• Macau Home
• What's On
• Features
• Restaurants
• 
• 
• Bookmark this site

This event has been cancelled.

Cotai Arena Sat 25

Rock, hip-hop, pop, electro, metal... However you choose to define Linkin Park’s musical style, this Californian sixsome’s original sound is constantly evolving and always popular, as their 50 million records sold to date attest.

The Grammy Award-winning troupe, who began as high-school buddies (their name is a mispronunciation of their local stomping ground, Lincoln Park), became famous for taking two conventionally difficult genres – metal and rap – and blending them with rock into radio friendly tunes that have won over a huge and diverse fan base around the world.

On Saturday 25, the boys complete their Asian tour – which has already taken in Shanghai and Beijing – at the CotaiArena, promoting their latest studio album, Minutes to Midnight, which shows their softer side and includes the hit What I’ve Done. On a few tracks, which also include the band’s first guitar solos, Chester Bennington is given room to harmonise while Mike Shinoda’s rapping takes a back seat. 

Notorious for planning their performances as minutely as a Broadway show, Linkin Park’s attitude is strictly business: they never drink before going on stage, never arrive late or cancel at the last minute, never play a brief set, never hurl abuse at the audience… In fact, they’re often nauseatingly appreciative of their fans, who have almost never heard them swear; quite a feat for a band who claims to take its inspiration from rebels such as Ozzie Osbourne, Nine Inch Nails, and The Roots. And as if to reinforce their clean-cut profile, proceeds from the tour, called Music for Relief, Asian Benefit Tour, are going towards the Sichuan disaster relief. These really are the good guys of rap rock.

Now, whether that creates appeal or destroys the fun is a question of opinion, but one thing is certain, if you’re looking for an evening of solid, loud and live entertainment, Linkin Park are just the ticket.

Annie Gotterson