w/ Wastelands Verse 1" > "Shortened (Intro/First Verse/Chorus Only); Ext. Outro Transition w/ Wastelands Verse 1" - Wording on this just sounds awkward the way it is right now. Joe Solo Medley: "w/ Victimized Rmx, Buy Myself, CFTI, Session, P4MH Rmx" - "w/Victimized Remix, Buy Myself, CFTI, Session, PLC4. MIE HÆD" - Pretty sure this formatting would still fit, there are longer notes on the page. Burn it Down: "2014 intro" should not be there, the intro was completely normal once Joe was finished with his solo spot (this also needs to be removed from Show Notes). ALTNC: "Shortened (No Second Verse or Second Chorus)" > "Shortened (No Second Verse, Second Chorus, or Bridge)" - The bridge was skipped too. Crawling: "Shortened" > "Shortened, w/faster tempo" - Crawling was played faster than usual, presumably to fit better with New Divide. In Show Notes, a note should be made that there were further technical difficulties with Brad's guitar on Points of Authority, as well as difficulties with samples on several songs (Numb, Until it's Gone, ALTNC). "'Castle Of Glass' (labeled the "Experience Version") was performed with an instrumental mashup with the M. Shinoda Recharged remix of the song." - Calling it an "instrumental mashup" is incorrect, there were vocals. It was just a mashup of the album version with Mike's remix (only the intro/first verse came from the album version). The hip-hop medley also incorporates part of the instrumental from Wretches, which isn't mentioned. I also don't think the Sublime weed incident should be something that deserves being included in the show notes, particularly when half of the story is likely bullshit anyway.

Length of the Blackout interlude from the time it starts to the time the Papercut beat starts (which doesn't include the portion where the Blackout outro is mashed up with the Papercut intro): 1:36. Length of the Robot Boy interlude: 2 minutes. I see your ability to grossly over-exaggerate things hasn't dwindled over the years.

Screencap of my comment on the article from thePRP about the Sublime incident, in case it gets denied by the mods for whatever reason. This basically sums up the situation:

I like the idea of the titles just being "Joe Solo Medley"/"Mike Solo Medley" because then it frees up the right column to list what songs were actually in the medley. Also keeps open the possibility of them adding different things to the medleys in the future without us having to change the names of anything. No encore after Faint, I'm pretty sure. The live tweets from LPA were coming pretty quick and they never mentioned anything about an encore. The UIG videos also don't seem like they're just coming back out on stage either.

Considering he smoked it for the majority of his adult life, I find that highly unlikely to be true. That whole "LP called the cops on Sublime" story is literally one of the most face palm-inducingly stupid things I've ever heard come out of the Linkin Park fanbase.

Rob's drum kit is identical to the previous tour with the exception of having a double bass pedal, as far as I can tell. Mike actually has 4 Pintech drum pads, 2 on each side of his keyboard. I'm assuming it's the same gear they used to use for Wretches and Kings/Blackout, they just split it in half. Not sure what he's using it for either though. Pretty sure you're right that the Nord is a Stage 2, Mike also has an Electro 3 but it's one of his main home studio keyboards so I doubt he'd pull it out of there to take on the road. There's a tablet to the left of the Maschine, I'm assuming it's a Microsoft Surface like what Joe's using. There's also something barely visible below the tablet, but who knows what it is. Yes, Brad previously used the Fernandes Sustainer for the full live version of No More Sorrow because he had to switch between the EBow part and the strumming parts. With the new Until it's Gone intro, since it's just that guitar part by itself with a break before he has to play anything else, he can actually use the EBow (which is why he can play that part on his Strat, which doesn't have a Sustainer modification). Also, the band's entire guitar backline (amps/speakers/effects) has been redone on this tour. I don't have the exact details yet, but I do know that they're using the Fractal Audio Axe-FX II as a replacement for most of the rack-mounted effects and preamps they'd been using since Minutes to Midnight. I know the Axe-FX didn't replace EVERYTHING, but it's definitely the primary piece of their guitar rigs now.

Yeah, Robot Boy is a standalone thing so it should definitely be by itself. If you keep Blackout separate it just needs to have (w/Papercut beat outro transition) or something as a note. Bleed it Out's had the extended intro/outro for so long I just forgot to put them on there. I'm torn on the "Mike Solo Medley" thing. On the one hand, it's consistent with the printed setlist, on the other hand, it's actually performed by Mike and Joe, while Joe's solo spot is truly a solo spot.

Latest incarnation of the setlist: *01. The Catalyst/The Requiem (Mash-up intro) *02. Guilty All the Same *03. Given Up (w/extended outro) 04. Points of Authority (w/short extended intro) *05. One Step Closer (w/extended outro) *06. Papercut (shortened, w/Blackout instrumental intro) *07. With You (Shortened) *08. Runaway (shortened, transition outro w/Wastelands verse 1) *09. Wastelands *10. Castle of Glass (Experience version, piano transition outro) *11. Ballad Medley (LOATR/SOTD/Iridescent) *12. Robot Boy (Instrumental interlude) *13. Joe Hahn Solo Medley (Victimized - Recharged/Session/Buy Myself Remix/Cure For the Itch/PLC.4 MIE HAED) *13. Burn it Down 14. Waiting For the End (Until it Breaks intro, Wall of Noise outro) *15. Hip-Hop Medley 2.0 (Wretches and Kings/Remember the Name/Skin to Bone - Recharged) *16. Numb (w/Numb/Encore intro/outro and first verse guitar) *17. In the End 18. Faint (w/extended outro) *19. Until It's Gone (w/extended The Catalyst/No More Sorrow mash-up intro, extended transition outro) 20. A Light That Never Comes (shortened) 21. Lost in the Echo (shortened, drum outro) 22. Crawling (shortened) 23. New Divide (shortened) *24. What I've Done (w/extended guitar solo bridge) *25. Bleed it Out (w/drum solo and The Catalyst bridge) In addition to the 2012 Numb/Encore outro and the new intro that actually samples Numb/Encore, Brad also played the Numb/Encore guitar part during the first verse of Numb. I also combined Blackout and Papercut since the Papercut beat is incorporated into the end of the Blackout part. Still looking for videos of POA, WFTE, Faint, and ALTNC through New Divide. This album? Dude, they haven't been using half-step down tuning with any kind of regularity since Minutes to Midnight (and even on that album, it was only used on about half the album). The only song on ATS/Living Things that's tuned down half a step is Powerless.