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Projekt Revolution 2008
| July 27th, 2008 @ Nissan Pavilion |
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by Courtney Campbell
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With all the summer concerts out there and the price of tickets rising, what better way to see a group of bands than one of the touring festivals. Linkin Park put together a great lineup with Projekt Revolution 2008 and earplugsrequired.com was there again.
So as we pulled up to the venue, the skies opened up with cloud to ground lightning and nickel to quarter sized hail. The crowd in line at the gates scrambled for coverage as they were basically sitting ducks. After the rain/hail passed we headed in and found there was a slight delay with the gates opening as weather reports were looked over and equipment was covered/checked. Not that people weren't diligent before but I think ever since the Tibetan Freedom Festival were a concert go'er was struck by lightning, people are more careful.
The Revolution side stage kicked off a little while later with a soft rain still coming down and while I don't mind getting a little bit wet, my camera equipment is like the Wicked Witch of the West. Armor for Sleep was the first band and despite the continuing rain drew a large crowd. Following them were Hawthorne Heights, 10 Years, and headliner Atreyu. We caught up with the side stage for Atreyu's performance as the sun was now shining.
Atreyu has spent the year doing festivals as they kicked off the year with the Taste of Chaos tour. They really do well on a large stage and while I would have loved to have seen them on the main stage, they were the perfect band to headline the side stage. This is a band that gets great crowd participation and at times being a band on the main stage at a festival in an amphitheater doesn't get the true fans of the band up front interacting with the band.
The main stage kicked off with the Street Drum Corp. Having seen them previously I knew what to expect but what they did on stage was not what I expected. This opening set was more of a vocal set with Bobby Alt singing on all the songs. Missing was much of the street drumming that they are known for. That's not to say that they weren?t entertaining. Bobby Alt makes a great frontman for the band. He's very interactive with the crowd.
Ashes Divide was up next. Now when I first saw the lineup I was a bit curious on why Ashes Divide had a main stage spot and not one on the side stage. Sure they had a name player, Billy Howerdel, as a frontman but they were a fairly new band. After seeing/hearing their set, I was curious no longer. This was a band that owned the stage. They are now one of my favorite bands. The entire stage presence of sound and lights was one of a long touring band, not one just starting out.
Chris Cornell took the stage after a set by The Bravery. While I wasn't a Soundgarden fan, I became a fan of Audioslave and love Chris' solo shows. He is solid with his performances and as a singer is mesmerizing. His set included songs from his entire career and he was joined on stage by Chester Bennington for "Hunger Strike".
Finally the headliners Linkin Park. Their set started off with the Street Drum Corp doing the into for "No More Sorrow". This was the drum corp I remembered. Luminescent paint and black lights, drumming a beat that just touched your soul. Great way to kick off a set.
Linkin Park just continues to grow and grow but they don't forget where they come from. The show might be over the top but they don't seem untouchable. The set contained tracks from all their albums with Chris Cornell joining the band on stage for "Crawling" and the Street Drum Corp helped close the show as they were back out on stage for "Bleed It Out".
Another highly successful Projekt Revolution. Can't wait to see what they bring next summer.
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