The fun started at 5:15 in the morning, as Manda’s mom burst into my room to let me know that I had slept through my alarm. Wheeeee.

Me, my two friends, and their moms piled into the car and drove for about two hours to get to Philadelphia. The traffic was crazy, and construction led us through a bunch of confusing detours, but we eventually managed to make our way there. After a desperately confused drive through Philly, we finally found how to get onto the bridge to Camden, drove over there, parked the car, and made our way to the Susquehanna Bank Center. By 9:00, the line was already wrapping around the building, but we found some friends and cut in front of them close to the front of the line. I had met these guys in the LPU chat before, but hanging out with them in person was a whole different feeling – it was so cool to see how they were in real life. We all crammed into this little space of shade behind a post, and waited. We talked to each other, Derek from LPA, and a few other familiar faces – and some unfamiliar ones, too. Everyone was so nice and friendly; you were literally able to just walk up to a total stranger and say “hey, what’s up?” and five minutes later they’d be your new best friend. It was a great feeling.

I had an interesting little experience looking at the driver’s licenses from all the different states and countries that people came from. They all looked so different! It made me realize that these weren’t just people who lived nearby – there was hardly anybody local – but that people had come from anywhere and everywhere to spend the day with Linkin Park and their fellow LPU’ers. I suppose they call them International LPU Summits for a reason!

Around 9:20, Adam came out and told us that they were finishing setting everything up inside the venue, and that we just had to wait for another 10 minutes. TWENTY minutes later – gee, thanks, Adam – they started checking us in and gave us our laminates for the day. As usual, they were all awesome and holographic, and my ADD left me staring at mine fascinatedly for almost a solid minute.

Inside, there was a little table where we handed in our waivers, got our nametags, and picked which activity we wanted to do later in the day – a backstage tour or a bus tour. My friends and I all opted for the backstage tour, so they handed us the red bracelets for that and sent us along our way. (The people who went on the bus tour got blue bracelets and did that completely separately from me, so I won’t be writing about that.)

There were a few different activities set up for the morning. The first thing we headed for was the LP Art Wall, which was an enormous white sheet of paper that people could draw, write, or do whatever on. By the end of the day, it was filled with anything from LPU Chat inside jokes, to LP-related drawings, or even just random artwork, to declarations of undying dedication. It was neat to see it grow from a plain white wall to a collage of everybody’s thoughts and creativity. Here it is towards the beginning of the day…

Here’s a video that shows it at the end of the day: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150981743827303

Everybody was told to bring a blank T-shirt or hoodie to the Summit to make custom LP-wear. Neighborhoodies ran that station, and we were allowed to pick one decal for the front and one for the back. They ranged from Linkin Park logos and Music For Relief decals, to designs with skulls and wings and the like. Once we picked out decals, we left our shirts at the station and were able to go pick them up later.

I’m still bummed that I didn’t make it through this line, but Brad’s guitar tech, Sean, was there with a case full of Brad’s guitars. Fans were allowed to hold and get their pictures taken with the guitars, and word is they got one of Brad’s picks, too.

There were a few different things you could purchase raffle tickets for at $1 each. These included one of the Linkin Park Music OS laptops, side stage viewing for the first three songs, an individual picture with the whole band, and backstage tours with Mike and Phi. I’m sad to say I won none of these, so there are no pictures or videos coming from me, but Mike has three Viddy videos from the backstage tour, and here’s a picture of the side stage…

After milling around all morning, doing activities, making new friends and meeting up with long-time buddies, they split us off into our groups for the bus tour and backstage tour. My group was the last to go backstage, and was led by Adam Ruehmer himself. First we got to see the stage hands’ work in action, as Adam explained that they bring all their gear to and from every single show – everything from their instruments to the enormous screen in the background. There were 20 or so guys that we could see working on the stage, and probably more that we couldn’t.

We were then led behind the stage, where we got to see all the different rooms that were in use by the band and crew. Linkin Park’s “Den” had their clothes lockers, Mike’s keyboard, a private bathroom, and a few other scattered knick-knacks, while their “Zen Room” was set up as a peaceful room where they could chill out and get in the zone before their show. This isn’t exactly related to the Summit, but Incubus had a room labeled “Mikey’s quiet spot,” which for some reason, I found hilarious. There were also several signs hung up relating to the day and it’s events.

The “Zen Room”

The “Den”

Then, Adam led us around to behind the stage to see another view of the daily construction and set-up. All of the boxes were full of things that had to be unpacked by the time the show went on. You’ve gotta admire the consistent dedication these guys put into giving us a great show!!

After that, we all crammed into LPUHQ’s temporary headquarters, filled with laptops and papers and.. well, us. We got to say hi to the few people working in there, while Adam explained that they had to take down and reconstruct this temporary HQ at every single show. These pictures are kind of blurry; apologies.

The tour concluded when Adam led us back out into the main part of the venue. By that time, the buses that took us to Hard Rock Café were waiting for us, so we headed outside and piled into those.

#UnflatteringPicturesOfAdam

My bus had the pleasure of Adam’s company, and we even got a little impromptu Q&A with him, where he talked about school, his job, and life in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lWZoLcRBZQ

Hard Rock Café was amazing. We LPU’ers had the entire place to ourselves, and the whole time they played nothing but Linkin Park and Incubus music videos. Good times were had and friends were made. Also, the food was good. (If you didn’t get the bacon burger, I really pity you.)

