CAMDEN NJ 8/16-17/’12, INCLUDING 6TH LPU SUMMIT

I’m An, an LPUer from Belgium (also known as “anvanoppens” on the LP/LPU community)
The show I attended was the one in Camden (NJ) on August 17 (part of their Honda Civic tour), wich also included the 6th LPU Summit. Before you wonder how it was possible for me to travel all the way from Belgium to the States, I won this “LP Ambassador” contest here in Belgium a few months ago (it basically means that I help the Belgian fanbase – for so far it exists 🙂 – get updates from/about the band), and the main prize for winning the contest was a trip to the US to see the band. The entire contest and its prizes were organized/provided by Warner here in Belgium.

So seeing the band live (for the 5th time) wasn’t the only exciting thing for me. The trip to the US, which was in Philadelphia (near Camden) was also the first time I’ve ever visited the States, wich I wanted to do for so long, but never could because such trips aren’t cheap and I’d have to wait an eternity to gather the money for it. Also attending an LPU Summit was new to me, wich was also something I’ve wanted badly! The – 8-hour flight – trip to Philly was for five days; August 15 – 19th. The highlight of the trip was Friday (17th) wich was the day of the actual Summit and show, I got to attend the Summit and show with Aurélia, the other, French-speaking Belgian LP ambassador (I speak Dutch), she’s also an LPUer.

1 day prior to the actual event there was a pre-Summit volunteering activity with, let’s say, 20 LPUers out of the 200(+) that were attending the actual Summit. The activity was helping the “Camden Greenways” organisation to help clean up New Camden Park in Camden (It was also considered as Music For Relief-related volunteering). Cleaning up a park (= picking up a lot of garbage) seems like an unpleasant job but for me, and probably most other LPUers participating that day, it meant a lot, being able to help out and be around other nice people who share the same passion. The same morning I was too nervous, because of finally meeting some great LPUers I’ve known through the community, we ended up having a great time!

8/17 – The big day: A lot more nervous than the previous morning, we (barely) ate breakfast and got ready to get a cab and drive to the Susquehanna Bank Center to check in for the Summit.
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM:
Everyone gathered at the main entrance of the venue to check in for the Summit, and immediately we got the opportunity to meet some other LPUers! The day had started with several options we could participate in: Getting plain shirts heat-pressed with LPU/MFR logos, have a picture with Sean Paden (Brad’s guitar tech) and one of Brad’s guitars, the raffle where you could get chosen to get amazing prizes and auctions with exclusive signed items. I had a shirt made and a photo with Sean and one of the guitars!

10:30 AM – Noon:
We had the privelege to choose between getting a tour in one of the band/crew’s tour busses, or a backstage tour. Both tours were given by one of the LP staff members. Both Aurélia, me (and also some other LPU friends I met during the trip) chose the backstage tour. This tour was given by LP’s production manager Jim Digby (awesome guy!). We got to see their production office and got to meet some other LP staff members. After that we got to see how the stage was set up, and our related questions got answered.

Noon – 3:00 PM:
Time to get on tourist busses to drive through Camden to the Hard Rock Cafe in Philly across the river, to have lunch (I still wonder how they’ve put 200+ people in that bar). While we ate our burgers (pretty much the only thing I ate in the US those 5 days) the Hard Rock staff was so nice to play some LP (and Incubus) videos on the screens! During our lunch Aurélia and me also met some new LPUers we shared a table with. After lunch was finished we returned back to the venue, for the next activities, including the band!

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
My highlight of the Summit: the band arrived to answer some of our questions, to play a short and intimate acoustic set, and to meet the fans. For the acoustic set, they played “The Messenger” and “In My Remains”. Both songs brought me in lots of tears, Chester’s voice was just perfect! During the Meet & Greet we got the opportunity to chat a little with each of the band, got our items signed, and a personal photo with the band! After that we got a small backstage tour and Q+A with Mike and Phoenix (with a small group of around 10 LPUers)!

CONCERT – Starting at 9:20 PM

This was the brand new setlist:

01) A Place For My Head
02) Given Up
03) New Divide
04) Victimized / Qwerty
05) With You
06) Somewhere I Belong
07) Empty Spades / When They Come For Me
08) Lies Greed Misery
09) Points Of Authority
10) Until It Breaks / Waiting For The End
11) Breaking The Habit
12) Leave Out All The Rest / Shadow Of The Day / Iridescent
13) The Catalyst
14) Lost In The Echo
15) Numb
16) Burn It Down
17) What I’ve Done
18) In The End
19) Bleed It Out
20) Tinfoil
21) Lying From You / Papercut
22) One Step Closer

Highlights of the show: “A Place For My Head” was their opening and had the same amazing intro as it had at the Pinkpop festival (Netherlands) I attended during the European tour earlier this year, “Lost In The Echo” and “Victimized” premiered this tour, these two were my favorites during the set! Lots of fire during “Burn It Down”, “Bleed It Out” and “One Step Closer”!

For me it’s been the best LP/LPU experience so far, I really wish I could go back!
The band and their staff did a great job making the Summit a great success! – Big thanks!

Adie: Huge thanks to An for this great Summit report! You can find more pictures HERE! This is the last one, but there are still “normal” reviews coming up. Next time, Irene will tell us all about her experience at the Tinley Park show!

Related Images: