Linkin Park/30 Seconds To Mars/AFI – Sleep Train Amphitheater, Wheatland, CA 9/14
By Jeffrey Easton
Summer is winding down but that did not mean the tours weren't hotter than hell. One of the better packages making its way around the country was the Carnivores Tour starring heavy weights Linkin Park, 30 Seconds To Mars and AFI. It is rare that you get platinum acts like this on the same bill but they pulled it off and packed the arenas and sheds across the country.
AFI kicked it off hard and the crowd was ready for them. Lighting up their set was The Leaving Song Part II and the fans went ballistic. AFI have a loyal following and they showed up early in droves to show their support and they roared their approval with the first note hit. They are still out supporting their new release Burials and where as their set was shorter than normal, they included the better material with the darkly I Hope You Suffer as well as 17 Crimes. The new stuff is stellar and shows that there is no limit to their darkness. Turning back to the older material they tapped Girls Not Grey as well as the sinister Love Like Winter to keep their fans fired up and by now the faithful are all screams. To close out their set and send the fans into hysteria they turned on Silver And Cold and Miss Murder. Davey Havok is the consummate frontman and he had the crowd wrapped around his finger the entire set.
30 Seconds To Mars are a different group, odd at times but they always deliver the goods and with freakish frontman Jared Lito out being “himself”, they will never be short on entertainment. Even though they have only released four albums in the more than a decade of being together, they have been four quality albums so they were not short oh stellar material to pull from. Opening the set was the first single from Love Lust Faith And Dreams, Up In The Air. Up In The Air is one of the best songs to come from the bands arsenal and it set the stage for the rest of the set. The band kept the support for the new record going with Do Or Die, End Of All Days, Bright Lights and Conquistador. The set was peppered with Jared talking to the crowd nonstop, going out into the crowd and bringing up some kid to direct the crowd screams. They hit the older records with the amazing Search And Destroy as well as This is War and The Kill. The only drawback about The Kill is he did it acapella and only half of it. I was hoping to hear that full blown but alas no. Closing out their set was Closer To The Edge along with a Metallica medley and a huge amount of balloons and confetti. They know how to throw a party and the fans were blown away.
Closing out the night was the show stopper, Linkin Park. They have been cutting edge for over 15 years now and with the new album The Hunting Party there is no slowing then down. The Hunting Party finds them darker than ever and the definitely took that to the stage. Chester is always full of rage it seems and it channels so well on the stage with his band bringing it behind him. Opening up was the nasty Guilty All The Same from the new record and it was On. The new record did not stop there as it is to masterful to leave it to a few tracks. Wastelands, Final Masquerade, Rebellion as well as Until Its Gone littered the set and shoved The Hunting Party down your throat. Mike Shinoda of course came in and balanced Chester out with his diverse delivery as they delved back into the older records and brought the fans even closer to them. The set was lined up with the obvious stuff like In the End, One Step Closer and Crawling but Burn It Down, Given Up, Blackout and Papercut were must hear’s. Sleep Train, if it wasn’t sold out it was close and not a single person was quiet during their set and Linkin Park’s energy translated into the crowds and they gave it right back. Track after track the band upped the anti until the furor was at max peak and by the time the last notes of Bleed It Out were gone the fans were drained. This was one of the best packages this year and not a single fan left disappointed.
Official Linkin Park Site
Official 30 Seconds To Mars Site
Official AFI Site
By Jeffrey Easton
Summer is winding down but that did not mean the tours weren't hotter than hell. One of the better packages making its way around the country was the Carnivores Tour starring heavy weights Linkin Park, 30 Seconds To Mars and AFI. It is rare that you get platinum acts like this on the same bill but they pulled it off and packed the arenas and sheds across the country.
AFI kicked it off hard and the crowd was ready for them. Lighting up their set was The Leaving Song Part II and the fans went ballistic. AFI have a loyal following and they showed up early in droves to show their support and they roared their approval with the first note hit. They are still out supporting their new release Burials and where as their set was shorter than normal, they included the better material with the darkly I Hope You Suffer as well as 17 Crimes. The new stuff is stellar and shows that there is no limit to their darkness. Turning back to the older material they tapped Girls Not Grey as well as the sinister Love Like Winter to keep their fans fired up and by now the faithful are all screams. To close out their set and send the fans into hysteria they turned on Silver And Cold and Miss Murder. Davey Havok is the consummate frontman and he had the crowd wrapped around his finger the entire set.
30 Seconds To Mars are a different group, odd at times but they always deliver the goods and with freakish frontman Jared Lito out being “himself”, they will never be short on entertainment. Even though they have only released four albums in the more than a decade of being together, they have been four quality albums so they were not short oh stellar material to pull from. Opening the set was the first single from Love Lust Faith And Dreams, Up In The Air. Up In The Air is one of the best songs to come from the bands arsenal and it set the stage for the rest of the set. The band kept the support for the new record going with Do Or Die, End Of All Days, Bright Lights and Conquistador. The set was peppered with Jared talking to the crowd nonstop, going out into the crowd and bringing up some kid to direct the crowd screams. They hit the older records with the amazing Search And Destroy as well as This is War and The Kill. The only drawback about The Kill is he did it acapella and only half of it. I was hoping to hear that full blown but alas no. Closing out their set was Closer To The Edge along with a Metallica medley and a huge amount of balloons and confetti. They know how to throw a party and the fans were blown away.
Closing out the night was the show stopper, Linkin Park. They have been cutting edge for over 15 years now and with the new album The Hunting Party there is no slowing then down. The Hunting Party finds them darker than ever and the definitely took that to the stage. Chester is always full of rage it seems and it channels so well on the stage with his band bringing it behind him. Opening up was the nasty Guilty All The Same from the new record and it was On. The new record did not stop there as it is to masterful to leave it to a few tracks. Wastelands, Final Masquerade, Rebellion as well as Until Its Gone littered the set and shoved The Hunting Party down your throat. Mike Shinoda of course came in and balanced Chester out with his diverse delivery as they delved back into the older records and brought the fans even closer to them. The set was lined up with the obvious stuff like In the End, One Step Closer and Crawling but Burn It Down, Given Up, Blackout and Papercut were must hear’s. Sleep Train, if it wasn’t sold out it was close and not a single person was quiet during their set and Linkin Park’s energy translated into the crowds and they gave it right back. Track after track the band upped the anti until the furor was at max peak and by the time the last notes of Bleed It Out were gone the fans were drained. This was one of the best packages this year and not a single fan left disappointed.
Official Linkin Park Site
Official 30 Seconds To Mars Site
Official AFI Site