ADAM SAT AT OUR TABLE BECAUSE WE’RE AWESOME. We talked to him for almost an hour, and he turned out to be really chill and down-to-earth. He told us a funny little story about a time when he was asked how he got to have his job – he started out by talking about how he BS’ed his way through school, but then when someone told him that a little kid was listening too, he corrected himself and said “wait – I mean, I got straight A’s!” Our whole table laughed at that. Also, he got a 20 on his ACT. And he doesn’t like Dr. Pepper.

We got to do a little bit of sightseeing on the way back from Hard Rock, including some old historic monuments, important building, and parks.

The line to get back into the venue…

Back inside, they had us all sit down along some lines of green tape (although they ran out of tape lines so a bunch of us ended up standing). Linkin Park hadn’t come out yet, but we got to have a short Q&A with Maurice, who had awesome socks, and Jim Digby, who brought his adorable little kid out with him.

AND NOW, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXpIqM0Tly8

Linkin Park arrived!! Joe Hahn asked us what we wanted to do first – have a Q&A, or play a game. Almost everyone opted for the game, so he told everyone who had a dollar bill to pull it out. Then, we were supposed to find somebody else with a dollar, and play rock-paper-scissors against them. Whoever won got to keep the money and go find another person to go up against. It eventually narrowed down to two people, each with a huge handful of cash.

The winner wound up with over $40 – I met him in the merch line later that night, and he was using his winnings to buy a tour shirt. I wouldn’t have spent it on anything else, myself!

We were then treated to two acoustic songs – The Messenger and IN MY REMAINS. Mike had us sing along to the words “like an army falling one by one by one,” and hearing the crowd come together like that was an amazing thing. I felt so close to everybody right at that moment, even though I had never met most of them before..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWhNRyR9EDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9mOP3y12Ic

Then, it was Q&A time – I have no videos of this because my phone decided it was going to run out of memory, but here’s one I found on YouTube.

Then came the meet and greet, which was a totally trippy experience. It’s so weird – I’ve known these guys ever since I was a little kid, but I’ve only seen them as blogs and tweets, songs and music videos. But this time, they were living, breathing human beings, WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE OF ME. I have to admit, it was hard to keep my composure! However, I managed to have decent little conversations with each of them.

Joe came by first. I had him sign my LP piano book, and then tried to give him a knuckle bump – but, he kept moving his hand and dodging out of my way. He smiled and laughed at me, and I told him he was “awesome as balls.”

Brad came by next; he refused to be touched, but folded his hands and gave my friends and I a deep bow after signing all of our stuff, and told us to have a good night. (Some others found it kinda tacky that he refused to shake our hands, but I thought it was totally adorable and highly fangirl-worthy).

Rob came by next; we exchanged generic small talk, and he told us to have a great time that night. He was actually pretty talkative and friendly – which was surprising, because he’s normally thought of as being so shy!!

Then came Dave; my friends and I had a brief conversation with him about our band. He asked us who played what, and was completely appalled when we told him there was no bassist. (I awkwardly had to explain that the bassist and I had been a couple, and that we broke up…yeah.) He asked us what kind of music we played, and we told him our little story – screw being held down by a genre, we do whatever the hell we want. He told us that someday, Linkin Park would be opening for us. Fangirl moment. As he walked away, he told us he’d be sure to look for our EP in the pile of gifts later. Yay!

Chester came after that, and my friends and I were happily surprised with what he gave us. At the beginning of the meet-and-greet, we had been told that “the guys won’t be hugged,” but I managed to launch into a stupid personal rant that ended with “and if it weren’t for that no-hugs rule I would totally just hug you. Right now.” At that, Chester grinned and said “oh, I’ll give you a hug!”

BEST. THREE. SECONDS. EVER.

Mike came last, and talking to him was awesome. As a band, we had elected to hand our EP straight to him, even though we had been told not to give the guys any presents while they came around to us because it’d get to be too much to carry. (We were at the very end of the line, so we figured it was okay). So, we told him about our band, and that we wanted LP to be the first ones to hear our music, and he smiled the most freaking amazing smile as we handed him our CD.

I also told him that I wanted to see a LIES GREED MISERY/Nyan Cat dubstep remix, and he told me that it was the best idea he had ever heard – so, be on the lookout for that one, LP fans!!

That wrapped up the meet and greet!! After that, they gathered everyone up for the group photo (and individual photos with the band, for a few lucky raffle winners.) Those are already online here…

http://lpunderground.com/media/photos/28671

That wrapped up the 6th International LPU Summit!! It was an amazing day overall – everybody met up with old friends, made new ones, and overall had a great time. The feeling of having so many people come together because of one amazing, life-changing band is indescribable, but it’s definitely something I want to experience again – and I think the 199 others who were there would definitely agree with me!

My concert review is coming separately, because it’s probably going to be just as long as this thing was.

Peace and love from Dallas, TX,

–Diane

(Not all of these photos and videos are mine, but I have permission from their owners to include them in this review.)

Adie: Diane! Thank you so much for this awesome report!!! I admit I’m a bit speechless now, because it’s just too much awesome! XD
We’ll get two more reports of the summit, one by Melissa McGoldrick, and one by An van Oppens, who was chosen as the Belgian Linkin Park ambassador and won the trip to Camden. Stay tuned!

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