ChuckCheese

I fucking love Benjamin. "This fucking crazy dude, right here!" Haha. So epic.

Not one on one with them, you were only allowed to be in the group photo.

Wow. Where to start with this. First off, let me give a big shout out to the LPU community for being so kind and amazing to me leading up to this show and making it the absolute greatest of my life. I met two members who were going to be at this show on the LPU site, and one was willing to help me get into the pit, and the other was actually willing to GIVE ME THEIR MEET AND GREET PASS. That's pretty much how it went down. I had bought a regular seat ticket earlier, but this kickass dude made a copy of HIS pit ticket that could get me past security. Awesome. Also, I had made a post that said how much it would mean to me if I could take part in a M&G, and this incredible lady tells me she'd be willing to give me hers. So, thank you LPU, and thank you all LP fans. So after memorizing the setlist, talking the show up on LPU and LPL, July 30th finally arrived. I made a green sign that said "Welcome back, Linkin Park!" on it, picked my best friend, (and fellow LP fanatic) Alan, up and we drove to the venue, which is conveniently about 5 minutes away from my house. So we get there, meet up with a couple more friends and wait in the line that's starting to form. Then the M&G lady walks up to me and asks "ProjektCharlotte?" and hands me the M&G pass. Absolutely amazing. I thank her and the line begins moving; Projekt Revolution 2008 has begun. I immediately secure a spot on the barricade at the Revolution Stage, armed with my camera. (The memory was completely full by the end of the day.) Armor For Sleep start things off and the crowd surprisingly is pretty good to them, a lot of people got there early and there was a big group singing along. I enjoyed them. After their set, the stage starts setting up for Hawthorne Heights, and my friends invite to go grab a Monster with them at the Monster truck. I tell them to go ahead, I want to keep my spot. BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE. I wait patiently, going through the couple pics I took during AFS' set, and when I look up, I spot someone walking around the bus area behind the stage. CHESTER FUCKING BENNINGTON. The initial shock at seeing my idol hits me like a freaking train, and I immediately scream out "CHESTER!!!", unable to contain myself. This makes the entire area of the crowd I was in turn their heads, notice him, and start cheering. So Chester strolls over to us, missing his shirt and wearing an interesting hat, has security let him through the gates, and goes into the middle of the crowd. Everybody immediately surrounds him, people walking by behind the gates gather to see what's happening, and everybody else in the crowd tries to get a good look. A cameraman is with him, too. Chester: "Alright so, I'm gonna ask you guys some questions. What time did you guys get here today?" Everybody yells out their answer, and I screech out "TWELVE!" Chester: "Nice, these guys are hardcore, dude. You guys all, like, hardcore Linkin Park fans?" The crowd cheers. He talked to us a bit longer, taking pictures and everything, and then headed off. I watched him go back to the area he came from and he talked to Armor For Sleep for a little bit, then actually walked onto the stage and got the crowd pumped. Awesome. Video of all that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF876cxACXI...feature=related Hawthorne Heights came on, I couldn't focus at all on them, my friends had returned I was still freaking out over being so close and talking to Chester. After that I had to go meet up with the guy who was gonna give me his copy of his pit ticket, so I left the Rev Stage and headed into the main area of the amphitheatre. We exchanged "What's up"s, he handed me the copy and we went our separate ways. I hurried to the Rev Stage, wanting to see Atreyu, and caught the ending of 10 Year's set; they were closing with Wasteland. Atreyu hit the stage and the crowd went nuts. Perfect headliners for the Rev Stage. They had a ton of energy, everybody was singing along and moshing and everything. In the middle of their set, they let loose these giant black beach balls into the crowd. During their last song, they had everybody get down on one knee and then jump up when the song kicked in. It was madness. I saw people getting tossed everywhere, I saw a shoe go flying, and one guy on the ground bleeding. The bassist and guitarist played behind their heads, which was pretty badass. I missed Street Drum Corps set; I decided to grab a bite to eat and go to the bathroom. Then I go into the pit of the main stage. Ashes Divide was alright, the crowd wasn't too into them and I was getting kinda bored. I could say the same for The Bravery. Both bands just kind of bored me. Chris Cornell was up next, and more people starting arriving. I was excited to watch CC, but I had to go to the M&G. Fair trade. I met up with my friend Jon, who had won a M&G. A small group of LPUers were there, and we were escorted into an (thank God) air conditioned room. There we waited patiently. My nerves were on edge and I wondering which of the two band members I would get to meet. Lo and behold, in walks Mike Shinoda, munching on a donut. Everybody claps as he sits down, and I told myself it didn't matter who came next now, Mike was here. And then Chester walks in. Everybody claps again, and I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. This was the luckiest M&G session ever. Everyone was allowed to bring one item for the two to sign, my friend brought his Projekt Rev poster he got at the merch booth, and I put my Club Tattoo shoes on the table, hoping Chester would notice. I got the greatest feeling when I saw him put on this huge grin when he