As always, we begin with our second stage commentary:

The New Jersey based Emo-Core troupe Armor For Sleep put on an uninspired, "traditional rock-set" as did 10 Years. The slightly whinier and slightly more experienced Hawthorne Heights were a standout of the second stage. The more aggro Atreyu were a refreshing change for the line-up, and their name is taken from the Neverending Story.... that just makes them cool to my age demographic.

Mainstage Time: ASHES dIVIDE

Mainstage newcomers, atmospheric rockers Ashes Divide, took the stage first to a mild audience. For those of you who may not be familiar with Ashes Divide, the group is formed and fronted by Billy Howerdel - one half of the brains behind A Perfect Circle along with Tool's Maynard James Keenan. At times the group sounds a bit too much like APC minus Keenan's charisma - many do not realize how instrumental Howerdel was in the construction of A Perfect Circle's signature sound and he carries that sound over to his new project. At other times, Ashes Divide are too atmospheric for this otherwise aggro-pop audience. Howerdel himself humbly admited on stage that the live act had only been performing for 2 and a half months - the newness did show in the overall performance. The record "Keep Telling Myself It's Alright" is solid and bodes well for the band. Need I remind you my friends that A Perfect Circle started as a small and secretive opener for Nine Inch Nails and today they're one of the most artistically relevant and sought after bands with a POSSIBLE (totally unconfirmed) new album in the works?

The Bravery

Synth pop/rock group the Bravery were clearly a crowd favorite. They rocked out well and put on a great show for the crowd in Irvine. Most of the audience was singing along to nearly every single tune - those who didn't, chimed in for the Bravery's several radio-hits from the last five or so years they have been on the scene. One of the great parts about going to a fest like this is seeing the bands you wouldn't normally seek out. For those who may be borderline on going to check-out the Bravery, I highly recommend checking them out when they come to a town near you.

Chris Cornell

To Linkin Park's largely younger audience Chris Cornell may seem to be a suprise hit - I'm not saying they're all young, but there's a solid number of them who were watching Sesame Street when Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger put the band on the map with Outshined and Rusty Cage - then they were watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers when Superunknown solidified them in super-startdom. Since those early years, however, Cornell has established himself through two of the most successful and iconic rock bands of the last 20 years, and a pretty solid solo career over (1999's Euphoria Morning, 2007's Carry On and the forthcoming Scream).

Live, Cornell performs a mix of Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple of the Dog. Cornell commanded the stage and his voice cut straight through the mix. He is a living peace of music history from his ground-breaking grunge days with Soundgarden to the super group Audioslave with the instruemental members of Rage Against the Machine. Just like Linkin Park one can forget the mainstream success Cornell has had over the years, and it was great to hear a musician who can still go out over a decade later and light up the crowd. During a guitar solo that matched Tom Morello’s (The guitar player from Audioslave) version note for note, I heard someone yell, "You’re no Tom Morello.” But that was not the point of the show. It was NOT about Tom Morello, it was about Chris Cornell and his band was great nailing all the songs from all the different parts of his career. Cornel was amazing and should headling his own shows soon.

Linkin Park

Projekt Revolution was Linkin Park’s concert and they proved it with their command of the stage and the audience. The stage darkened and the black lights of the Street Drum Corps popped from the stage with great rhythms and huge tribal drumming to start the Linkin Park set. The first song was an intense version of “What I’ve Done” and the whole set was a nice blend of all three of their albums with an emphases on their latest effort “Minutes to Midnight.” Watching the show one was made aware of how many hits Linkin Park has amassed over the years. During each song you could hear the audience sing along with the band to every word. There were people banging their heads and screaming along the whole time. The set also included tracks such as “Faint,” “No More Sorrow,” “Giving up” and “Lying From You." They made slight changes here and there at intros and outros - just enough to make the set stand out. As the intro to one song started, Mike Shinoda came and freestyled part of verse and chorus to his side project Fort Minor’s “Petrified” before ripping into the next song, and on one of the audience favorite “Crawling,” Chris Cornell came out and sang with Chester Bennington. Linkin Park kept up their intensity and raw power the whole time and never let go. They had the crowd the minute they stepped foot on the stage. LP has bumped some barriers with this current record and this concert was the perfect vehicle to share it with the masses.

LINKS:
Linkin Park and Projekt Revolution
Chris Cornell
The Bravery
Ashes Divide