They may scream and play loud guitars, but even the world's biggest rock bands need reassurance once in a while. Tonight is a 'feet-finding' exercise for Linkin Park and their new LP 'Meteora'. For a band who have an insatiable touring appetite, it's obvious that stepping back into the well-trodden groove will be pretty painless.
But that's a post-show conclusion. Things don't quite start as planned with a lifeless mic raising a few eyebrows, giving the opener a rather one-sided feel. But such signs of fallibility are rare for this slick machine, proving you don't become ramshackle overnight.
Patience is the key here. Sampling new material you haven't had the luxury of digesting repeatedly for months on end can stretch the tolerance of even the loyalist Parkites, yet that's the price they pay for seeing their 'heroes' in relatively intimate surroundings. Having said that, this is hardly a bane more of a mild inconvenience. First impressions of the new material suggests it pretty much replicates 'Hybrid Theory' hook for hook. In fact, the only way the many parents here can distinguish old from new is how much their offspring beg to be allowed to mosh: "Please mum, I promise not to stand on anyone's head."
Linkin Park's family entertainment package is still very much value for anyone's pocket money. Three new songs in - including the new single 'Somewhere I Belong' that slips effortlessly into the setlist - and the heroes welcome ebbs ever so slightly from manic to mere fever pitch. The dual-headed rap/vocal ringmasters Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda conduct proceedings very much as before and are still the cleanest cut role models in rock, preaching the virtues of being positive and crowd safety. Yet, for all their professionalism, they seem genuinely in awe of tonight's reception once everyone's reminded of the power of 'Hybrid Theory'.
Statistics and media jibes disappear once 'Crawling', 'With You', 'In The End' and the encore of 'One Step Closer' and 'A Place For My Head' up the ante. The collective penny drops again as it becomes blindingly obvious why world domination became a reality for LP. Thankfully, seventeen million album sales don't appear to have adversely affected their live show. They've always been polished (too polished most of the time) and you've never been able to label them unpredictable or erratic. What their mind-boggling success has re-affirmed is that their formula - anthemic pop metal with chart eligible angst - works even in today's anti-nu-metal climate.
Ultimately, you can't deny Linkin Park's current (and immediate future) status as world beaters. They make music they want to make, sell records as quickly as they can manufacture them and, on tonight's reception, are treated like returning crusaders. Now correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that every bands dream?
