ROAD TO REVOLUTION: ARTIST DIRECT REVIEW

Linkin Park stay live. That's instantly apparent from the first distorted din to blast through the P.A. on the band's brand new live CD/DVD, Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes. In fact, Road to Revolution is one of those rare live packages that works on every level. It captures Linkin Park's onstage intensity, and it sounds slick to boot. Culling a sublime set list from all three of their studio albums, Linkin Park definitely chose the right show to record. There's no shortage of hits, and the songs take on a new vibrancy that's sure to please longtime fans and draw in some newbies as well. All in all, it's a road well worth traveling with them.

Recorded during the band's June 29th appearance at Milton Keynes, Road to Revolution shows Linkin Park at their most fierce, fiery and furious. Kicking off the set with their first bona fide hit, "One Step Closer," vocalists Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda instantly ignite the mosh pit. The song brandishes a much heavier edge live, and Bennington's voice swings like a guillotine from pristine to punishing. Linkin Park don't waste any time, and each song flows into the next, with "From the Inside" instantly tailing "One Step Closer." The heavier fare like "Given Up" and "No More Sorrow" crushes and soars as necessary. Electronic flourishes coat the jagged guitars live, and Linkin Park achieve arena rock perfection on "Lying from You."

The interplay between Shinoda and Bennington channels the classic dual harmonies of Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell. However, both vocalists also possess a hip hop swagga, canvassing the stage like wolves on the hunt. That swag serves them well, when Jay-Z shows up for genre-bending live renditions of "Numb/Encore" and "Jigga What/Faint" from their boundary-breaking collaboration Collision Course album. With mash-ups via indie heroes like Girl Talk all the rage right now, it proves that Linkin Park and Jay-Z were (and still are) way ahead of their time.

The slower songs, "The Little Things Give You Away" and "Leave Out All The Rest," felt like a resurrection of U2's earlier melancholic pop stylings. However, the real standout is "Breaking the Habit." Chester's voice sounds stripped bare, but he pours a lot of heart into the track. Taking center stage over a dreamy piano melody, he guides the song to heights of rock ecstasy.

Road to Revolution is a live record packs the punch of a Linkin Park show, without the stench and sweat. On an eight-minute jam for "Bleed It Out" all hell breaks loose, and the song illuminates everything great about Linkin Park. Cranked up, these songs kill. Linkin Park deserve to continue their reign on the road and the charts.

- Rick Florino
11.24.08

ROAD TO REVOLUTION: ARTIST DIRECT REVIEW

News regarding upcoming album - Mike, Linkin Park

Mike Shinoda / Blog

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News regarding upcoming album - Mike, Linkin Park

The Joker

Some of my favorite lines from The Dark Knight, by The JOKER (starring late Heath Ledger)

"Why so Serious ? Lets put a smile on that face !"









"I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you, stranger."

"Madness is like Gravity ... All it needs is a lil' push !"












"Welcome to a world without rules."

"This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object."

The Joker

Teenage Disillusionment

All my silly friends out there,
who are living in complete bliss.
Believe me life is unfair,
and soon you are going to find something amiss.

Are you all really that stupid?
To believe in fairy tale romances?
To believe you have been struck by cupid,
and fall pray to flirtatious advances??

However in love don't crush your dreams,
Don't let go of ur ambitious life,
Cuz later u wil kno it was 'infatuation' it seems,
and HELL who told u you'd be his wife?

Stop flaunting that colour red,
and quit floating on cloud nine.
Cuz later u will find ur soul dead,
and it will be the apocalypse of your sunshine.

Shun that feeling from grooming your cheeks,
that feeling which turns you scarlet pink.
Cuz recovering from the downfall will take you weeks,
And into depression you will helplessly sink.

I know that love in you is blaringly rife,
but don't let it get to your heart and head,
Trust me it will completely destroy your life,
leaving you transfixed, depressed and dead.

- Neha D'Souza

Teenage Disillusionment

The Story of Stuff

Do check this out .....

Courtesy : Rohit Hegde

The Story of Stuff

A regular night ... sending off cousin ...

It was a regular night around 9:30 pm, well rather not just normal because I was on a 9 day vacation for Diwali and my cousin bro Kaushik had come in the evening because he was leaving for his hometown Ahemdabad for his convocation as he had become a graduate (B.Tech), and his train was scheduled for 10:45 pm yesterday night (31-10-2008). Now who on earth wouldn't be happy enough to attend this marvelous occasion which comes once in a lifetime ? Well rather he was cool with it, maybe because he was already doing well working for TCS and had future plans. After finishing dinner, I went to drop him off at the station, where there was a lot of hustle-bustle around ... well this is Mumbai after all. During our short journey in the ric from our place to the station and the wait for the train [well why were waiting rooms created if the trains come on time ? :)] we had a short chat, which I believe normally all people do in their
lives but this I felt something bit different.



That guy is one of the most respected guy in the family and probably in his school, college and at work. I just wonder how can people be as cheery and good all the time like him ! Well that won't work on a brute, heartless and terrific looking guy like me, would it ? Like all other do, there I was getting advice from him to study hard and well for a bright future, and with giggle that wasn't that obvious ? I was like, "Ya I know" kinda thing in my mind and what came out from my mouth frankly speaking was I had never done one very important thing in my life - Hardwork. Well apart from intelligence, sincerity and hardwork are the key factors necessary for successfully passing the hurdle of IIT-JEE and the rest of Life. Moreover, I'm not one of those good boy of the family nor the respected one among family members and friends, which added fuel to the fire of my problems. Our discussion regarding career went on, he explained to be confident enough and also have other options open if at all any tragedy occurs. Ya I understood by the way he said that even if hes thrown out of job now he still thinks of doing a M.Ba course or something and other job offers by quitting himself. Ya he had to agree that it was a bit of show off too ;)

This talk from career went on to being a good person, rather how we later agreed upon a right person that is. Well being practical is good, but that doesn't always work when it comes to family and friends you know ! Not being philosophic, but I always wondered why we ever lived ... well this is no new thing, but just for people who actually gave a thought over this fact. We are lucky, because till we earn, we have parents who give us food we want, all what we need, we enjoy our lives doing all sorts of shit ... playing, hanging out, dating, surfing the internet ... why even writing this blog ! There are people who don't care a thing about their parents and dear ones who give their lives for the happiness of the children, most of the youngsters doing crap as I said earlier, dating multiple people without no heart of relationship, nor having no sense of duty towards the nation ... and on the other hand there are beggars on the street, just living, No I will rather say existing for the sake of bread to fill the tummy, their only motive in life is just to add a few more minutes to it .... well what can I do .. I can't change the world you know by just sitting here on my laptop and typing this for you to see ... but who knows what next can happen ... I've never always been a spiritual man, but whenever I see such misery and poverty just anywhere on the streets like air, or the cries in the battlefield where many brave men give away their lives, it has always led me to question to God's purpose .....


'PPOOOMMM ......' shrieked the train as it came .... well that lazy guy took time going and getting 'settled' on his seat. Well its not everyone whos the most idiot of all the brothers and sisters of the family, and having your siblings and cousins doing well while you being the villain like in the movies ... well theres no other way to it, we've got our lives to discover, face, create and live .... whats right and wrong was already known, the main gamble was to do the right thing (whether others liked it or not) ... precisely when it comes to saving money for education and clearing debts laid by parents for the child's future then spending it on worthless things ... its not everyday you get such 'doses' you see :)



The Train began to move away, and as I waved Good Bye, my mind pondered on what all we spoke, especially those words that theres no sixth sense, we already know whats right and wrong ... its upto to us to do take the right decision and do the required stuff .... I was expected to grow bigger, not only by size and brains, but also by thinking, and with reducing the boiling point of my head and being more poliet :)

As I walked back, one thing which I already knew was polished in my mind - I have to become more stronger, not my muscles but by a person, one who is capable of clearing all hurdles of life, even if I have to fall many a times .... afterall like any warrior searching for justice, as a student and human I must give my best shot so that I have no regrets in the future, as that we all seek, and few of us ever find.

A regular night ... sending off cousin ...