Linkin Park rocks Utah -- right through two encores

JOIN IN: Mike Shinoda asks the crowd to sing with him. / Photo by Ben Hansen

By Ben Hansen

March 13, 2008 | "Somewhere I Belong" is in West Valley City with Linkin Park.

You may have heard of these guys before -- over the last seven years, Linkin Park has delivered three incredibly successful albums, achieved more than 50 million album sales, received two Grammy awards, and owned more than a dozen radio hits. This rap and metal fusion machine has done it all, including playing Ozzfest, topping the Billboard charts with two different albums . . . everything except for playing a show recently in Utah.

The band played to a sold-out crowd Saturday at the E-Center of West Valley. Tickets for the show were gone months in advance, and rarely sold tickets for seats behind the stage were offered and disappeared quickly. Those who were lucky enough to get to the show were not disappointed.

After the opening band Coheed and Cambria finished their set and gear was changed out, the lights dimmed to an empty stage. Suddenly, two platforms rose from beneath the stage with Linkin Park playing their first song, the instrumental Wake, off of their most recent album, Minutes to Midnight. At the song's conclusion, they immediately transitioned into the No. 1 hit from the same album, What I've Done, bringing the audience out of their seats, jumping up and down as if they were on pogo sticks.

Lead vocalist Chester Bennington provided quite the show for the eyes and ears, jumping off stage objects, walking directly into the audience of frenzied fans, running around the stage and performing to the audience in every direction. Although flat a couple of times on his notes in the set, the level of difficulty in the singing, yelling, and growling combinations that Chester used throughout each song is extreme. He admirably pulled off song after song to a euphoric, frenzied audience throughout the night without losing any of the edge in his growl or singing voice.

When Chester was not using either his piercing or mellow tone, guitarist/keyboardist/rapper/singer Mike Shinoda performed a good chunk of the vocal duties. A true jack of all trades, Mike had an electric energy with the audience, and had the audience following his every request ­ whether rapping, playing guitar, or singing while playing the keyboard with his guitar strapped to his back. Not only does Mike do it all, he does it in style, often harmonizing in tandem with Chester to fill the melodies of their songs, or throwing down rap between Chester's dominant metal style to provide a unique fusion to the music.

I did not see anyone in my section of the audience sitting down at all during the entire set - we had all waited forever to see these guys, and their music was delivered tight enough that you could shoot an arrow from it. Some of the more memorable songs from the main part of the show included Shadow of the Day, Crawling, Valentine's Day, In Pieces, and their final song, Bleed It Out. As Mike asked the audience to sing Bleed It Out with them, the crowd in unison shouted so loudly that it seemed almost deafening, even with earplugs.

The band returned for an encore of the song Pride and Promise, sung as a duet with only Mike playing keyboards and covering main vocals and Chester providing backing vocals. The band then turned to their hit Breaking the Habit as their final encore of the set.

No one in the audience wanted to leave. The entire stadium continued to erupt in chants for the band for the next few minutes, and much to everyone's surprise, the band came out for a second set of encores. They played their first hit that propelled them into the limelight One Step Closer, along with an extended version of their up tempo track, I Won't Be Ignored, complete with Chester taking time out during both of the songs to scream the most dramatic parts of these songs to each direction of the venue, again including all of the audience behind the stage.

With such a large catalogue of hits alone, I had expected Linkin Park to deliver a "hits only" package and call it a night. Much to everyone's delight, they delivered hits, fan favorites, and an unheard of second return for encores to everyone in the crowd, giving everyone their money's worth with interest. If you missed the show, hopefully the band will be back sometime in the near future. Paying a scalper may have been a good idea for this one. . . .

Linkin Park rocks the crowd -- and comes back for a second encore. / Photo by Ben Hansen

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