West Valley City, Utah – The E Center
http://www.myspace.com/linkinpark
When I arrived with my friend to the E Center we found that the parking, even two blocks away was packed. The restaurants around the vicinity, I’m sure weren’t packed with patrons, but the cars were those of the concert goers. With a sell out crowd of 11,000 people, the representation of the group was phenomenal, an understatement.
I arrived later in the evening to see Linkin Park and not the pre-show. I had a prior engagement up till then. When I arrive the first thing we saw was a huge black and orange bus with the Linkin Park logo on the side that contained the silhouettes of the six band members intertwined in the wording. I had to stop and take a photo with my friend. It was fantastic.
We arrived inside, the floor was littered with people, and every seat was filled. Excitement filled the air. I scoped the area in front of the barrier as it was found in the shape of a large “I”. People were draped over the barrier and not because they wanted to, but because of the pressure from behind them. One person a spoke with had been there since 7:00 AM to get in to the front an another beside him had traveled from Boise Idaho to be there. At a previous concert he had also traveled to Denver to see Linkin Park.
The show was loud and good. Everyone was singing it practically every song, There was always a wave of people jumping up and down in rythm with their arms in the air. The band was playing good and hard. They were enjoying themselves.
The 6-7 large led panels that were on rails above gave great color to the audience and band that made the experience even better. I loved that the stage was open all the way around in the back of the arena. People were up in the back seats behind the stage. It was a great setup. It was very similar to the Matchbox Twenty setup (with panels) and open view just two days earlier.
It was great when the encore began because I told my friend, “always wait until the house lights go on”. We waited, LP came out and played three more songs, then went of stage. Reiterated my previous statement to my friend and we waited. There were a ton of people that started to leave and head out the doors. My friend looked at me in concern about the gridlock outside. I put on a face of confidence. Almost half the seats were on their way out. The floor stayed put. And all of a sudden, LP came out and played three more hard core songs, flashing lights, and boy the place went wild. I hadn’t seen anything like it before. All the people on their way immediately turned around and started to fill in the arena just as if the concert had just begun.
After, everyone was so happy to have come and enjoyed the event.
There were a lot of people! It was a sold out crowd topping at 11,000 people. It was a little bit of a leery crowd as I consider myself a white collar worker that doesn’t jam at rock concerts, no tats (tattoos) or piercings. I am simply describing what my normal night might be and how this crowd was a stretch for my tastes. It was good music. It was a good time. I really enjoyed it. It has the likes of My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy (which I hated by the way) and Linkin Park blew my socks off, I could understand and I enjoyed their stage presence and enthusiasm.