realized what it was and signed it. General questions were asked, I wished I remembered everything but this moment is just a huge blur to me now. At one point Chester sat up, saying "Oh, whoops. Forgot to take the orange out of my crotch.", and took an orange out of his back pocket and placed it on the table next to Mike's half-eaten donut. Someone asked how the collaboration with Busta Rhymes came about, and Mike answered with "Well, we were originally gonna do a song with the Pussycat Dolls, but we didn't want Chester singing about big boobs." They were both really funny, and made sure everybody got their questions answered. Near the end, which was about 15 minutes later, someone began to ask a question, but one of the security guards told him we were out of time. Mike interrupted him, saying "No, no, go ahead." That's good old Mike for you. My friend challenged Mike to a rap battle, a joke he had said he was going to do, and Mike just looked at him for a second while the group laughed, then said "You wanna rap battle ME?" The he laughed it off and started talking about how we used to freestyle back in high school but he wasn't as good at it now. Again, I really wish I could remember everything that was said, a couple things were pretty interesting. At the end we all took a picture together, and Mike, being awesome, talked to a 7 year-old kid that was there, I'm pretty certain he was some LPUer's son, and made sure that he stood next to him during the picture. The group filed back outside, and Mike took my friend aside and talked to him a bit longer about rap and hip hop and and releasing a mix tape, and I approached Chester, completely starstruck, and just managed to say "Hey, uh, be on the look out for this out there." and showed him my poster. Chester: "Oh yeah, man, that's cool." I was satisfied. I ran back in time to catch CC playing Black Hole Sun, and joined Alan at our spot in the pit, right side, gushing over meeting my two heroes and showing off my pictures. Alan told me Chris had crowd surfed earlier. I watched the ending of his set, and Chris' crazy ass broke a mic stand, like completely bent it out of shape, and then tossed it into the pit where people began fighting over it. The whole amphitheatre filled up as the wait for Linkin Park began. BAM! The lights go out and the crowd goes apeshit. Street Drum Corps takes the stage, covered in glow in the dark body paint, and start banging out the intro. Everybody was cheering and getting even more pumped. Then the epic gunshot intro to OSC starts, and the lights begin to come up, revealing the giant Linkin Park banner in the back. I love OSC opening the set, it immediately gets the crowd going. One of the SDC members came out with a saw of some kind and starting hacking away a garbage during this, lol. Then LP takes the stage, the crowd goes nuts, and the song begins. Tons of energy from the band and the crowd, with everybody singing every word and Chester prowling around the stage, looking pissed as hell. He walks over to my area during the second verse, and points at me holding up my sign. Phoenix raises his bass up right before the bridge, and Mike steps up to the middle of the stage and signals for everybody in the pit to jump. Kickass opener to the set. LFY was fun as hell, instead of talking Mike simply put his own hand up and motioned for everybody to put it up and down. And I love the 08 intro they used. The build-up into the first chorus is just awesome. SIB was next, and it's nice to see Chester nail the bridge and hear the entire crowd singing along. Also, his "3, 2, 1, COME ON!!!!" is classic. By this point Mike seemed to be pretty excited. Chester: "Alright! Thank you very much! It's good to see you guys tonight! You guys ready to sing along with us?" Then the lights went back out for the NMS intro, doing the full intro mid-set was a great idea, it's an extremely epic build-up and one of my favorite intros. The second Brad cuts in with the ebow part, the crowd goes nuts. Chester lost his mind when the song kicked in, headbanging around the stage like crazy and throwing in a couple screams. Mike was yelling and everything during the bridge. Everybody sang their hearts out, especially me, this being my favorite track from MTM. The awesome Mr. Hahn intro for Papercut started up after that. Mike: "You guys have fun today? Can any of guys make some noise for the bands that played today? We're very happy to have all those great folks out on the road with us, thank you to them. But right now what I wanna know is, do we have any Linkin Park fans in the building? Do we have any hardcore Linkin Park fans from way back? Who've been with us for a minute? Hybrid Theory Linkin Park fans? This shit is for you!" The song kicked in, Mike smiling his ass off and Chester jumping around. Some serious shit must have been happening on the lawn, because Mike went "I like that bouncing in the back! I like that!". At one point some girl whipped out one of the giant black beach balls from Atreyu's set and started tossing it around the pit. A security grabbed it and popped it right in front of Mike, who looked at the girl with a huge frowny face, lol. Always a lot of energy on this song. POA is my favorite live song, so the second Mike started up his Bloc Party verse, I was into it. Mike and Chester got the crowd going with the hands, and everybody in the crowd nailed the "My life, my pride is broken" part. After the first chorus, Mike went up to the top of the stage and gave Joe a few points and looks, which was pretty cool. Also during this, Phoenix just stopped playing and went down to talk to some girl in the front LOL. He gave her a pick and everything, then went back to playing. Also, Mike imitated Rob for a quick second, and it just looked plain badass. During the end of the