There are some things that simply do not get talked about in the music industry and primary on that list is the behind-the-scenes work and designs that go into presenting a monumental concert. Usually the only times that audiences notice “the little things” that go into a show are when the human component slips up and inadvertently gives a glimpse behind the curtain. Sometimes it’s done on purpose (think Nirvana’s famous music awards show performance when Krist Novoselic knocked himself unconscious with his own bass after throwing it in the air), but more regularly they’re not and send a series of cringes and shivers through viewers. The most notorious of these little things that can go wrong also happens to be the dirty little secret that no musician likes to be accused of and every fan dreads hearing uttered: playback. Whenever you’re watching a TV performance and somehow the singer’s mouth moves independently of the sounds coming out of it, you know (but won’t necessarily admit) that the band in question is getting a little unseen assistance from an engineer with a pre-recorded tape.
Why do I mention this? Mostly because I can’t prove that Linkin Park’s live show at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes on June 29, 2008, had such assistance – looking at the footage on the DVD, there are no flaws to indicate the presence of playback – but, if this was actually all live, Linkin Park might be one of the tightest, bands in rock.
Performing a largely "greatest hits" set (all of the radio anthems including “In The End,” “Breaking The Habit,” “What I’ve Done” and more are here), Linkin Park hits the ground running with “One Step Closer” and never lets the energy dip below that point at any time during the set. Eerily, fans at home will come to realize that Linkin Park’s secret weapons aren’t turntablist Joe Hahn or singer Chester Bennington, but guitarists Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson. It has never been argued that Linkin Park is a guitar-driven band, but those dense layers of textural six-string landscape actually gets reproduced by Shinoda and Delson exactly as they were performed – with the same timbres and effects – as they were on the studio albums; they’re not just close, they’re dead on. In short, the performances to see and hear here are those of the guitarists because they’re the busiest members of the band with the most to lose, but at no point do they noticeably fuck up.
It seems redundant to continue gushing about the guitarists’ performances on Road To Revolution but, as the other members begin to hang back on their instruments (and Chester is in “safety scream” mode a lot of the time – it’s not incredibly noticeable, but there are moments when his voice gets thinner and more papery, particularly in the late-playing of the set) and content themselves with careening across the stage while Jay-Z and Bennington mix and match verses and dynamics in “Numb/Encore” as well as “Jigga/Faint,” both Shinoda and Delson stay glued to their parts and lock into some fairly remarkable performances. Between the two of them, Shinoda and Delson build and command the show here; they make the show at the National Bowl it what it is.
Artist
Linkin Park online
Linkin Park myspace
