January 29, 2008
This is London

"Leave it to London to build the biggest, baddest venue in the world," said Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, two songs into his band's set at the 02 Arena. Nu metal may be old news, but its noisiest proprietors are still popular enough to headline the biggest of venues.

Collaborations with rapper Jay-Z may have raised the band's profile and enlisting Rick Rubin to produce Minutes to Midnight, the LA six-piece's latest and most satisfying album, has certainly helped with the sound. But it's Linkin Park's reputation as a ferocious live act that ensures that, eight years after the release of debut Hybrid Theory, their shouty rap-rock is still putting bums on seats.

During fist-pumping set opener What I've Done, it was easy to see why. Hip-hop beats, vaulting guitars and Bennington's serrated rasp of a vocal created a fevered, frantic atmosphere inside the arena. A jokey, truncated cover of Rihanna's Umbrella may have gained a few cheap laughs later on but when it was followed by recent single Shadow Of The Day - a shameless rip-off of U2's With or Without You - the joke was really on Linkin Park.

When they played it straight, Linkin Park were better. The scratchy guitars and dance beat of Given Up had the crowd moshing as one and In The End was towering, nihilistic rock at its finest, with Bennington howling: "I tried so hard and got so far/But in the end it doesn't even matter."

Last night, however, Linkin Park proved that their music still matters a great deal to a vast amount of people.