Review of Linkin Park's concert at Sonisphere Festival in Imola, Italy by akiraFkrates
Everyone must know I’m a hopeless pessimist: that’s what people get to know first when they meet me, along with my colossal craziness. It helps me not to be let down when things go the wrong way, which is basically ¾ of the times. When something important is about to happen, I tend to lower my expectations to an underground level, mostly even hypothesizing apocalyptic outcomes which would ruin what I’m hoping for. That’s the way I am, I guess, my manner to shield myself from the disappointments that could join the endless list of my past poor experiences. Thus, you could understand what was going on in my mind before that particular Sunday, June 26th, 2011, when I got to be part of the Sonisphere festival in the city of Imola. Images like those I saw from the past rock festivals filled my mind with fear and no hope for a good view of the event. “I’m not even gonna see the stage”, I thought, “maybe not even the screens”. My imagination was trying to murder me with creepy images of an ocean of people in which I would have died asphyxiated or stepped over, without the possibility of witnessing the concert I was there for…...
The temperature rises in Imola as Sonisphere continues to rumble across Europe. We catch Funeral for A Friend, Guano Apes, The Cult, Alter Bridge, Sum 41, My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park laying waste to Italy…..
Getting into the venue today was challenging to say the least – the small matter of an hour’s drive to the venue, collect media passes, walk 5km in the blistering mid-day sun – Easy.
The first band for us was Funeral for a Friend. They were on our flight the previous day and seemed like really good guys. Onstage they were blistering; provoking circle pits to break out at random throughout the crowd. Finishing their set on a high, the crowd were ecstatic and the atmosphere in the arena was electric.
Next up for us was Guano Apes. Their blend of melody and hard rock went down amazingly well. Front-woman Sandra Nasic was powerful, charismatic and she didn’t miss a note. This band has been around for a while and it shows. They worked the crowd expertly and reaped the rewards. Great work Guano Apes, the surprise band of the day for me....