Projekt Revolution at the Tweeter Center
Thursday’s Bumstock ripoff was pretty fun. I went down to Mansfield, MA’s Tweeter Center (again) with Becky, Jerome, Max, and Olney from work. Once we all stuffed ourselves in my Sentra and drove the 4 1/2 hours down, we were treated to 8 1/2 hours of music on two stages (simultaneously). The Revolution Stage, a place for smaller groups to perform, was set up in one of the Center’s 17 parking lots. The Main Stage – home of Less Than Jake, The Used, Snoop Dogg, Korn, and Linkin Park – was located in the main section of the Center.
We left at 10 and, after stopping for a half-hour lunch at the Burger King on the Interstate in Kennebunk, reached the Center without many traffic or other problems at 2:45. It’s a boring drive (a straight shot down I-95), but we kept busy with music and random other time-wasters. We wondered why we weren’t late, and why we weren’t let in when we first got there. It turned out that the Main Stage performances started at 4:30, so we walked over to the Revolution Stage to check out M.O.P. I don’t think any of us were impressed, but we walked back and scoped out where to get food and merchandise.
Less Than Jake
Less Than Jake played about a half-hour set to start things off on the Main Stage. I knew that I had heard them – they started in 1992 – but I didn’t really recognize any of their songs. Throughout their set they kept in tone with traditional ska/punk band banter; to me it seemed a little awkward listening to older guys joke about the same kind of things as startup teen punk bands do today. They had a good stage show, though, and it was a good way to start things off.
The Used
The show then launched into harder rock with The Used. Though their set was surprisingly short (30-45 minutes) for the popularity they’ve achieved lately, they did a very good job. They played “The Taste of Ink” and “Blue & Yellow”, but the rest of their set was devoted to songs on the album they’ll be releasing in September. I was amazed by how much of a following such a new band had already; there were lots of girls there who knew every word of every one of their songs. There were also people who appeared to leave after their set despite the $63 ticket price tag. They’re definitely a band that will only get better over time.
Snoop Dogg
I’ll admit right up front that I’m not a big rap fan, and I’m not a big Snoop fan on top of that. He performed a typical mix of his songs, old and new, and definitely got the crowd involved (funny, being in Boston at all). He came out in a Red Sox jersey and told everyone he was “glad to be home” (whaaaa?); it really sounded like a bunch of people were there to see him, though, so I guess it was a good decision to include him on the tour. Becky and I lost count of how many times he made drug-related references right about the time one of his posse members passed him some weed to smoke on stage. Being the nice guy he is, he shared it with someone in the audience. Oh, well, all those impressionable teens in the audience probably shouldn’t've been there in the first place.
Korn
Korn really bumped everything up with a very educational performance teaching lessons in the areas of traditional clothing and music, lyrics, and covers that should not be done by hard rock / metal bands. Jonathan Davis came out in a kilt, but that definitely didn’t stop him from headbanging through the whole set. He would later do a few minutes of bagpipe playing as an introduction to “Shoots and Ladders.” Near the end of their set they rocked everyone with a great version of “Y’all Wanna Single Say F*** That” (what? you mean it’s not “Y’all Wanna Single Say ‘F’ That?”). They also impressed most of their fans with an intense version of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.” I, unfortunately, didn’t think the song should be touched (as good as they are, Korn’s no Pink Floyd), but they did as well as they could.
Though there were a few seconds of silence between each song in their set, it definitely didn’t hinder the energy in the Center at all. They also used a lot of interesting effects to start songs, and out of everyone at the concert, they seemed to have the most experience at doing shows (for instance, when one of the members held up a Korn guitar pick to one of the stage cameras). Korn also kaused the audience in the back lawn section and in the pit to start moshing. Thankfully, attendees were warned by friendly white-paper signs stapled to the directional signs at the Center that moshing may occur and that they should be careful of their surroundings (*sigh*).
Linkin Park
The highlight for many (most?) was the appearance of Linkin Park behind a huge Projekt Revolution banner across the stage. Many reviewers have asked if Linkin Park should be the headliner versus more experienced acts Korn and Snoop Dogg, but I think that they were a very good ending for the night.
The set started out with a unique intro of “Don’t Stay”, and the energy didn’t let up for the next 75 minutes. Mike Shinoda even played a bit of grand piano for a few songs (piano is the musical equivalent of water for me), and both his and Chester Bennington’s overall energy was amazing. We all swore that they must have done almost all of both of their albums (19 according to linkin-parkworld.com), and almost everyone in the audience knew all the words. They also played “Step Up”, one of their rarely-heard songs. LP thanked the crowd for being so excellent, and they delivered a three-song encore (including NIN’s “Wish” and an ending complete with fireworks) after a pause for a couple of minutes. Jonathan Davis came back and helped out with one of the encore songs, a very nice touch in my opinion. They were great at getting the crowd involved and seemed to be a lot better than what I’d heard about them in the past. They were assisted at times by Ivan Urban Action Figure, a breakdancer guy who came along for the tour.
It took us two hours after the concert’s 11:00 end to even get out of the Tweeter Center – at least an hour and 15 minutes to even move from our parking spot – and we all took a 15-minute nap in the car to help pass the time. The drive back was as horrible as the drive down, and it being the night made it worse. Max and I shared driving responsibilities. We stopped for some gas and caffeine in Mansfield, and then stopped again at a rest stop on I-95 around mile 100 to get some breakfast at Burger King. We finally got back at around 6:00 in Orono.
I walked out with a Projekt Revolution olive tour shirt ($28) that I bought between The Used and Snoop. Though it was cloudy and probably around 70 when we left, it was at least 80 in the bright sun at the Center; most people were in close to beachwear during the first few hours of the concert. We’d brought our rain/sweatshirts in case the weather turned bad; we ended up covering our exposed skin with them since we didn’t have any sunscreen with us.
As with the other concert I’d been to at the Tweeter Center (DMB), we were offered promotional stuff as we walked in. One of the items was the new kind of Trojan condoms, which were apparently used for everything from their original intention during the concert to some nifty balloons that were being passed around the crowd. It was nice to have the option to have something free, seeing as how 20 ounces of Aquafina was $3.50 there. It’s the first time I’ve bought Aquafina in years, and I only did it because of a lack of other choices and because I was going to pass out if I didn’t have any water.
Of course, being near Boston, any lulls in the action were stopped with chants of “Yankees Suck”; Mike Shinoda remarked something like “if that’s what it takes to get you to make some noise, go for it”. They later put a shirt over the stage set that read “Jeter Sucks A Rod.” I love Boston… except for some things.
I was really glad I could get out with the people from work to a great concert. It’s definitely one I wouldn’t've wanted to miss.
