Show: Linkin Park & B’z Show for Japan 2011
Date: August 31, 2011
Venue: Mayan
City: Los Angeles, CA
Secret Show for
MUSIC FOR RELIEF
Photos by Nicolas Bates
Written by Katie J. Norris
The Mayan in downtown Los Angeles held the press conference for Linkin Park and their guest, B’z, in which a few hours after the doors would explode and the flood of fans, that had all done their part in fundraising for the Music for Relief: Children of Japan 2011, piled in to see the show.
A question was asked during the press conference about the people’s reaction to this fundraiser. LP stated that they had “done online and campaign fundraising before, but this one was different.” LP commented on “how amazing it was for fans to donate money even after the media frenzy died down. And not only that, but these are American people who are in a rough economic situation themselves and had to stretch their budgets to donate.”
Sitting onstage beside LP was the famous Japanese band B’z. B’z was grateful to all the fans, and disclosed that the donations are going to help a lot of children in Japan find relief from the tsunami and earthquake destruction. Speaking from the heart, they spoke about how Japan is still “not really okay.” They are out of the immediate shock and survival threats, but power plants are still not okay; their reconstruction isn’t completed yet. Other repairs in the disaster areas still need to be made as well, and a lot of people must rebuild their lives.
It was asked what the money raised is being spent on. A prepared statement was spoken by a representative on behalf of both parties that gave specifics to the help that would be given. “We are privileged to be able to supply children with materials to prepare them for school again. We are also able to provide lunches and transportation as well as many other community necessities for the children. In the next 5 years, these children will be building the civil society of the affected area, especially the area of what we call the psychosocial response. Children are the most vulnerable in any emergency. They do not understand how to cope. Therefore it is our pleasure and our privilege to present eager families, communities, and working with children directly in how to cope with the trauma. Over 17,000 children were affected by the triple disaster.”
It was asked if LP was planning any other collaboration like this with any other artist for any other cause. “This was a very organic thing. It’s hard to ask people to give, but now that we have the platform, and the reaction was so positive, it definitely shows us a testament to what can be done.” Linkin Park and B’z, with the support of their fans, were able to raise well above their goal of $250,000 for Japan. They actually hit more like $350,000!
DownloadToDonate.org is a current fundraising project supported by Linkin Park, if you’d like to get some cool music and help out someone in need, too. They keep an ongoing album and fans can access some cool downloadable songs with the money they donate, all of which goes to charity organizations.
B’z : http://www.bz-vermillion.com
Linkin Park : http://www.linkinpark.com
DownloadToDonate : http://www.downloadtodonate.org
Photo by Scott Uchida
There is a whole different, wonderful vibe to a concert that is solely put on as a reward for hundreds of people who got together to help people they’ve never met. There wasn’t the usual every-man-out-for-themselves, pushing and shoving scramble that is the norm at a concert. B’z, the Japanese mega-band, opened the show with their song, “Home.” They dedicated it to the unity of everyone at the show and to their country. They thanked the audience for supporting Japan even though most of them had never even been. The audience was almost a half-and-half split of Japanese and American people. The age range was all over the place, which also helped give it a more family-type, community feel. Overall, the sound was good, living up to the Mayan standards. B’z are a blend of Japanese-style pop/rock with an American rock flavor. They played many of their hits and included a cover of Bush’s “Machinehead.” To check out their expansive music career and download their nineteenth studio album that is due to be released this year, go to: http://www.bz-vermillion.com.
When Linkin Park hit the stage, the crowd went insane. LP didn’t even need back-up vocals. The audience served their role so enthusiastically that when they sang along, they nearly overpowered the sound system. As for visuals, there was some smoke and good lighting. But the first half of the show had such an industrial, simple, gray set that it begged for some color to come into the mix or for some crazy stunt to happen. Perhaps they were saving money and focusing on the music to illustrate the cause of the show, but some change was needed. Finally the plea for more was answered during “Waiting For The End.” Intermingled with some tight a cappella harmonies during the chorus, a psychedelic-screen backdrop came to life. Bennington went down into the crowd for some personal performances, singing to the screaming fans. Shinoda went all out and crowd surfed during his solo to the audience. Everyone was in pure bliss as he swam through the crowd of hands, his ankles barely being secured by the two bodyguards. “I haven’t been able to do that since ’03!” he shouted at the end of the song.
Linkin Park’s vocals were dead-on pitch-wise the entire hour and a half set, despite a lack of crispness in the mic. They played almost all their songs as they do studio versions, so nothing was truly lost on the crowd. They did have a very interesting electronic, techno-style opening for “In The End” that sent everyone in a roar of cheers. In fact, the fans were so into it that when the intro stopped and the lyrics were supposed to begin, LP let the whole first verse be sung entirely by the audience. This song became half karaoke! And no one missed a beat… “Shadow of the Day” incorporated an odd manipulation of keys for the verse, which made for an attention-grabbing build to the chorus, and also broke up the expected song recording replicas. During the second chorus, the band backed away from their mics, evening out their volume with the crowds’, and a gigantic disco ball lowered from the ceiling throwing glitter lights on everyone in the building. It was a true moment of unity that was more moving than I’d like to admit.
Linkin Park played every single hit they’ve ever made. Some lesser known songs were snuck in there, as well as some songs from their new album, A Thousand Suns. They finished their long set, and some hand-picked donators came on stage and presented a larger than life-size check of $350,000 that the group had raised; an incredible achievement that had soared well above the $250,000 challenge. LP did a heartfelt acoustic version of “Love Will Keep Us Alive” by the Scorpions with the chorus set to a march/parade rhythm as an encore with everyone who came up on stage. After that was another thank you to all the supporters, which segued into an entire new set. It included a number of other big hits like “Crawling” and “One Step Closer,” making the show an extra half an hour longer. The crowd walked away more than satisfied with their secret concert award for all their hard work and good deeds. To see what’s next for Linkin Park and to get their new album, go to: http://www.linkinpark.com