Live4MusiC

- MyPaper

WHAT: Linkin Park Live

VENUE: 2011 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, Padang stage

ATTENDANCE: 50,000

WHEN: Sunday night

Hate to say it, but Linkin Park might do well with a reboot in the concert department.

Honestly, Sunday's show made one feel as though the American rock band could put on a full show in their sleep - and this isn't necessarily a good thing. Since they first gained international success in 2000 with debut album Hybrid Theory, the Grammy-winning sextet have toured heavily, most recently in support of their album A Thousand Suns (2010).

And, perhaps, life on the road has worn them out just a tad. Don't get me wrong - the 90-minute concert, which marked the end of this year's Formula One festivities, had all the trappings of a Linkin Park gig.

High-octane rap-rock numbers were delivered with effortless panache, and screamo choruses inspired some serious moshing from fans.

The diverse crowd numbered a whopping 50,000, although that figure included those on their way out of the race venue.

Lead singer Chester Bennington, as always, held court as the band tore through crowd favourites, kicking off with New Divide, off the Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen soundtrack (2009) around 10.40pm.

Switching from melodic vocals to his trademark growl, the 35-year-old's voice grew hoarser the harder he pushed it, especially on songs like From The Inside.

But at times, it felt like he was simply going through the motions. One couldn't help but wish he'd shaken things up a bit, perhaps by throwing in his recent rendition of British singer Adele's Rolling In The Deep.

Meanwhile, rapper-guitarist Mike Shinoda, 34, attempted half-heartedly to hype up his ardent following, imploring them to "pump your fists". Surely, Shinoda could do better than that.

The band first played at the Padang in 2004, and the Singapore Indoor Stadium three years after that, and so this round of Linkin Park felt like a case of "been there, done that".

So, while hardcore fans lapped it all up, others, like this reporter, were left wishing these stars had tried harder to up their game.

-MyPaper 

By Pamela Chow

Things are looking pretty bleak for fans of Singapore's Formula One party season, which is on from Sept 23 to 25.

Besides the disappearance of pre-event concert F1 Rocks (which has been missing in action since its debut here in 2009), the line-up of artists for this year's SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, with an entertainment budget of $5 million, is a far cry from last year's.

Yesterday, organisers Singapore GP announced that four other international acts will join American rock band Linkin Park – who will rock out on race day, Sept 25 – on the F1 line-up this year.

Dance fans can expect to groove to British duo Massive Attack's dance-music numbers, as main men Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall take to the stage at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre on Sept 23.

But the Bristol pair won't be playing a live set, complete with guest singers and a backup band – fans will have to be content with them Djing.

And, if you're into raves of the retro kind, you're in for a treat: 1980s icon Rick Astley will be belting out his classics at the theatre on Sept 24, and on the Village Stage on Sept 25.

Never mind that the Never Gonna Give You Up singer has been to Singapore before, making appearances last year at Retrolicious. He was also part of the inaugural SingFest in 2008.

Also making an appearance on the F1 stage is Philippine starlet Charice Pempengco. The singer, who hit big time when she was featured on popular American show Glee, will be performing two shows.

Jamaican reggae hit Shaggy will also play two gigs. Shaggy last played in Singapore at the Reggae Festival in 2009.

F1 fans who expect higher- calibre acts from Singapore GP (last year's F1 line-up saw Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey and Adam Lambert headlining, after all), take heart.

The line-up is not complete yet, said Ms Sarah Martin, director of operations at Singapore GP. Several acts are still pending confirmation, and will be unveiled in coming weeks.

Ms Martin believes the line-up will be comparable to last year's.

The SingTel Singapore Grand Prix is on from Sept 23 to 25. For ticketing information, visitwww.singaporegp.sg 

Linkin Park have just made public a music video for their new single "Waiting For The End".

The band's members are featured in individual shots in a dark room with interlocking grids framing their whole body.

"Waiting For The End" appears in Linkin Park's latest No. 1 album "A Thousand Suns" which arrived in stores last month.

Music video for the track is directed by DJ Joe Hahn, the band's member who has worked on many of Linkin Park's clips including "The Catalyst".

"The clip is an experiment in making the most digital version of ourselves in the spirit of the visual pallette of A Thousand Suns," Hahn said of "Waiting For The End" video.

"If you have been following our visuals throughout this album, this is the next step in our journey. I wanted to push ourselves so far down the digital path that it eventually felt spiritual.

"As we live our lives in the digital noise of today, we can find our center of humanity in the midst of the chaos."

Watch the video below. 
 

Thanks for the report to Aceshowbiz.com. 

 

BY MIKAEL WOOD

Rating: 6/10



Linkin Park's fourth studio album (and second collaboration with producer Rick Rubin) contains plenty of aggressively arty material that might surprise fans of the megapopular rap-rock outfit: "Wretches and Kings," for instance, chops up spoken-word sound bites in a Bomb Squad style, while "When They Come for Me" layers post-NIN dance-punk synths over a tribal drum groove. Still, the most unexpected track on the boldly conceived A Thousand Suns might be the disc's acoustic closer, "The Messenger," in which Chester Bennington flexes a tender camp-counselor croon.

