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Linkin Park Sonisphere Festival |
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With 10 minutes till showdown crowds flocked to the main stage from the second in hoards running over beer cans and plastic cups to find their space at the front. However this was not needed as this was different to the usual festival vibe this was Sonisphere and the first Sonisphere in the UK! What’s different about this new breed is it’s a festival that gives attention to detail. It’s a festival which attracts a friendly crowd with fans polite and respectful towards each other. Not once did I have other human contact without an instant apology and this is unheard of at festivals. The arena was thought out well with no huge distances between stages yet no problems with sound conflicts or glare from the sun. The grounds of the festival were plush and very green with it being part of the Knebworth castle grounds which also added to a lovely scenic backdrop especially for the artist and VIP enclosure.
Back to the headlining act. LP set the atmosphere and tempo from their epic intro from their DJ Joe Hahn which they proceeded to follow with hit after hit after hit. They instantly crowd pleased with large audience interaction to help with emphasis on chorus hooks and bars with statements. Mike Shinoda introduced a few of his own bars between songs as intros, which mainly consisted of political story telling.
With regards to sound, by the 20 minute mark the drums had finally been adjusted to sit better in the mix and the overall volume had reached an acceptable level. Saying that I could still talk to my friend normally without shouting to him and I was closer than FOH. This should not be possible at a festival but obviously there were rules and regulations to keep within for the festivals license. The sound was clear however which made listening enjoyable and manageable but we would of preferred to of been blown away with decibels destroying ear lobes.
An hour and 10 minutes through their set and LP left the stage only to introduce ‘Dead by sunrise’ Chester’s side project. A kit was wheeled on along with other equipment and they laid down no less than 3 of their tracks to the Sonisphere crowd. This was far from crowd pleasing. People wanted to see the headlining act, not be force fed a band that was described as “a credit crunch band” by a Welsh LP fan standing directly behind me whose vocals were directed at the stage. By doing this there were songs missed out of the set but no matter what the performance was still solid.
LP executed the job in hand and the crowd was left wanting more. A question that we continue to ask ourselves and others is. “Why do bands feel the need to incorporate political values into their sets and try to guide their fans”. Watch the trend to come…
Ollie Martin
Photo credits -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22273383@N02/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samueljudge/
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Comment by GUEST on 2009-08-10 07:16:30
Best band of the weekend IMO |
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