Okay, so, most of you know I went to the Download Festival at Castle Donington over the weekend. Well, I have a frightening revelation that has taken me a few days to come to terms with...
Out of all the bands at the festival, possibly the most entertaining live act were... I can't believe I'm going to say this... Linkin Park.
Now, before you all start booking flights/trains to come over here and personally kick my ass, let me defend my position. Firstly, I said 'most entertaining live act', not 'best band'. That acclaim (IMHO) went jointly to Opeth, Hatebreed and Akercocke. Secondly, Linkin Park were undeniably exciting to watch. The members used absolutely every inch of the stage, were possessed of boundless energy throughout, and still managed to deliver a tight-as-fuck performance of their material.
Chester's voice (which is, I don't care what anyone says, fantastic) was on top form, Mike's rapping was bearable, the bass guitar sound was absolutely monstrously huge, which gave the riffs on heavier tracks like 'With You' and 'By Myself' a huge testosterone shot. And in the live environment, however absurdly simplistic some of LP's songs may be, you are suddenly reminded how much of a cathartic bottom-end stomp some of them have.
They also managed to pull off a particularly admirable cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Wish', threw that Xecutioners track out, and dug out a five-year old song which was the only low-point of the set.
Metallica by comparison were actually pretty dull, but they made up for it by leaving Lars Ulrich in hospital, getting Dave Lombardo, Joey Jordison and Ulrich's drum-tech to perform in his place, and playing absolutely no songs from anything later than the black album.
Out of all the bands at the festival, possibly the most entertaining live act were... I can't believe I'm going to say this... Linkin Park.
Now, before you all start booking flights/trains to come over here and personally kick my ass, let me defend my position. Firstly, I said 'most entertaining live act', not 'best band'. That acclaim (IMHO) went jointly to Opeth, Hatebreed and Akercocke. Secondly, Linkin Park were undeniably exciting to watch. The members used absolutely every inch of the stage, were possessed of boundless energy throughout, and still managed to deliver a tight-as-fuck performance of their material.
Chester's voice (which is, I don't care what anyone says, fantastic) was on top form, Mike's rapping was bearable, the bass guitar sound was absolutely monstrously huge, which gave the riffs on heavier tracks like 'With You' and 'By Myself' a huge testosterone shot. And in the live environment, however absurdly simplistic some of LP's songs may be, you are suddenly reminded how much of a cathartic bottom-end stomp some of them have.
They also managed to pull off a particularly admirable cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Wish', threw that Xecutioners track out, and dug out a five-year old song which was the only low-point of the set.
Metallica by comparison were actually pretty dull, but they made up for it by leaving Lars Ulrich in hospital, getting Dave Lombardo, Joey Jordison and Ulrich's drum-tech to perform in his place, and playing absolutely no songs from anything later than the black album.
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