song, Joe missed a sample, which messed Rob up. Mike gave Rob a look and Brad started pointing and laughing at him. "This one right here..we'll do this real short just for you guys in the pit. Right here in the pit and you in the back." Mike rapped There They Go over the outro, and noticed that I was one of the only people in the front who knew the words, and came over to my side for a little bit during it. Awesome. Chester: "Who's thirsty? It's hot as FUCK out here, dude!" He tossed some water bottles out into the crowd and Wake 2.0 started up. I love this a hell lot more than the original. Brad actually seemed into it, and Chester was doing his weird little gliding dance thing. Then everybody starts clapping, and Given Up tears the place apart. Mike was up top headbanging like mad while rocking out on his awesome red guitar, and Phoenix is stumbling everywhere while rocking on his broken bass. In the second verse, Brad added a small guitar part, which included a slide, and it sounded like Joe added his own bit too, there was a weird sample playing throughout this part of the song. Mike signaled for the people in the pit to jump again right before the bridge, and as usual Chester was going crazy as hell. FTI. My favorite song. Awesome lighting during this intro, awesome performance by the band. During the very first verse, something goes wrong with Mike's guitar, and after messing with it for a second, he signals to someone offstage, grabs a mic, and says his line while swapping guitars for a new one. LOATR is alright, nothing special performance wise. However, near the end Rob literally stood up from his drum set, flashed some devil horns, smiled when the part of the crowd that saw him cheered, then sat back down. Numb is the same as LOATR to me in the sense that it just doesn't do much for me live, but it's a crowd favorite and I love hearing everybody singing it, myself included. And Joe was bobbing his head to it, always good to see him moving around, lol. TLTGYA keyboard intro started, with that lone spotlight on Mike playing. Everybody started getting out lighters and cell phones, knowing a softer song was next. Seeing Mike playing the acoustic guitar is pretty neat. Even though not everyone knew the words, this was still a pleasant song to allow us all to rest. But WHERE the hell is Joe during this song?? Has nobody else noticed that he completely leaves? BTH took things back into full swing, with the band regaining energy and the crowd screaming every word and bouncing again. As Mark as noted before, Mike started headbanging like a maniac during the bridge, really getting into the song. The acapella outro to this song gives me chills every time. And now, SOTD. Chester playing guitar and his "YES IT WILL!!" are my favorite parts of this song live. And Brad was doing some weird stiff, jerky movements during his solo, lol. Mike rapping Hands Held High over the Reanimation intro to Crawling is always epic. The lighting that they do that make him look like a silhouette is just genius. His movements and passion during it was awesome to watch. And of course, Chris Cornell coming out and singing makes the crowd go apeshit again. You can tell Chester is really happy to be up there singing with him. Joe did mess up the very beginning of the song though haha. And during the first verse, Mike goes to go grab a drink, and a photographer (don't think it was Fiore) comes up underneath Joe's platform, snapping photos of him. Mike sees him and strikes a pose. ITE is an awesome closer of the main set, it's always a crowd favorite and hearing everybody singing the bridge is just tremendous. Right before the first verse came in, Mike was looking at some guy who was apparently flipping shit over the song, and went "Alright then, you sing! Go ahead!" and pointed the mic at him. He then gave the guy a little salute during the middle of the verse. At the end of the song, Chester randomly said "Make some noise for Mike Shinoda, man! You know every once in I just have to say all the nice things I can about this guy, he's so fucking talented, make some noise for him!" Mike laughed and Chester hugged him, and then said goodnight to the crowd. The WID intro is amazing, in my opinion. My all time favorite. The first time I listened to it, I couldn't wait to see it first hand. The epic ass build-up that leads into a lone spotlight on Mike starting the keyboard part makes the crowd lose their shit every time. Joe did a short scratch, and then Faint started up. Badass as hell. Brad ran up to the middle of stage and did his little dance, and Chester ran offstage and kissed Talinda. Ha! Tons of energy on this song, with the crowd singing every word. The outro is incredibly badass, and Brad gave one of his best little solos during it. People started to leave during the second encore break, but Rob's drum solo brought them running back. He rocked it, and the entire band killed the entire song. SDC's part in the middle kicked ass, and Chester was watching it from the top of the stage, bobbing his head. The outro is awesome, with Chester pumping his fists going "HEY HEY HEY" and Mike joined in during the end. Chester: "You guys have been great tonight, thank you very much! This has been one of the best dates on tour, thank you guys so much for being such a great crowd tonight!" And with that, the band and audience dispersed, with Chester blowing a huge kiss to everyone before exiting the stage. I was out of sweat, my voice was gone, my phone was dead, and I was exhausted. But I had never been happier in all my life. Just another day at Projekt Revolution. Chester at the Revolution Stage Chester driving away (LOL at pink handcuffs on the steering wheel) Epic Mike Shot My Favorite Photo I Took (During Bleed It Out) Meet and Greet with Mike and Chester Group Photo

