Linkin Park Tour 2012 – Mansfield, MA

Linkin Park played at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA on Tuesday, show info and setlist here, review, photos and videos below.

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from Linkin Park Viddy

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Review from Loudwire

Rev your engines – the 2012 Honda Civic Tour is now under way. You’d think the powers that be had something to prove this year offering up the one-two punch of co-headliners Incubus and Linkin Park. Both bands are headlining acts in their own right, and their combined forces makes up one of the most potent rock tours of the summer.

Rolling into Mansfield, Mass., on Aug. 14, the tour showed a lot of promise, even before either band took the stage. With 12 studio albums, 40 singles, and several No. 1 songs between their two discographies, the set lists would inevitably be chock-full of hits. Although on the surface the bands have two very distinctly different crowds, the strength of the music would be enough to keep fans of either band in the house to watch the whole show.

Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd referred to the tour as their own ‘Monsters of Rock,’ and he wasn’t kidding. While both bands came up in California in the early ’90s, strangely enough they never toured together, much to the chagrin of Chester Bennington, who admitted to gunning to get Incubus on the same tour as Linkin Park for many years. All that paid off when the two christened the 2012 run of the annual tour.

In what seemed like a logical decision, Incubus took the stage first. Not to say that Incubus fans are any less passionate, however, the two acts produce entirely different vibes. Incubus grab the crowd, settles into a groove, and invites you in like a long lost friend. Linkin Park take a different approach assaulting all of your senses from the word go and putting you on high alert from start to finish.

Brandon Boyd is a natural born performer who never seems to age. His unique voice combined with completely losing himself within his music makes everyone in attendance want to be a part of whatever he’s got going on. They kicked off the night with ‘Adolescents’ and ended it with ‘Tomorrow’s Food,’ however, don’t let the bookended tracks from their 2011 disc ‘If Not Now, When?,’ fool you. The rest of the set list was a healthy dose of their last five discs, spreading the love throughout including an homage to Lionel Richie with their rendition of ‘Hello.’

Incubus played an 18-song, close to an hour and forty minute long set that was near perfect. Not perfect in the sense that there were no imperfections, but perfect in the sense that it’s evident that Incubus are seasoned pros when it comes to performing live. Their sound, delivery, and cohesion seem so effortless. While Incubus has gone on record to say that they’ll be taking a little break when this tour wraps, fans can take solace in the fact that whenever they decide to return to the stage, they’ll be as primed and ready as ever.

As fans waited for Linkin Park, there was a noted shift in the mood around the venue. New faces took over the general admission pit like a changing of the guard and the front row morphed into a male-dominated, Linkin Park t-shirt sporting contingent – all readily prepared for what was coming next.

Linkin Park only seem to have one speed when it comes to a live performance, and that’s all systems go. The band burst on to the stage and everything Incubus encompassed with swagger and finesse was traded in for intensity and power. Like Incubus, Linkin Park have the advantage of having shared a stage together for over a decade and through those years have crafted the rock show of all rock shows. From Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda bouncing from riser to riser trading vocals and dropping raps, to the more laid back stylings of guitarist Brad Delson and bassist Dave ‘Phoenix’ Farrell, and the even more elusive Rob Bourdon on drums and Joe Hahn on everything else, the pieces of Linkin Park fit perfectly into place.

Although the band dropped their latest No. 1 charting disc ‘Living Things’ in June, they didn’t put much of an emphasis on it throughout the night, playing only a handful of new songs among their monster set list. With just a few shows into the tour, it seems like they are focusing more on their overall discography rather than their newest music. With so many albums to draw from, it’s going to be a tough job to please everyone but the set list seemed to focus more on drawing in the casual fan with hit after hit.

With MuteMath opening the show it offers up close to five hours of non-stop rock. You can’t listen to the radio for five hours and get that kind of a guarantee, so head out to the Honda Civic tour

Review from Telegram

Linkin Park, Incubus hit big at Comcast

MANSFIELD — It took four songs for the front-of-house sound engineer to finally mix in drummer Rob Bourdon, but when he did, Linkin Park sounded really good.

Powering through an hour and 40-minute set Tuesday night at the Comcast Center as headliner of the Honda Civic Tour, the six-piece from Agoura Hills, Calif., opened with “Faint” and the close-to-capacity crowd was engrossed from the first note all the way to the end of “Bleed it Out.”

Singer Chester Bennington was nailing the vocals, while emcee/guitarist/pianist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda couldn’t find the notes on occasion, but that didn’t bother those in attendance.

