Kari's Concert Collection

That's A Gender Neutral 'Dude'

Fast forward to the day of the show. I got to The Quest around 2:45 PM. On the way we passed by a hotel that had three tour buses parked in front. The line was going the opposite way than it was for Sum 41, so you had to pass by those in the front to get to the back of the line. There was a group of LPUer/Streetteamers in the front. They let me stand with them. I mostly talked to Amber, who had come with two friends from South Africa. They were further back in the line. The first person in line was Jared; he came from Canada and had gotten there like at 9 am. The next person to come was Jeremy, who came from North Dakota and had gotten there around 1 PM.

Before 3:30 the tour buses showed up. In the third one we saw Mike looking out the window. A few of the guys went over to meet the guys as they came out. We saw Mike come out (Jared got his picture taken with him... lucky) and so we also went over in time to see Rob go inside. We waited around for Chester, but someone said he might already be inside. No one else in line came over or even seemed to notice. After awhile we went back into line.

A while later we could hear the soundcheck. The door wasn't closed properly and could be opened up, and the music could be heard very clearly. So our group up front was all huddled around the door listening. We heard parts of "Somewhere I Belong" and a new song. Chester screamed "Happy Birthday Joe!" That was kinda funny. We checked back to see if anyone else in line was noticing and nope. One guy went inside and wasn't even caught. He came back out and said there was like no security inside. He also pulled down a Linkin Park poster off the back of the door. He hid it up on the scaffolding to retrieve it later. And then there was more standing around.

A girl was passing around a birthday card for Joe, so we all signed that. On the street passed by a horse and buggy. It's amusing to see a horse waiting at a stoplight. I also saw a KDWB van and a Target Market van. Around 4 PM employees of The Quest began to show up. The line was going the wrong way, so everyone had to shift. We had fun counting people. One employee I recognized from the Sum 41 show. He was talking to someone over the phone about whether or not there was space in the parking lot. He said "There's space, you'll just have to run over some kids to get in." Later he bumped into Amber and said "Sorry, dude." We all laughed and he came back and said, "That's a gender neutral dude." Around this time listening party winners were arriving.

Close to 5 PM they announced that LPU people needed to line up at a separate entrance down the street. Our group went over, looked back, and at first no one was following. Apparently we were the only one's really paying attention. The line got to be inside. Next we had to go through security. He said my camera wasn't allowed, so to make sure I didn't get caught using it or they would take it away. I then got my ticket and Meet & Greet sticker. Got inside, headed up to the front, and found the group. I stood behind the South African girl (her name was Mi I think), who was really short. So, second row, behind a short girl... nice spot! Someone behind me said to his buddy "Maybe we'll see Chester's nosehairs!" Funny in itself, but 93X had been playing promos saying you could be so close you could see Chester's nosehairs.

We still had to wait another hour before Blindside came out. I listened to the preshow music. I think they played an entire Red Hot Chili Peppers album. Before Blindside a guy came out for announcements. He pointed out where all the exits were and stuff. He said how lucky we were to have the guys here. He also added if a neighbor was misbehaving to smack them on the back of the head on his behalf. The lights dimmed and Blindside came. I only was sorta familiar with a couple of their songs, but they were still awesome. The lead singer did a lot of high kicking kung-fu type things. The guitarist was cool- he did this cartwheel flip-type thing while playing. That was pretty cool. I almost caught a guitar pick, too.

Another wait before Linkin Park. They took down Blindside's set up and put up Linkin Park's. Boxes were set up along the front. The announcer guy came back out and repeated stuff. He also had everyone take a step back so those in front wouldn't be so smushed. He added that M&G people should meet in front of the merchandise area after the show. Just a little more waiting before Linkin Park came out. It actually began on time at 7:15 PM. Luckily I already knew a partial setlist, and just had to remember where some of the new songs were played. It all seemed to run together into one big blur, so I won't have something to say for every song.

It began with Joe playing "Session." With my zoom I could get good pictures of Joe and Rob. I didn't use it too much sense it wasn't supposed to be used and a security guy was 5 feet away from me. Right before the other guys came out I noticed a bunch of papers floating down from the balcony. I assume it was LPU fliers from a streetteamer. They began with a new song "Don't Stay." I had only heard 5 of the new songs, and only 2 of those I had heard more than once. Surprisingly, I managed to remember most of the lyrics. Next was "Somewhere I Belong." Mike and Brad were playing the same guitars as in the video. After that was another new song "Lying From You." I think Mike played guitar on this one too. I know he played for at least two of the new tracks. I noticed during SIB (yeah, I'm going backwards) he pulled the mic off the stand while rapping and had the guitar in the other.

