Juan Diaz
Mr. Wachs
Music 104 (Online)
12/15/2017
Linkin Park Live Rock Wechter 2017
Linkin Park has been one of the biggest and most successful rock bands of this generation. They have a unique sound as they have a mixture of a lot of different styles. They are a considered a rock band but incorporate, rock, rap, hip hop and electronic sound into their music but they consider themselves a genre-less band. During this concert, they really managed to showcase their wide variety of musical talents they have.
Linkin park originally began as a band called Xero in 1996. The original three members were Mike Shinoda, the emcee and vocals. Rob Bourdon the drummer, and Brad Delson the lead guitarist. All three of them attended Agoura Hills High School in Los Angeles, California. During his time in college Mike Shinoda met and recruited Joseph Hahn. Joseph Hahn grew up in Glendale, California and began deejaying when he was in high school and would become the DJ, director and visual artist for Linkin Park, known as Xero then. Brad Delson was in UCLA when he was roommates with David “Phoenix” Farrell who at the time was involved with a punk/ska band called Tasty Snax. Eventually David left Tasty Snax to join Brad Delson in playing with Xero. The band Xero was complete with the addition of lead vocalist Mark Wakefield. After the band struggled to find success in the late 90’s Mark Wakefield left the band to search for success elsewhere. The band stayed determined to find its success and it wasn’t until May of 1999 when they found vocalist Chester Bennington. Chester was part of a post-grunge band in Arizona who was so impressed with the sound Xero created that he left his band and quit his job to move to California, to join 5 strangers in a band. When Chester Bennington joined the band, they changed their name to Hybrid Theory. His vocals and the rest of the bands talent would set them up to be one of the most successful rock bands of the generation after being signed by Warner Bros. For legal reasons, when signing, the band had to change their already new name to something else because of a band named Hybrid was already around. What started as a small inside joke by about Bennington’s commute to the studio, led to the final band name. The band decided to play homage to Lincoln Park in Santa Monica and named their band Linkin Park.
In an interview with the Mike Shinoda he explains how they have so many influences such as, Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Public Enemy, The Beatles, Rage Against the Machines and concludes his statement by saying they are a “product of a lot of things.” They are mostly known for having some rock mixed in with rap. But the artists have also made albums where they focus more on the electronic side much like their album Reanimation which included a lot of their songs remixed by their very own DJ Mr. Hahn.
One thing that makes this band really attractive is that they have two vocalists with completely different voices and styles that really expands their palette of what they can write and perform. Chester Bennington can do a lot with his voice and is usually the rock performer of the group as he can really sing melodies and does the shouting and screaming in their songs. Mike Shinoda is more oriented towards rap as he mainly raps in the songs but also sings melodies. Both lead singers are very talented in their crafts.
Linkin Park’s lyrics are generally self-reflective. They write a lot about their very own self-experiences and problems, which makes it easy for many people to relate. They are very honest lyrics and there is a layer of relief or release of resentment or held back emotions in a lot of their lyrics. They have really well written lyrics that can be related to by many people and everyone can interpret how that relates to their specific lives. For example, the lyrics, “And I know I may end up failing too, But I know you were just like me with someone disappointed in you” Linkin park sings in “Numb”, are about defying parent’s expectations of their child. How some teens or people in general can feel like their parents are always disappointed in them and are always under the pressure of having to please them all the time while not following what they truly want to accomplish. Taking risks at different forms of success that may not be what the parents may not be wanting to see their children risk.
During the concert the artists were not wearing anything that looked to be part of a theme. They seemed to just be wearing comfortable clothes such as jeans, t-shirts and some were wearing hats. The only changes were that the lead singer Chester Bennington took his hat and jacket off in the middle of the show. Chester is probably the most energetic on stage as he’s constantly moving around the stage and jumping as he performs but he also really connects with his fans. During the concert, he actually stepped off of the stage and performed 3 songs while walking, hugging and shaking the hands of his fans. Even though Chester Bennington can play instruments he did not play any instruments during the concert. Mike Shinoda also a vocalist had a keyboard he would play on. Mr. Hahn had a DJ set up with a sound board he played on. Rob Bourdon was the drummer and just had a drum set. Brad Delson was on the guitar and David Ferrell was on the bass guitar.
What I like about this band is how genuine they feel. Their lyrics feel so honest and they have great energy. The band doesn’t seem to look like they let success get to their head and continue to make quality songs and always seem appreciative of their fans. They strived to continue stretching their horizons and experiment with different mashups and artists of different music genre’s and they did it very well. The concert I viewed was great, it was on an outdoor venue which I’m always a fan of. From what I watched there was no opening band. The stage seemed perfect for them. They all had their own space and didn’t seem too crowded or anything. There was nothing crazy on the stage like a backdrop or statues or any decorations. Just a plain black stage with what seemed like hundreds of lights perfectly synchronized to the music. Every song seemed to have a theme and a light show to accompany it and with the added touch of a fog machine constantly emitting a bit of fog really added to the effect of the lights as we could actually see the beams of light reflect off of the fog. I really found it amazing that Chester Bennington went into the crowd and just showed appreciation for everyone there to see him perform. I enjoyed every minute of it and I really wish this was a band I should have gone to see live once in my lifetime. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do this as the lead vocalist and my favorite member of the band committed suicide on July 20th, 2017.
This is truly one band I will always love and remember as I grew up listening to them since I was a pre-teen and bought my first CD. I have probably listened to every song they have released and many of their songs I related to. They had a very unique sound and were one of the most talented groups I have seen in this generation.