Linkin Park Back in Britain
After 10 years at the top, we could forgive most bands for refraining to “living legend” status, playing the old hits, doomed to decreasing relevance and popularity. Performing to a full capacity crowd at the O2 Arena, the California sextet Linkin Park is still as innovative and as far removed from their contemporaries as ever.
Touring in support of their new concept album A Thousand Suns, we were treated to a tight 2½ hour set, which was so well executed that it was over before it began, rolling out hits such as “Faint”, “In the End” and Numb” (unfortunately without Jay-Z, as many lamented). As has become the norm throughout their career, their level of musicianship, kinetic energy and ability to recreate the sound-worlds of their albums was almost exactly in evidence once more (though a bit of live spontaneity in the vein of Green Day and Blink 182 wouldn’t have gone amiss).
Their increasing use of visuals (a pyramid stage backed by two large screens) showcased their latest album’s concept, that of anti-war sentiment, with speeches from Martin Luther King and Mario Savo showing a maturity and sincere world-awareness rarely seen in the industry. Yet, such inclusions never once came across as Bono-esque preaching, the section where they accompanied Luther King’s “Wisdom, Justice and Love” speech was instead reciprocated by revered silence by all in the arena, despite its size.
The set-list itself was textbook as to how to navigate a decade’s worth of material and still play the new stuff, yet opening with new single “The Catalyst” was a risky move, its subdued rhythms and less radio-friendly execution risked alienating the fans from the beginning. One problem that was always going to happen was the crowd’s less enthusiastic approach to their new synth/drum-machine sound as opposed to the songs that had brought them to such widespread popularity in the first place, as shown when the opening drum samples of Hybrid Theory’s “Crawling” threw the crowd into a year-2000, nu-metal frenzy. That said, the first encore of new track “When They Come For Me”, its jungle rhythms played by virtually all the band on various percussion reinvigorated the crowd for the last half hour.
The biggest impact had to be how a 60-million-album-selling band can pull off such a visual spectacular, yet with the utmost sincerity. Vocalist Mike Shinoda repeatedly thanked the fans, especially the LP Underground club, throughout the night for supporting them all these years, all the while showing none of the shenanigans/self-absorption of today’s up-and-coming whippersnappers. Once they learn to balance their newest concept work with their past hits over the next year of touring, Linkin Park should be headed for their most successful, and most poignant, tour yet.