 

(Week Starting 13th Sep)

Rock & Pop

• Robert Plant - Band of Joy

• Robyn - Body Talk Pt 2

• Phil Collins - Going Back

• Daughtry - Leave This Town (Tour Edition)

• Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me

• Weezer - Hurley

• Various Artists - Magic of David Foster & Friends

• Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns

• Script - Science & Faith

• OST - Eat Pray Love

Classical & Jazz

• Mitsuko Uchida (PNO) - Schumann: Davidbundlertanze & Fantasie

• Charlie Green - A Friend Like You

Dance & Soul

• R Kelly - Epic

• Various Artists - Essential R&B: Best Hits Selection

Asian Pop

• Various Artists - 80s Bai Hua Qi Chang <百花齊唱>

Linkin Park has set a September 14 release date for its new album, "A Thousand Suns" (Machine Shop Recordings/Warner Bros.). The CD is co-produced by Rick Rubin (U2, Johnny Cash) and Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda, who last joined forces to produce Linkin Park's 2007 release, "Minutes To Midnight".

"A Thousand Suns" track listing:

01. The Requiem
02. The Radiance
03. Burning In The Skies
04. Empty Spaces
05. When They Come For Me
06. Robot Boy
07. Jornada Del Muerto
08. Waiting For The End
09. Blackout
10. Wretches And Kings
11. Wisdom, Justice, And Love
12. Iridescent
13. Fallout
14. The Catalyst
15. The Messenger

Check out the "A Thousand Suns" cover artwork here.

The band also announced that the first single from the new album will be "The Catalyst", which debuts on radio worldwide on August 2 and will also be featured on the band's MySpace Music profile. Prior to the song's release, the band and MySpace are teaming up for "Linkin Park, Featuring You," a unique promotion that gives fans a first-of-its-kind opportunity to collaborate with Linkin Park to produce their own song based on some of the tracks from the forthcoming single.

A winner will be chosen by Linkin Park and their submission will either be included on the band's new album or the winner will be invited to perform with the band on a song on the upcoming record.

Fans can go to MySpace.com to download audio stems from "The Catalyst". Fans will be encouraged to adjust the stems and also record and produce their own additional tracks. Fans can use their own music production software to create their song and then upload it to the band via their MySpace page. Once each new version is submitted, the track will be shared in an embeddable player, which anyone can access to rate and comment, as well as click through to record their own tracks.

Read more at Blabbermouth.net.

Sorry, Limp Bizkit, your reign as the leader of the "Rap-Metal Bands Whose Names Start With 'L'" category has ended: Los Angeles' Linkin Park will return on September 14 with A Thousand Suns, their first studio album since 2007's blockbuster Minutes to Midnight.

The album was co-produced by Rick Rubin (U2, Johnny Cash) and Linkin Park's own Mike Shinoda; its first single "The Catalyst" drops August 2.

Last year, Shinoda spoke with SPIN about their efforts and hopes for the upcoming album. "We really want to do something special and unique for the next record -- we want to redefine the band," he said, adding that the experimental sound of Minutes to Midnight helped the six-piece gain artistic perspective for A Thousand Suns.

"On the new record, now that we have a sense of everything that's available to us [after making Minutes to Midnight], we can reel it in a bit and focus on just the things that we like, which so far is turning out to mean music that is more beat-driven and has a keyboard and drum machine kind of feel."

Are you excited for Linkin Park's return? Tell us in the comment section below.

- SPIN 

Linkin Park like to "challenge" themselves when they hit the studio to make a new album.

The rockers are currently working on their first LP in three years (the follow-on disc from 2007's "Minutes To Midnight"), but recording is taking longer than planned.

Frontman Mike Shinoda says of the band's next album: "We make records as a challenge to ourselves. And the challenge this time is: 'Nobody else is making a record that sounds like this, only we can do it.'

"It's been going great, I feel like it's an entirely different process and an entirely different style of music than anything we've done before."

Shinoda told MTV: "It's hard to place. People keep asking me, 'What does it sound like?' and it's hard to describe. When people hear it, they're going to have a tough time saying that it falls into a category.

"The album is going really well - we decided to go with Rick Rubin again, he's been in the studio with us." Added the Linkin Parksinger.

"And we've been working in a different studio than we did the last record in, we decided to go back to the studio we did 'Hybrid Theory' and 'Meteora' in."

Thanks for the report to Angryape.com.

Some of the biggest names in music have joined forces forDownload To Donate For Haiti, a star-studded recovery effort to aid the devastated nation of Haiti following the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince on January 12.

Working with Music For Relief, a non-profit founded by Linkin Parkfollowing the 2004 Asian tsunamis, Alanis Morissette, The All-American Rejects, Dave Matthews Band, Enrique Iglesias,Hoobastank, Kenna (track co-produced by Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda and The Neptunes' Chad Hugo), Linkin Park, Lupe Fiasco/Kenna (collaboration produced by Mike Shinoda), Peter Gabriel and Slash have all graciously donated never-before-released music to help raise funds and promote awareness of the recovery efforts. Shepard Fairey's Studio Number One created the project's artwork.

Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti," said Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington. "We pray that this initiative provides some relief and support to the survivors and hope we inspire our fans, friends and families to make donations as well."

Download To Donate For Haiti provides fans with the opportunity to download a collection of exclusive songs by their favorite artists and then donate funds on a purely voluntary basis. Each download is a donation. Fans can download the unreleased songs at MusicForRelief.org and via the web sites of each participating artist.

"We're encouraging people to give what they can," says guitar legend Slash. "There's no right or wrong amount. The people of Haiti are in desperate need of food, fresh water, shelter and medical supplies and every little bit helps."

100% of funds received will go directly to the Haiti efforts. In partnership with the UN Foundation’s Central Emergency Response Fund, Habitat for Humanity, and Dave Matthews BAMA Works Haitian relief efforts, Music for Relief is working to support immediate relief with food, water and emergency medical supplies as well as long-term sustainable housing solutions for the people affected by this catastrophic natural disaster.

This is a magic moment in time, when technology, coupled with generosity, talent, and ingenuity has created a unique opportunity to do something positive through the power of music.