First off, this show was going to be my fourth time seeing Linkin Park live, and the second time in 3 days (Uncasville, CT). On Friday, August 17, I will be turning 21 years old, so this whole weekend served as a great birthday gift for myself. Uncasville was a great time, including a meet and greet with the band, getting my ATS vinyl record signed, as well as seeing the new stage and new set for the Honda Civic Tour. This review is for the Mansfield show, a show that not only tops my list for the best Linkin Park concert that I’ve been to, but the best of 50+ shows I’ve ever been to.

I left Nashua, NH for Mansfield with my best friend Kyle (yes two Kyle’s, bear with me) at 4:30 P.M. to bring him to see Linkin Park for the first time, a late birthday present retroactive to June. He was also an Incubus fan, so he was pleased to know that two of his favorite bands would be playing. We arrived at 6:15 and had some time to walk around before MUTEMATH opened the show. The first thing we did was head to the Love Hope Strength booth to register ourselves as potential bone marrow donors. I can’t help but stress to anyone that attends one of the Honda Civic Tour dates how important the work that this booth does is. It took us 5 minutes to fill out a form and potentially help saves the lives of others. We both donated $10 and posed for a photo.

Myself on the left and the other Kyle on the right

We joined the pit to watch MUTEMATH’s set about halfway into their performance. While not quite my style of music, they brought a great stage presence for a band with such large acts to open up for. They closed their set by allowing fans to help lead singer Paul Meany play his Axesynth (Google it, trust me it’s an awesome instrument) and finish the set. After MUTEMATH left the stage, it was time for Incubus to step up. After winning a meet and greet from the Linkin Park Street Soldiers for Sunday in Uncasville, I was able to use my guaranteed LPU meet and greet for Mansfield. The one drawback was that I would end up missing the majority of Incubus’s set.
I will not go into great detail about my meet and greet because I feel that for anyone who has never experienced one, it would spoil the feeling of what it is like to see the band right in front and able to be interacted with. I got my custom-made Linkin Park / Pokémon iPhone case signed by the band, and wished Chester a late left-hander’s day, from being a lefty myself.

After the meet and greet ended, I reentered the amphitheater at the end of the Incubus set, only to see the standing ovation they received after their performance. I entered the pit once again and rejoined Kyle as we awaited Linkin Park to take the stage. The anticipation was rising as the pit moved closer to the stage and everyone bunched up as the lights went out.
The crowd roared as Mr. Hahn took the stage and started the intro of TINFOIL, and the rest of the band joined him as Faint began to play. I will be the first to admit that the crowd sucked for the Uncasville show, but the pit was energetic and loud for this show. The first half of the show consisted of high energy, up-tempo tracks such as VICTIMIZED (mashed up with QWERTY!!!), Papercut, Given Up, and With You to name a few. The pit had formed two mosh pits and it was great to see the band feeding off of the energy the crowd was giving them.

The energy mellowed out a bit after a flawless intro of UNTIL IT BREAKS into Waiting For The End, and the crowed swayed along with Chester as he hit every note flawlessly. Breaking The Habit drew a loud cheer from the crowd behind us, but my favorite part of this section of the concert was the piano medley. The band started off with Leave Out All the Rest, leading into the second verse and chorus of Shadow of the Day, finishing with the epic ending and outro of Iridescent. Hands shot up everywhere and I had goosebumps (even as I type this) as Chester and the guys chanted “Let it go!” to close the medley, truly amazing stuff. They closed the main part of the set with mega singles What I’ve Done and The Catalyst, as well as LOST IN THE ECHO and the one and only One Step Closer. This track got the entire pit moving and nearly every single person jumped when the bass hit before the first verse. The crowd response was amazing across the board and the band thanked everyone before leaving the stage.

Totally exhausted and wondering what the band could possibly have left to play, I felt as if the show had given most of its great moments and it was time to wrap it up. Was I ever wrong…
The guys came back out to a roaring ovation, which grew even louder as the intro to BURN IT DOWN was played. All of us in the pit were roasted by giant flames that erupted periodically from the stage and this song may have produced the loudest noise from the crowd in the seats all night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGkpWYFc_jA

Next was, in my opinion, the best performance of the night: In the End. As a big Linkin Park fan, I tend to downplay this track as a whole, due to its popularity and how many people perceive this to be the epitomy of the band, but tonight was something special. I could not hear Mike for the entire song, that is how loud the pit was. He spent the entire song directly in front of me and Kyle and kept reaching down towards the crowd in front of us. We were able to move as close as two people deep in front of the barrier and Mike extended his microphone with the assistance of his mic stand over the crowd, and directly over us. As we were crushed from all sides by other people, we both used what was left of our voices to let Mike and the rest of the world where we “put our trust”. After this epic song closed, Numb started and the pits calmed down for a few minutes. I had some great photo opportunities, if not for the gentleman’s arm in front of me, but I was able to snap one great picture of Phoenix at this point:

Finally, it was time for Bleed It Out, the conclusion of our night. We used what we had left of our energy to jumps and sing along, and the pit exploded one final time while the band played Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” over the bridge of the song. We applauded the band as they left the stage and Chester and Mike took a bow. As we were leaving, the LP road crew members were tossing guitar picks off of the stage to the remaining pit fans. I caught one (!) belonging to Brad:

Brad’s promotional LIVING THINGS headshot is on the other side

The other Kyle also managed to catch one, this one belonging to Mike. We left the Comcast Center happy, as well as covered in a gallon of sweat each and leaving with damn good birthday gifts. We concluded our adventure by watching a man almost set his car ablaze with a rogue firework (illegal in Massachusetts by the way) and driving home as happy guys.
In conclusion, even though we did not see the world premiere of CASTLE OF GLASS or POWERLESS like we were hoping, we both experienced one of the best days of our lives. From registering as bone marrow donors, to being able to meet my idols, and leaving with equipment used to make an amazing show, we both had a night we will never forget.

Thanks, Kyle, for this great reviews and the cool pics. My favorite one is the “I’m on the list” photo. So awesome!

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