Still am speechless even days after Linkin Park rocked their Filipino fans' night, which of course included mine. That night, the 13th of August is one memorable night, being my first time to watch a rock concert. I never thought that I would be able to survive the screams of thousands of fans in a closed area but I did, and thoroughly enjoyed it I did. It was one awesome night full of energy, thanks to Mike Shinoda's rapid-fire raps (I still find it extremely difficult to rap along when I listen to him), Chester Bennington's untiring screams (I wonder how he does it without having sore throat considering that they perform every other day in their Asian tour...), Rob Bourdon's wickedly powerful drums which blended well with the equally wicked sounds created by Dave "Phoenix" Farrell on bass and Brad Delson on guitar.
They made us wait, they sure did. Ticket said 8pm. Urbandub played their songs at 8:30. I was dying from excitement. My tummy had butterflies and whatnots each minute that passes without LP. And then I slumped on my seat feeling betrayed. At 9:30, Joe Hahn appeared and the crowd roared. A few seconds before that, the arena became dim and fans were already whistling and shouting. When Rob started drumming something like sounded like a battle hymn I was brought back to life. The night was young after all and the party just got started. I forgot about worrying about how late I would get home and suffer the reprimand of my parents.
Faster and faster the drum was beat and with each beat is another level of excitement waiting to engulf me. I was afraid I would faint and pass out from too much excitement, wondering what the first song would be, wondering if "In the End", "My December", and my other faves would be performed onstage. And suddenly Mike Shinoda was rapping and the party has indeed begun. It happened so soon that I forgot how to react and just screamed with the crowd, my voice drowned in the multitude's multiple shouts.
Perhaps it's just that I want to be in the energy... How fitting that they started with "A Place for My Head".
And I lost my voice in the middle of "Papercut", one of the first songs by LP that I knew many years back. I felt like my younger self who would sing this song whenever I felt vulnerable. When they played that song, images of their video which initially creeped me out but which shortly after I loved flashed in my mind. You have to understand that it was my first time to see bizarre and disturbing images in a music video, something that made Aerosmith's "Jaded" pale in comparison. Chester still had glasses on. I remember having a crush on him because he looks like a nerd rockstar what with red hair, red pants and those glasses. Chester made me love the nerdy look. And now a more mature Chester stood before us, with tattoos on his arm and now without the glasses. As "Papercut" drew to an end, I realized missed Chester's old look.
When they played "Somewhere I Belong" I lost all inhibitions and sang along at the top of my voice. I regularly sing along to this song while working in the office and it felt so surreal to be singing along with Chester and Mike as the rest of the band played. That song is special to me. I realized just recently that when I am utterly disappointed with someone, I tend to sing "Somewhere I Belong".
By the time they played "Points of Authority" I was already bereft of shyness, never minding if my lyrics were a bit wrong (LOL). All I cared about is that DAMMIT MY FAVORITE BAND IS PLAYING, THIS IS MY FIRST ROCK CONCERT, AND I OUGHTA HAVE FUN!!! I was already wondering if next year they will have another concert here (though hopefully they do it at SMART Araneta Coliseum since SM Arena sucks big time).
I was mesmerized when they played "Castle of Glass". The background was wonderfully done with shards of glass scattering about. (And yeah, I study glass artifacts in archaeology...) And then there was "Leave out All the Rest", another song I instantly liked from their new album "Living Things". It reminds me of the band Simple Plan for some reason. They mixed it with "Shadow of the Day" and ultimately with the theme from Transformers movie "Iridescent".
And so LP obliged with "Faint", "Lying from You", and "One Step Closer". All throughout, Mike and Chester greatly complemented each other. And they called it a night but even in the bus, even when I was already in bed, my mind was replaying everything. The following day and the day after that, up until now, I still can't get over the whole thing. And it's the best case of hangover yet.
The following day, my status on Facebook read:
They made us wait, they sure did. Ticket said 8pm. Urbandub played their songs at 8:30. I was dying from excitement. My tummy had butterflies and whatnots each minute that passes without LP. And then I slumped on my seat feeling betrayed. At 9:30, Joe Hahn appeared and the crowd roared. A few seconds before that, the arena became dim and fans were already whistling and shouting. When Rob started drumming something like sounded like a battle hymn I was brought back to life. The night was young after all and the party just got started. I forgot about worrying about how late I would get home and suffer the reprimand of my parents.
