Ricardo Baca
Denver Post
August 27, 2004

Last week, pop sensation Josh Groban covered "My December" toward the end of his sold-out show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Women in their 40s cried their way through the song, marveling at its simple introspection and blubbering at Groban's every marvelous! note. Teenagers in the audience, of which there were many, had the opposite reaction. They raised their hands, shaped into the sign of the beast, in support of the right-

eous Linkin Park B-side ballad they've grown to love.

Linkin Park, which plays Monday at Coors Amphitheatre as part of the Projekt Revolution Tour, is known for its blistering fusion of hip-hop and metal. When singer Chester Bennington isn't swallowing the mic, practically losing his tonsils via the ferocity of his rage, he's innocently hypnotizing teens with his untrained baritone.

"My December" belongs to the latter school, and because of that, it's one of the most important songs in the Linkin Park catalog. "My December" gives the band a needed balance in its live shows. Even the most angst-ridden ninth-grader can take just so much of the aural assault that's synonymous with a Linkin Park, Korn or P.O.D show.

Take it from somebody who has been to their share of Family Values Tours, the power ballads, or any variation for that matter, are needed.

But Linkin Park lets its hip-hop side shine through here, and the beats backing "My December" are well-produced trip-hop light. The ominous electronic programming is the ideal backdrop for Linkin Park's take on the slow dance. The song also shows that the band has the musical depth of a Nine Inch Nails or an Einsturzende Neubauten, and that's necessary to keep a career going.

Unfortunately the band's lyrical immaturity is again displayed front and center here. Bennington and the group's MC, Mike Shinoda, overuse their penchant for repetition; the result is a four-minute song that might as well be a two-minute track. Repeat choruses, sure, but not the verses.

But you know why they do it. Lazy songwriting equals easy memorization from both the artists' and the fans' perspectives.

Linkin Park headlines the Projekt Revolution Tour on Monday at Coors Amphitheatre. Tickets for the show, which includes Korn, Snoop Dogg, The Used, Less Than Jake, Ghostface Killah, Downset, Funeral for a Friend and Autopilot Off, cost $39.50-$53.50 at Ticketmaster outlets.