Many highlights dotted the set, and some could argue the entire set was a highlight, but some of the bigger ones were a “Victimized/QWERTY” mashup, “Lies Greed Misery” “Waiting for the End” and a medley of the softer stuff “Leave Out All the Rest/Shadow of the Day/Iridescent.”

The biggest surprise of the night was late in the set with the opening track off “Living Things,” “Lost in the Echo.” While I knew it would translate well live, I wasn’t expecting such a heavy rendition of the song.

“One Step Closer” made an appearance at the end of the set just before the encore, which started off with a bang — pyrotechnics and all — with “Burn it Down.”

The band also played “In the End” and “Numb” but the standout song of the encore, without a doubt, was “Bleed it Out,” which featured the band handling a pristine cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” during the bridge before concluding the song with more pyro during an extended outro.

Incubus hit the stage for a near-perfect 90-minute set before Linkin Park.

Vocalist Brandon Boyd and company played a well-balanced set of old and new material, though left everyone in the amphitheater puzzled by closing with “Tomorrow’s Food” while omitting smash hit “Stellar” from the set completely.

Say what you want about the album “If Not Now, When?,” and many casual fans deserted the band when this album was released, but it translated very well live – including “Adolescents,” “Promises, Promises” and title track, “If Not Now, When?”

“The Warmth,” much to the surprise of this notebook-wielding patron, was played early – like third song early – and was the best rendition witnessed. The energy from the band and the crowd alike was through the roof.

“Megalomaniac” followed, and while this may be a song people tolerate if it comes up on shuffle on their iPod the live version owned Tuesday.

After “Made For TV Movie,” Boyd and company launched into “Hello,” a Lionel Richie cover, and — surprise! — nailed it. It was rather amusing to see the younger people in attendance waiting for Linkin Park giving a look basically asking, “What … is … this?!” while their parents crooned along.

“Drive” and “Pardon Me” were, not surprisingly, played later in the set. “Sick Sad Little World” was also played late in the set, that was a surprise, and an even bigger surprise was the band closing with “Tomorrow’s Food.”

Mutemath opened the show with a respectable, 30-minute set, closing with “Reset.”

Review from Enterprise News

Linkin Park rocks Comcast Center

Linkin Park and Incubus, along with Mute Math, kicked off the 2012 Honda Civic Rock Tour Tuesday night at the Comcast Center in Mansfield.

The two California bands are billed as co-headliners, and each performed around 90 minutes, but Linkin Park is rightfully the last band on. Tuesday night proved that’s a smart scheduling move, as Linkin Park’s style is far more dynamic, and their songbook deeper than Incubus.

We didn’t get official word that the concert was a sellout, but we didn’t see any empty seats either, so the mostly 30-and-under crowd had to be pretty close to the venue’s 20,000 capacity.

Lots of bands have tried to combine rock, and specifically heavy metal, with rap music, but none have ever done it as successfully and as well as Linkin Park. Chester Bennington’s rock vocals, combined with Mike Shinoda’s hip-hop verses, give the sextet an unbeatable one-two punch. Shinoda writes sharp lyrics, and while he delivers them with passion and flow, his words are always understandable and coherent. Contrast that with the raw emotion of Bennington’s rock lyrics, and Linkin Park’s songs become a wonderfully diverse palette. An added factor is the way the two singers can harmonize, with many tunes featuring dual lead vocals. Tuesday night, seeing all that vocal interplay in action, with both men active and compelling visual figures, striding the stage and climbing atop various parts of the three-level stage, made their music that much more riveting.

Linkin Park–the band is named after Lincoln Park in Santa Monica–managed to squeeze twenty songs into their 95 minute set, spanning their whole career and only including four tunes from this year’s “Living Things” album. The mutli-level stage included an X-shaped ramp that allowed the musicians to stroll or run between all three levels. The back video showed photo images or closeups of the band, and later in the set five or six jets shot flames into the air, with fireworks and sparklers popping up here and there.

Linkin Park started off at sprint pace, but their soundmix was generally superb, and the wall of sound created by their guitars, keyboards, drums and drum programs, and turntabulist, never interferred with the two vocalists. After charging through “Faint,” “Papercut” and “Given Up,” the two singers’ skills were really evident in the huge dynamics of “With You.” With Shinoda spitting out the verses, Bennington delivered the choruses as hard rock grit, to masterful effect.

That was just an appetizer for one of the band’s biggest hits, “Somewhere I Belong,” which channels dislocation and modern ennui, and blasts it into your skull with riveting rock and hip-hop, and Tuesday’s version was as visceral as rock ‘n’ roll ever gets. Shinoda and Bennington used those dual vocals to good effect during “New Divide.” The duo went for a more acute contrast during “Victimized” from the new album, with Shinoda at stage front on the lowest level, while Bennington snag his choruses from the very top level, outlined against the video screen like some ancient king.