Faster and faster the drum was beat and with each beat is another level of excitement waiting to engulf me. I was afraid I would faint and pass out from too much excitement, wondering what the first song would be, wondering if "In the End", "My December", and my other faves would be performed onstage. And suddenly Mike Shinoda was rapping and the party has indeed begun. It happened so soon that I forgot how to react and just screamed with the crowd, my voice drowned in the multitude's multiple shouts.
Perhaps it's just that I want to be in the energy... How fitting that they started with "A Place for My Head".
And I lost my voice in the middle of "Papercut", one of the first songs by LP that I knew many years back. I felt like my younger self who would sing this song whenever I felt vulnerable. When they played that song, images of their video which initially creeped me out but which shortly after I loved flashed in my mind. You have to understand that it was my first time to see bizarre and disturbing images in a music video, something that made Aerosmith's "Jaded" pale in comparison. Chester still had glasses on. I remember having a crush on him because he looks like a nerd rockstar what with red hair, red pants and those glasses. Chester made me love the nerdy look. And now a more mature Chester stood before us, with tattoos on his arm and now without the glasses. As "Papercut" drew to an end, I realized missed Chester's old look.
When they played "Somewhere I Belong" I lost all inhibitions and sang along at the top of my voice. I regularly sing along to this song while working in the office and it felt so surreal to be singing along with Chester and Mike as the rest of the band played. That song is special to me. I realized just recently that when I am utterly disappointed with someone, I tend to sing "Somewhere I Belong".
By the time they played "Points of Authority" I was already bereft of shyness, never minding if my lyrics were a bit wrong (LOL). All I cared about is that DAMMIT MY FAVORITE BAND IS PLAYING, THIS IS MY FIRST ROCK CONCERT, AND I OUGHTA HAVE FUN!!! I was already wondering if next year they will have another concert here (though hopefully they do it at SMART Araneta Coliseum since SM Arena sucks big time).
I was mesmerized when they played "Castle of Glass". The background was wonderfully done with shards of glass scattering about. (And yeah, I study glass artifacts in archaeology...) And then there was "Leave out All the Rest", another song I instantly liked from their new album "Living Things". It reminds me of the band Simple Plan for some reason. They mixed it with "Shadow of the Day" and ultimately with the theme from Transformers movie "Iridescent".
Castle of Glass
Other fave songs of mine they played were "Lost in the Echo", "Numb" (imagine the crowd going wildly crazy with this old favorite!!!), "Burn It Down", "In the End" (the crowd sang along with much gusto!!!). The concert ended with "Bleed it Out". Or so we thought. The audience clamored for an encore. We're not letting LP off the hook yet. WE SIMPLY WANT MORE. My heart was screaming, SHIT I DON'T WANT THIS NIGHT TO END!!! My words "ENCORE MILLE FOIS!!!" got lost in the echo of the crowd's "MORE!"And so LP obliged with "Faint", "Lying from You", and "One Step Closer". All throughout, Mike and Chester greatly complemented each other. And they called it a night but even in the bus, even when I was already in bed, my mind was replaying everything. The following day and the day after that, up until now, I still can't get over the whole thing. And it's the best case of hangover yet.
The following day, my status on Facebook read:
I can't feel the way I did before
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored
Time won't heal this damage anymore
Don't turn your back on me
I won't be ignored
Nakalimutan mo si Joe, este Mr. Hahn with his tricky and catchy synth beats! Hahaha. Also, wow. You managed to take a decent vid! Yung akin, halatang nabaliw na'ko. Walang matino. Haha. :))))
ReplyDeleteGAAAAH. That was an amazing night! Thanks, Melo! Concert buddies tayo ulit pagbalik nila! Haha.
Pinagpilian na yan haha. Yung ibang vids ko ang gulo gulo lang, tapos dinig pa boses ko sintunado yuck haha. Thanks din! Sana dumami pa ang ating [mis]adventures hahaha!
DeleteSa next LP concert, dun na tayo sa VIP Standing. Shet!!! Sana kahit nahawakan ko si Chester B at Mike S. sigh!