7.15pm. Z-Sueh and his friend, Angie joined me in the queue. The organizers were letting people in by small batches. They were so short-handed that they actually asked us to tear our own tickets and pass them the stubs. I dunno much about this country, but why is it everytime when the people involved reaches the thousands, the organizers always seem helpless and disorganized? Huh? HUH? Reminds me of my Idol experience...
7.30pm. We're finally in the inner circle mosh pit. Luckily for us, the front of the stage was not filled up yet. Found ourselves an alright spot about 200m away from the stage. Was a bit miffed to see people on the rooftop of the S'pore Recreation Club, which is just behind the stage, to catch a free show. Hehe... if only they knew what surprise was waiting for them... >:D
8.20pm (and the ticket said 8pm, mind). Daniel Ong and Sheikh Haikel from Perfect 10 98.7FM opened the show. They started to tease the crowd, only to tell us the rules and regulations, exit points, blah blah blah... No moshing/body-surfing in the MOSH PIT?? We might as well call it a STAND PIT, then!
8.30pm. The opening band is a nu-metal band called PIA (pronounced as 'PEE-AH!') from Korea. A piece of advice: whatever band name that sounded cool in one language, could be merely laughing stock in another language. No disrespect, but I think they're just copying the style and moves of Linkin Park. Moreover, these guys just won't get off the stage! They just kept singing their unintelligible Korean songs and pretended that we like them! It's more fun just listening to the Mat Rocker behind me making fun of them--
PIA soloist: Hello Singapore! (Mat Rocker: Goodbye!)
PIA: You guys are lovely! (MR: f**k you!)
PIA: We love Singapore! (MR: Get off the stage!)
PIA: Our next song is called *WHATEVER THE NAME*. (MR: Oi! Speak English lah!)
9pm. They finally let go of the mikes! Daniel and Sheikh came out again to reiterate the RnR. The stage crew took off the canvas sheets and revealed Mr Hahn's turntable and Rob's drumset, complete with Meteora artwork on them! What's that behind them, lowering from the stage ceiling? Is that what I think it is? Well I wouldn't know, coz some technical glitch occured and the thing couldn't rise again!
9.30pm. 30mins of standing and listening to CD being played through the speakers. I paid $152.20 to listen to CD on the Padang? "Absurd" is a total understatement, man... The thing is moving again! It's... it's... the Linkin Park mega-screen! The mega-screen blocked the stage completely away from the view of those people on the rooftop of the S'pore Recreation Club. YEAH! Take that, SUCKERS!
More than 14 MILLION copies of their first album sold. With "Meteora" at No. 6 of THE BILLBOARD 200 year-end chart in 2003, Linkin Park is the only act to repeat from previous year's top-10. "Hybrid Theory," the group's debut, placed fifth in 2002. If that ain't cool for you, it's time to move to the north pole!
The pieces were in place, and the crowd was drooling for hardcore rock action. The familiar tune started playing... and there they come!
The GODS have landed!
As soon as they played "Don't Stay", everyone just went wild! Everyone knows their every song, screaming and singing with them. The band's energy was just amazing! Chester looked like he's either possessed or very, very, very angry, hollering into his mike. Brad looked goofy with his new-found hair, and he looked like he smoked pot before the show as he swung his arms like a conductor to lead the audience. Everyone of them was on FIRE!
Spotted! The elusive Devil's Horn hand sign...
What's the point of going to concerts if you already owned the band's CD? Obviously, it's to listen to something that's NOT on the CD, and Linkin Park didn't disappoint, them being great remixers of their own songs. "Breaking the Habit" started with a mellow piano solo by Mike. As for "A Place for My Head", they found a half-naked audience and got him on stage to sing the bridge. What a headbanger! He was running all over the stage, headbanging all the way. Lucky bastard...
Speaking of headbanging, this dude in front of me really swung his head like a hammer. Fearing for the safety of my nose, I raised my paper cup behind his head. Sure enough, he banged into cup and looked at me, so I gave him a very concerned look and asked if he's ok (HIAK HIAK). I think he took the hint coz he started headbanging SIDEWAYS after that. For a while. Then he's Mr Hammer Head again...
A chick beside me was irritated by another violent dude in front and she pushed him away pretty hard. The dude looked like he wanna fight, but eventually gave way for the lady. Heh, it's good to have an unknown pretty girl rocking and smiling beside you, instead of another sweaty hairy armpit. Remember that we weren't allowed to body-surf? One dude not far from me tried to body-surf, only to fall flat on his face coz nobody was holding him. It's moronically funny, I tell you! :P
The band just couldn't resist the crowd after the supposed "end" of the concert, like we couldn't let them go so easily. They returned for another 3 songs, including the song that propelled them into super stardom, "Crawling". For their last song, guess who's back to join them on stage? It's PIA! Don't these guys EVER give up??
11pm. The real end of the concert. It's totally worth the money, man! I'd like to thank Teresa for allowing me to hijack some of her photos and post them here. I'll post more photos of the concert as and when they become available to me. For the moment, I took these pix of my little memorabilias. Enjoy! :)
Standing ain't Free, pal...
My concert wristband
I belong to the Inner Circle, BABY!
1 comment:
lol. im keepin that wristband forever.
LINKIN PARK YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!
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