Rockin' Out with Linkin Park

CAROL:

17^th June, 2004 was the one of the greatest days of our lives since the awesome US nu-metal band Linkin Park had their very first concert in Hong Kong .

We arrived at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center at about 2:30pm . Yeah, 2:30pm , it’s quite early, huh? But we just had to because we had bought the tickets of standing section, so we needed to line up early in order to get the best standing position. There were already about 30 people lining up when we arrived, so we were not that early as we predicted! While we were lining up, we did nothing but chatted with other fans there. Time flew, it was about 6:00pm , I had to go as I enrolled in Meet & Greet, I could meet the band in person! Melissa was left to line up all by her lonesome, when it was about 7:00pm , she was allowed to enter Hall 3, where the concert was going to begin. After the security check and being wrist-banded, Melissa rushed to the front of the venue at once and she was able to get a very good position - the first row! However, I was only in the second row as I went there late and many people were already there, so I couldn’t go to the front to meet Melissa.

Meet & Greet

Meet & Greet (M&G is used below) is an exclusive session for the members of the official Linkin Park fan club, LP Underground. It is a chance for hardcore fans like me to meet the band in person. I went lining up outside the waiting venue at about 6:00pm , and many fans were there too. After waiting for about 45 minutes, staff from the record company came up and took the attendance. Later, we were told to go to another venue to wait. After 30 minutes, the fire exit of the hall was opened, I first thought that the band was going to meet us there, but in fact, no way. When all of the fans were feeling disappointed, something lightened up me up, I saw Mike Shinoda (emcee/vocalist) walked past the door, I just couldn't help screaming! Guess what? He looked at me, probably thinking who that crazy kid was. I couldn’t manage to take a photo of him as everything happened all in a sudden. At about 8:00pm , a couple of security guards came up and led us to the place where M&G was. I trembled while I was heading there, you know, meeting your idols is probably the greatest experience ever.

The first I met was Mike. When I stood in front of him, he took a strange look at me, it seemed that he recognized that I was the kid who screamed so loudly when he walked pass the exit. Anyway, I greeted him by saying, “Hi, Mike!”then I gave him my t-shirt to be autographed and took a picture of him, he smiled sweetly! The next guy I met was Phoenix Farrel (bassist), I didn’t say anything to him as I didn’t know what to say, so I just took a picture of him. I moved on to drummer Rob Bourdon, he was busy signing stuff, so I didn’t have a word with him at all. Brad Delson (guitarist) was the next, I said nothing but shook his hand. Then it came Joe Hahn (DJ), I gave him a stuffed froggie that I bought for him as a present, he said, “Oh, thanks. That’s cool!”Oh my god, he talked to me! Maybe you guys will think that it’s normal for him to talk to me, but as all the fans know, he seldom looks up in M&G and talks to fans, so I was very lucky. Besides thanking me, Joe also asked me to show him how to play the froggie. When I was telling him, he paid so much attention to me, he was just like a kid, a cute kid! Then the next guy I met was my favourite member from the band, the main vocalist Chester Bennington. He was even cuter than appearing on TV or magazines. I gave him my letter and took a picture of him. When I said, “Hay, Chaz, look here!” he made a very funny facial expression to me, he was so cute. When I was about to say something to him, the security guard pulled me away and forced me to leave. I was really frustrated, I had waited for over an hour but was only able to meet the band for 2 minutes! That was absolutely unfair! However, I’m sure that my next M&G experience will be better, then I can do something that I really want with the band members. (Please don’t ask what they are…hehe)

