Victoria had the great luck to see Linkin Park live in the beautiful city of Saint Petersburg. We all know that the Russian fans are a great crowd, so of course they had a flashmob prepared again. Have fun reading Victoria’s review of the show:
I’ve been a fan of Linkin Park for only 3 years, but even I understand that they are no band who allows genre-fication. Well, at least, that’s what they tried to prove by stepping out on the stage of Petrovsky stadium in Saint-Petersburg on the 1st of June 2014.
The band kicked off with the calming “Lift me up – Let me go” lines of The Catalyst/The Requiem mash-up, which were only meant to create peace before the storm, because the unexpected intro of Guilty All The Same staggered each and every one. The new song was more than positively perceived by the audience as a whole, let alone the keen fans, who organized a flashmob with Shinoda’s dollars during Mike’s rapping. A lot of medleys, which contained old and new hits, and various twists in music gave the fans no room to breathe and only Castle of Glass helped me to survive the concert.
Now that was cool… @linkinpark thanks St Petersburg I hope you're all dry and tired now pic.twitter.com/0eDD7waEQu
— human (@digbyjim) June 1, 2014
As I already mentioned, the show was partly based on the medleys of some of pre-Living Things songs, which included the short versions of Blackout, With You, Runaway, Crawling and New Divide. I was keen to listen to these amazing songs, though I was a bit sad about them being short. However, the main fun started when the local public heard some songs live for the first time. Castle Of Glass created such a breath-taking atmosphere along with the pouring rain that I asked my concert mate if this was the reality or a dream. Lost In The Echo had been strongly anticipated as well and Mike’s rapping was so satisfying for my ears that I was very disappointed the song was cut in half.
My personal favorite was a mind-blowing medley of Wretches and Kings, Remember The Name and Skin To Bone (Recharged version). I was so eager to hear at least one verse of Wretches and Kings live for the first time in my life. “You ready? Let’s go! This is 10% luck…” – I bet you know the numbers yourself. I couldn’t wish for more than a Fort Minor song during a Linkin Park concert.
As for the songs from the upcoming “The Hunting Party” album, I am 100% sure they will leave this world stunned. I have to admit that Wastelands has a chorus similar to Guilty All The Same, but my soul has been rapping “Every rapper’s made in fact to act as a delayed attack” from that day on. Until It’s Gone is undoubtedly a gem among all of the songs as it is just made for conquering the crowd during the live performance.
Generally, the setlist is an epitome of what a music lover adores: several genres mixed and adding some spice to each other.
Despite the pouring rain and the cold wind, Chester was singing almost flawlessly. His voice magically enhanced in these two years after the previous concert. Mike was awesome at rapping as always, but, unfortunately, didn’t leave the stage for fans, because of being afraid of getting ill probably. Joe’s and Rob’s solos were nothing short of amazing and left me speechless, while Phoenix was all smiling and especially enjoyed playing new songs. Brad, at first, was also content with what was happening around, but later his face started expressing sadness, the reasons of which are unfortunately concealed from me.
It all traditionally ended with Bleed It Out extended by Rob’s solo and a beautiful sunset, which only left me thinking of how much I love Linkin Park.
Victoria Lebedeva.
By Tema Popov:
The photographer Andrey Razumov took great photos of the show. You can find them on his website! Below is a little teaser, and you can also see his work in the header!
Photo: Andrey Razumov