Awesome, thanks very much.

I know there are already a lot of threads like these....but I've been wanting to add to my live collection and I was wondering what your guys' opinions are on the best PR shows. JUST Projekt Rev shows please. What I Already Have Auburn 07 San Francisco 07 Phoenix 07 Atlanta 07 Charlotte 07 Cleveland 07 Toronto 07 Mansfield 07 Chicago 07 Denver 07 Boston 08 Charlotte 08 East Troy 08

FM have definitely done a better job overall.....but I mean, it's really just all opinion, and your taste.

From Mike's Blog: LP Association, one of the most popular Linkin Park fan sites, posted a funny April fool’s joke the other day, referencing a post here a few weeks ago. They announced the release of a Linkin Park / Eduard Khil mash-up…and then actually posted a song. Very funny, guys (and great mash-up, HA) http://mikeshinoda.com/2010/04/03/linkin-p...d-khil-mash-up/

It was delicious. That's a good sign.

What Astat said should be common sense to everyone...Across the Line pretty much has no chance of ever being played, if we're lucky Mike will rap Blackbirds over the POA intro, considering that song remains in the set, and Not Alone MIGHT be played. That's about it.

So as we all know the guys have been working on a new record, and it seems like it's nearing completion. Thoughts? Expectations?

Christ, My Suffering has never done anything for me. I could never get into it, even way back when we all first heard the demo.

Some people probably already know this, but it doesn't hurt to inform those who don't. Thanks for the link.

There's plenty of guitar in New Divide, and the band has said that ND is no indication of the direction they're going in for the next record. And ATL and NA were MTM demos, they have nothing to do with how the new record will sound.

Damn, Julien-K are ON it. New record, new tour, very nice.

Haha you're assuming waaay too early. We've barely heard the song!

He sure did!

Awesome news. Very, very awesome. The game really looks spectacular, a lot better than I was expecting. And Blackbird just sounds downright nasty. Mike rapping again just puts a smile on my face. Not to mention, we get 8-Bit versions of some songs.

Lupe talked about how he took part took part in the 'Summit', which was climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro along with some other celebrities, and how the second he got back he got the call from Mike who told him they needed to do a song together for the Haiti relief effort. He said he called up Kenna, and that Resurrection came along pretty quickly. Mike talked about Music for Relief and Download to Donate, and how that came together in less than a week. He also said he hopes that artists keep contributing tracks. And Carson Daly said that he's been friends with Mike for a long time now.. That was about it.

The very thing that got my Linkin Park obsession started. I had listened to One Step Closer and From the Inside on the internet, fell in love, and sure enough, my sister had Meteora and let me keep it. My favorite LP album.

This is a nice switch. Really cool to have it with someone very important to the LP community instead of with a band member.

I don't understand all these requests for Hit the Floor and how awesome it would be. There are videos and audio of this song being performed...and they're honestly not too good...

Well this is cool....V is a kinda big show.

This will definitely come out before the next LP record...

Darn it, was just about to post this! Awesome episode though. Chester is hilarious. And, album halfway done? Hope that's at least close to the truth.

Happy Birthday, Chester! You continue to be an inspiration and one of the biggest influences of my life. Here's to many more!