Concert

The show of Linkin Park started at about 9:30pm . Rob and Joe went onto the stage and played an incredible intro. Then it came with some powerful guitar and bass accompaniment, the theme music of the song “Don’t Stay” was performed. Chester and Mike came out from the middle of the backdrop and the crowd screamed their lungs out. Of course, we screamed too, that’s why we had a sore throat afterwards. The band played a couple of songs like, “Somewhere I Belong”, “Lying From You” etc from their mulit-plantinum, “Meteora”. LP played their latest single from “Meteora”, “Breaking The Habit”, with a very touching intro done by Mike on piano. Chester sang this song emotionally, it really made me cry. Of course, they also played their classics “In The End”(the whole crowd sang this song together), “Crawling” and “Papercut” from their best-selling album, “Hybrid Theory”. The band did something different from the past during the show, the played a medley of “Step Up” (coming from Hybrid Theory EP released in 1999), “Nobody’s Listening” and “It’s Goin’ Down” (ft. X-Excutioners in 2002).

While singing the song “Step Up”, Mike asked us to say the words “like this” after each line of the chorus, everybody just said the words loudly, fear that the band couldn’t hear it. Another highlight came from the song, “A Place For My Head”, Mike (yeah, it’s him again) told us to say the words “Go away!” after Chester singing the bridge of the song, it was amazing! The band did a cover of “Wish” which was originally sung by US industrial rock band, Nine Inch Nail. This song was full of foul language, but who cares? And there was also a highlight for me, yeah, for me only. When Chester sang “Crawling”, he came to my side, then I kept screaming, “I love you” to him, he heard it and he smiled at me! Oh My God, he gave me his adorable smile, I will never forget that smile, I swear. The show ended with their rocky classic, “One Step Closer”. None of us wanted to listen to this song as it indicated the end of the show. However, we had to accept the fact that the show needed to end. However, it gave us the greatest time and experience ever. The memories of the show and the smile of Mr. Bennington will never fade.

MELISSA:  

Ok, take a deep breath.

Ok, this is going to start in 5 minutes!

Ok, for once, get crazy and rock out with Linkin Park !

9:01 p.m.    Normal room temperature  Chilling out

I felt like being squished  by the crowd behind me as I was at the very front row. I was almost like kissing the stage. People there went really high and there was definitely shoving and pushing. But that was how a rock concert should be. I mean, no one considered screaming and jumping crazy and for once, you could totally leave all your schoolwork and whatsoever aside. Alright, call me pathetic.

Due to some technical problems (by 'technical', it means the sound system was not working as well as it was supposed to be), the concert was delayed for over 45 minutes. Fans there were grumbling and some even shouted 'boo~'. Excuse me? Are they not fans of the band?

9:15 p.m.      Warming up

Here it comes!

Nah, not Linkin Park .

Yes, it was the opening act by Korean heavy metal band PIA!

They sounded absolutely awesome. They were greeted by applause and people there loved them. Honestly, for band which only have 3 years of experience in the music industry and considered pretty green, they at least scored an 'A-'.

Frankly, I bet most of the crowd did not understand what they were singing as we knew nothing about Korea besides its food (this is true, a nice lady standing beside me told me that the Korean band was as good as the food of their home country). But music says the word. They rocked!

9:30 p.m.      Getting all sweaty

The drumming became my heartbeat and I was so moved. I never thought that live performance could sound absolutely flawless, even better than studio-recorded.

The best part was when Chester and Mike asked the us to jump along with the beat and sing along with them. It was totally cool because there was definitely connection between the band and the crowd. Mike did the song 'STEP UP' and we all responded by rapping along with him. We were so connected...by music and its magic. Totally blown away!

11:05 p.m.      Cooling down

SPLASHHHHHHHHH!

Soooo cool!

Mike splashed water onto us and flashed us once more with his grin!

Sooo cool!

This is one of the best live performances I have ever since. Totally flawless, yet it let us feel connected to each other and to the band. Heartfelt music and lyrics, communication reached, emotions went high...it was more than just a concert.

People, for once, get crazy and rock out with Linkin Park , you never know what more you can get...

Chazzy sang out loud during the concert!

SPECIAL THANKS TO WARNER MUSIC HK FOR PROVIDING US THE EXCLUSIVE SHOTS

co-written by Carol from 5B and Melissa from 5F......under LP Lovers United