[Contest Entry #8] |
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Written By : Kristi P. Hey, I saw Linkin Park last night at the Masquerade in Atlanta, GA. I first wanna say they totally rocked out the place and played to a sold out crowd!! I knew things were gonna be cool cause I saw the One Step Closer video on Mtv that morning for the very first time. My friends and I got to the venue around 3:30 (way early i know, but we wanted to meet the band). After waiting about 30 minutes this guy came up to us with some Linkin Park stickers and asked who we were here to see. We told him LP of course and he said that he could take our cds in and get them signed. So he took them and about 10 minutes later Chester came off the bus. I told him that a guy inside had my cd. He came back not long after and said he didnt see the guy. So I'm thinking great the guy disappeared with my stuff. I wanted to get it back so I casually walked into the venue with my friend and saw the guy was setting up some drums. I went over to him and got the cds back. He said that he was sorry that he missed Chester and talked some of the crew into letting us stay inside the venue becuase it was raining and REALLY cold outside. He went and got my other 2 friends that were still outside and let them come in too. We waited around for a little while, just sat on some stairs beside the doors and talked to some of the crew. Chester came back inside and we got him to sign our stuff. Not too long after that Brad came inside. He's a really great guy. We went into the lobby to talk cause HedPE was starting their soundcheck. I told him about seeing their video that morning and how much I love the song In The End. He said that would be their 3rd single if they got that far :) but we talked for a few minutes then he went back out to the bus. Rob came in next and started messing around with his drumkit and Joe came in right after him. I don't know what to say about Joe except that he is totally off the hook. We ended up talking to him for a long time. We watched HedPE's soundcheck and LP's soundcheck. They were having problems with Chester and Mike's vocals. They were really rushing for time because doors opened at 8pm and it was around 7:30. They played Papercut 2 1/2 times and finally got everything straightened out. When Mike came off the stage, we got him to sign our stuff and decided we needed to go get in the line outside. Luckily we had someone holding a place for us out there. A few minutes later the guy that let us inside earlier and Joe came outside and said they were hungry and asked us if we wanted to go eat. I thought hmm.. why the hell not. So we drove up the road to a pizza place in an area called Little 5 Points and had dinner. We got back at 9:00 just as the first band, Nonpoint, was going onstage. Somehow, I dont know how, my friend and I pushed our way through the crowd during their set and found some people we knew up in the front. Nonpoint were pretty good. They played for about 30 minutes, and another 30 minutes later Linkin Park hit the stage. THEY ROCKED!!!!!!! Everyone in the crowd seemed to be singing along, no joke. Mike and Chester kept holding out their michrophones to the crowd and let people sing along. The band looked so happy and stoked that they had such a kick ass crowd. I had so much fun SO SO SO SO much fun watching them play and singing along. I think it is so great to see a band that is genuinely happy to be onstage and have a good time and play a good show for their fans. After they finished everyone went across the stage and shook hands with people in the crowd and thanked them for coming out to the show. Ends up Amir and Paige from Orgy were at the show along with a few members from Crazytown. They have a show here today and came to check out Linkin Park and HedPE. My friend and I left the front, walked over to the side of the stage and caught glimpses of the Orgy guys. We waited over there till HedPE came on, then told the roadie bye and thanks for everything. We stopped by the merch stand and I got a LP shirt. Mike and Rob were at the merch stand and Mike came over to thank me for buying the shirt. I thought that was nice of him. We were just about to leave but ran into some other people we knew. They told us that Paige from Orgy was over by the bar so we went over there and talked to him for a few minutes. Joe walked up and I showed him my shirt. He took it from me and started to put it on, but it was a girls shirt and was not about to go on him. So I took it off from him BUT he took it back and tried to put it on again. Paige was laughing at him. We talked for a few more minutes then told Joe we were leaving. He told us no we had to wait and see Chester sing with HedPE but we had already stayed way longer than we had planned so we gave him hugs and told him byeeeeeee. I had so much fun last night. I'm definitely grateful for all the cool things that happened, and hopefully other people get to have cool experiences with the band too becuase they are awesome guys. |