“Lies, Greed, Misery” was another hard driving tune from the new disc, with Shinoda taking the bulk of the vocal work. Like most of their work, Linkin Park’s new CD hints at topical subjects but mainly deals in abstract imagery, so many interpretations are possible. Brad Delson on lead guitar is an unsung weapon in the Linkin Park arsenal, and his guitar lines were absolutely spine-tingling on “Points of Authority.”

Bennington had the bulk of the vocal work during a thrilling rendition of “Breaking the Habit,” another song where the arrangement is so dynamic, some kind of rockin’ catharsis is inevitable. Only Shinoda’s piano accompanied the start of “Leave Out All The Rest,” with Bennington singing lead in poignant song of considering one’s legacy. Eventually the drums came in with economic but thunderous punctuation, as the band and the crowd harmonized in the coda of “let it go..”

Another mass singalong occurred with “The Catalyst” and its gospel-like line “Lift Me Up, Let Me Go,” but the ferocity was back with “Lost in The Echo” as that incomparable vocal contrast, rap-and-rock, delivered another highlight. But if it didn’t seem like it could get any more exciting, the whipsaw guitars and roaring crescendos of “What I’ve Done,” with Bennington’s most moving vocal, upped the ante still more. The regular set ended with “One Step Closer” and its metal thunder, accompanied by those fire jets blasting off.

The first encore was a pyrotechnic fest, as the rumbling “Burn It Down” was punctuated with those fire jets below, and a wall of sparklers from above. Shinoda’s best vocal of the night came on the second encore, “In The End,” with its pulsating rhythms. There could scarcely be any harder rocking or more passionate tune than the version of “Numb” that thundered out of Mansfield Tuesday night. Linkin Park ended their show with an interesting take on “Bleed It Out,” with their unique bridge that quotes the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” and it would’ve been a great finale, if not for the three barnburners that preceded it, and frankly, overshadowed it.

Incubus performed a workmanlike set of about 90 minutes, but they battled a shaky sound mix all night, where their booming bass drum and bass guitar buried the guitar and keyboards. Brandon Boyd is an exceptional vocalist, not the typical hard rock yowler, but a singer with range and power, and thankfully his work was clearly on top of the soundmix. The low key, soothing ballad “Are You In?” was a mid-set highlight, where Boyd’s talent overcame the mix.

But a three-song sequence seemed to get stuck in midtempo, pseudo-mystical song-ruminations. You kept waiting for something to happen, lyrically, musically or whatever. When the last of them ended with Boyd playfully inserting Lionel Richie’s old classic “Hello” it was the best part of a really dull 15-minute stretch. “A Kiss to Send Us Off” was a little more lively, but “In the Company of Wolves” just seemed trapped in that monotonous midtempo swamp.

Matters finally regained some momentum with “Promises Promises,” which is a fairly typical rock ballad, but was redeemed by Boyd’s stellar vocal pipes. “Here’s the feelgood hit of 12 years ago,” Boyd said, before launching into the song that introduced Incubus to many fans, “Drive,” with its chorus “whatever tomorrow brings, I’ll be there..” That song encapsulated what the other stuff lacked; a dynamic arrangement, direct lyrics, and a killer chorus.

The driving rock of “Pardon Me” showed Incubus was finally on track, and while “Sick Sad Little World” meandered a bit, the closing “Tomorrow’s Food” ended their set with a good charge. Incubus had worked hard, and Boyd was drenched in sweat, but their set suffered from awful pacing in its middle section, and we’d still love to have heard more of their guitars.

Mute Math played a 30-minute set at 6:30 p.m., which was too early for most arrivals.

Fans’ photos

#HondaCivicTour Mansfield pics from @jennpulkowskitwitter.com/jennpulkowski/…, twitter.com/jennpulkowski/…

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#HondaCivicTour Linkin Park at Mohegan Sun Arena, concert pics by @montserratt_ flickr.com/photos/5706103…

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#HondaCivicTour Mansfield, marcosgsxr’s photo instagr.am/p/OVUzVoInW2/ instagr.am/p/OVUi5RonWr/

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#HondaCivicTour Mansfield, helloxariana’s photo instagr.am/p/OVWkAlQs_y/

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RT @mshollyweird: Big rock show tonight in #mansfield #hondacivictour instagr.am/p/OVZA_xRg-L/

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hydim’s photo instagr.am/p/OVhfbmt3zN/

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#HondaCivicTour Mansfield meet n greet pics from @spicecurls instagr.am/p/OVCZRwL0b5/ instagr.am/p/OVCPu6r0b0/

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