the spliff committee
Necessary Evils...
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The Spliff Committe Blog
Whattup Whattup? We just decided to re-vamp the blog a little bit to try and make it a little more interactive. We'll throw up different things that are going on amongst people any meetups, grabbing drinks, trips, any interesting news (ie future Spliff Comm offspring), whatever. If anyone wants to throw something up here, just email it to thespliffcommittee@gmail.com

"Projekt Revoution 2007" PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ


Yesterday Karm, Ricky, Traina, his boy "E" and myself hit up Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour at PNC and I have to say, it was SIIIICKKK! Linkin Park has been doing this tour annually since '02 with the primary focus on bringing fans and artist of both rock and hip-hop together. They also put a green spin on it this year in that they donated $1 from each ticket to American Forests and virtually used all bio diesel fuel tour buses to travel. Gotta give 'em some props for that!

This year's lineup had some up and coming artists kicking things off and had the more popular bands wrap things up. It went like this:

  • Madina Lake
  • Styles of Beyond
  • The Bled
  • Saosin
  • Mindless Self Indulgence
  • Julien-K
  • Placebo
  • HIM
  • Taking Back Sunday
  • My Chemical Romance
  • Linkin Park


Ricky, Karm and I got there 'round 3 o'clock, just as Mindless Self Indulgence were starting their set. They had a ton of sponsor tents set up with different things to do, Trojan had a Wheel of Fortune-type game where you could win either Vibrating Ring or a sack pack (Ricky won and chose the pack...guess he didn't have too much use for the ring). MLB 2K7 had a batting cage and a pitching cage that clocked your speed (I topped out at 58 mph and Ricky hit 55). Monster energy drinks had their own little section where they were giving out free cans of their beverages and Etnies had a mini skate/BMX park where a couple of guys were bustin' out some tricks, just to name a few. Some of the bands that had played already were signing autographs in tents that were filled with fans ranging from 7-65 in age. In addition to these activities MSI was playing, and they were actually pretty good; I'd give them a C+.

At about 4:20 Julien-K got things started
over on the main stage. I didn't recognize any of their music until their last song, "Technical Difficulties", which I only recognized because the lead singer said that it was from the Transformers movie. Overall I give them a C+ too.

In between bands on the main stage they had a several screens up where they gave you a number to send text messages to and they would display them. After trying to get www.thespliffcommittee.com up a few times and a couple of other messages, all to no
avail, we figured that they were filtering out any "ads" or vulgarity.

Next up was Placebo. Maybe I wasn't paying too much attention to them, but I
wasn't diggin' these guys too much, but then again I probably lost interest because they just weren't that good, C-.

At this point it was around 6 o'clock so we decided to grab a bite to eat while their crowd was still lite, ate some nasty chicken fingers and fries and got back up on the lawn just as Taking Back Sunday were beginning their set. The venue really started to fill in now, the music was getting a little harder and things were starting to liven up. I've been to a good amount of concerts in my life, but I've never had the opportunity to experience a mosh pit and one was just getting started right before us and I have to say, it was quite fascinating. Don't get it twisted, I was not going to take part in the insanity, but from the perspective of an onlooker it was great entertainment. The fact that these guys can actually get their testosterone levels perked up to the max and start slamming/charging/swinging fists at one another without taking anything personally is truly amazing! Oh, and plenty of alcohol and whatever other toxins were involved as well. Just to give you an idea, this one dude built like an ox is moshing and out comes this kid, no older than a college freshman, and the big guy goes up to him and they're bumping each other and then he drops a closed fist right on the younger kid's grill, and the kid just kept going!?! Crazy! Aside from the Moshing, Taking Back Sunday was great, solid B!

Traina and E finally got there around 7:30, we burned a quick one while My Chemical Romance was just coming out. I have to say, I had no clue what we were in for, but these guys were AWESOME! The pyrotechnics alone were ridiculous, but the performance was second only to the headliners. Frontman Gerard Way, although a bit femme, was captivating with his glamorous look complete with feather boa and his powerful voice. "Helena" was great (the mosh pit really enjoyed this one) and "Welcome to the Black Parade" was a crowd favorite. The one thing that kind of bothered me about them, and maybe this is my fatherly instincts, was that he dropped at least 30 "F-bombs". No other bands were throwing it around like him, it were completely unnecessary and he had to have known that there were a large amount of young kids in the audience. Just where we were standing there were no less than 6 moms with their children, like I said, maybe its just me, but it was a little awkward. All-in-all, they rocked, A!

At about 9:30 Linkin Park hit the stage playing No More Sorrow while the place erupted and they didn't disappoint. They went on to play a great set consisting of an eclectic mix of their catalog including, "Crawling", "Somewhere I Belong", "Numb", "Bleed It Out" and an acoustic-esque version of "Pushing Me Away". Chester was absolutely amazing and I've gained an entirely new respect for his ability to sing and utilize his voice the way he does; this dude screams at the top of his lungs without breaking for a good 45-60 seconds, it actually hurts watching him do it. Mike Shinoda was impressive and much better than I expected. He showed some diversity when he played a few chords on the piano and broke out an acoustic guitar for a little ditty. The bottom line, these guys were off the charts and I'd strongly recommend even the faintest of a fans to check them out live. The music was sick and the effects were phenomenal. These guys are no joke and the overall experience was worth every penny. A+ for these guys and A+ for the concert as a whole!

Styles