Next they ask if we were ready to hear some songs off "Hybrid Theory." This is one of those 'big blur' moments. They did "Papercut", "Points Of Authority" and "Runaway." Phoenix ventured over to our side. About half of my photos ended up having Brad in them because he was over on our side for like 80% of the show. I took a badly timed photo where if I woulda waited like 2 seconds longer it would have spit coming out of Brad's mouth. See, that woulda been funny. But, no such luck. One of the guys commented on the security letting us drink water. Chester said he was having a good time even though it was like 200 degrees.

More new songs now. "Faint" was next, and is definitely my favorite of the new songs so far. I like the speed of the drumming. They also played the new songs "From The Inside" and "Hit The Floor." And then we're back to older songs. "With You" first up. Chester spent much of the time up on the boxes by my side. Next was "Crawling." Mike brought out his cool guitar again. Brad had his SIB guitar, too. During this song I got really light-headed. But, it passed in a minute and then I was fine. At this point I noticed how much we had shifted to the left. Joe was partially covered up by the speakers. Next was "In The End," the last song before the encore. The crowd seemed to calm down a little bit during it.

Once they came back out for the encore, it was another new song "Easier To Run." I really like this one, too. After that was "A Place For My Head," and the return of Mike's cool guitar. I really like that guitar; it's really cool looking. I got a zoom in close-up of it. Next they asked if we knew what today was. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Joe. Chester said they only do it because he hates it. Chester also said "he's one year closer to the grave." I saw them high-five, but didn't get a photo of it. Joe's shirt, by the way, said something along the lines of "It's my b-day, Minnesota!"

And now the last song "One Step Closer." At the beginning they yelled "When someone falls down..." and the crowd responded "Pick them back up." And then we all go crazy. It was the Reanimation version of the song. Chester jumped into the crowd. Christian, the lead singer of Blindside, came out for the "Shut Up!" part. I had looked down to see how many pictures I had left, and felt something was above me. I looked up and there was Mike! He had jumped down to slap hands with people. So I did what anyone would do if Mike's head were hovering a foot above their head- rub his hair! Some other people did that too. Chester also came over which was cool. And then Rob came down to throw out drumsticks. One bounced off my hand when I went to grab it and went to the person behind me.

So after that we headed back to the merchandise area to wait for the Meet & Greet. The Blindside guys were hanging out giving autographs and taking photos. I met some Streetteam people while waiting. Nick from Wisconsin, Kristin from Burnsville, and three other girls I only caught the screennames of. The Meet & Greet was upstairs in the Ascot Room. It's a really cool looking room, actually. There�s a mural on the walls and twinkling lights on the ceiling. There is also a fake tree thing and a fountain. There was a short wait, 10 maybe 15 minutes. It was a little after 9 PM when I got to the front.

First in line was Mike. He laughed at my photo (it was the photo of the guys racing shopping carts). After signing it he said thank you and we shook hands. I asked if I could take a photo and he flashed the classic Shinoda grin (LP fans know what I'm talkin' about). I took the photo and managed to spit out a thank you before going brain dead. I didn't say anything to Rob or Phoenix except for thank you. Rob wasn't paying attention and almost signed the photo twice, and Phoenix did this weird arm wrestling staring contest thing with the girl in line before me. The only thing I planned in advance to say was happy birthday to Joe. I did manage to do that. He looked up and did this squinty-eye smirk point pose (A pose I've seen in photos before). That was kind of a mental kick to the brain. My brain screamed "Take a picture!" but the rest of me just wasn't responding. Brad said "Thank you for being on the streetteam." We had a quick conversation about that, but I can't even remember what I said. Chester also said thank you and we shook hands.

And that was it. I waited outside for dad to pick me up. I saw Nick and Kristin again as they were leaving. The horse and buggy passed by as well. Dad arrived around 9:20pm we passed by the tour buses on the way out and noticed a bunch of people waiting by the back entrance hoping to get a picture with the band as they were leaving. That will be an experience I remember for a very long time.

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