Rachel Tan
We’re glad they’re back again, and we hope that’s not the last of it. Linkin Park was rocking to a crowd of 11,000 people at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Nov 13, with their first concert held 3 years ago at the Padang where 15,000 tickets were snapped up by hungry fans.
After waiting for what seemed like eternity (1 really long hour), the band finally started playing behind a veil, opening the act with a short but loud excerpt of “Wake” which transitioned smoothly to “Given Up”. No surprise here, the crowd went absolutely wild. Having anticipated for the band to come on for a long time, the crowd was screaming and cheering even though it was clear that the stray strumming of the guitar was only a sound check earlier on.
The veil fell and revealed the band as they played their opening piece, which was a loud, energetic number that brought the house down with all the hysterical screaming from fans. Despite opening with a track from their latest album, Minutes to Midnight, everyone in the house knew the lyrics of the song, displaying their true blue adoration for the band as they sung along to lead vocalist, Chester Bennington.
From the opening act, the band played one head banging, heart stopping track after another, leaving the audience with little time to catch their breath or take a sip of water. In the free standing area, the crowd was clearly enjoying themselves, jumping and constantly lifting their hands into the air, moving to the music. That said, even the audience that were seated and in the balcony areas stood up to groove along to the beat with the encouragement of Chester and Mike Shinoda, the other vocalist of the band, known for his rapping.
Chester took a moment to talk to the audience, joking about how “ruthless” the Singaporean fans were, snatching his jewellery and practically clawing at him when he went off stage to shake hands. Mike joined in the bantering and made the crowd laugh with his light flirting with Chester by asking Chester if he could pinch his buttocks, and even said that the people there were “excellent”.
While their stage did not have the best of props and theatrics, especially when compared to recently held concerts such as Christina Aguilera’s Back To Basics Concert and Heaven and Hell’s one-night-only gig at Fort Canning Park, which had more elaborate sets, the American band really didn’t need it any of that as the electrifying vibes were strong enough to move the audience.
The band played a good mix of both new songs from their latest album and old hits such as ‘Crawling’, ‘Numb’ and ‘In the End’ from albums inclusive of Hybrid Theory and Meteora. A notable performance was a piano cover of the track from Hybrid Theory, Pushing Me Away, with Mike on the keyboard and Chester on vocals. Although one can easily watch a clip of the guys performing this touching piece on YouTube at their various concerts, nothing can ever beat hearing it live, with intense emotion echoing in Chester’s voice.
What seemed strange, however, was when the band members walked away from the stage right at the 80-minute point, leaving the audience confused. Some thought it marked the end of the concert, and even started heading for the exit. Hopefully they didn’t leave, as the band came back after 5 minutes and played the last 5 numbers in their song list.
The band finally closed with their 2nd single from Minutes to Midnight, ‘Bleed it Out’. It was a night of no frills, simplicity and where sheer voice and raw energy took the stage.