Linkin Park are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough debut album, Hybrid Theory, this year. As part of the festivities, the band live streamed a never-before-seen concert from 2001 on Tuesday (March 24), with some of their members joining in to add their own commentary on the performance.
Mike Shinoda, Joe Hahn and Dave Farrell were on hand to talk about the show. Giving context to the concert, Shinoda related during the stream that the show took place at “Canes Bar & Grill in San Diego, February 1, 2001, on the Street Soldiers Tour. Our support bands were Taproot and Styles Of Beyond. One Step Closer had already gone to radio, and we were supporting Crawling at that point.”
Hybrid Theory was originally released in October 2000 and reached number two on the Billboard 200 on the heels of hit singles “One Step Closer,” “In The End” and “Crawling.” It has since gone more than 11 times platinum in the US alone.
Earlier this month, Linkin Park announced that they would be celebrating Hybrid Theory with events planned throughout the year. The band wrote in a post to Twitter:
“This year we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hybrid Theory. We have some special things planned throughout the year and want you to be a part of it.”
The post continued with a call to action for fans:
“We’re looking for photos, videos, ticket stubs, merch, flyers, souvenirs and anything else you collected from the early days of the band in the late ’90s through the Hybrid Theory era of 2000-2002. Some great examples include (but are not limited to) live concert footage and photos, pictures of band members and signed goodies from LPU meet and greets.”
In addition to celebrating the album, the stream was also raising money for a good cause, helping those in the music industry put out of work due to the COVID-19 crisis. Said the band in the description underneath the stream/video:
“Thank you to everyone for tuning in. As many of you know, the touring industry has been greatly affected by COVID-19. The professionals in this business have played a large part in our ability to perform for you guys. Many of these professionals are freelancers, who are facing an indefinite future without income. Join us in helping to raise money for these individuals: https://www.roadierescue.com.”
Roadie Rescue is a campaign presented in cooperation with MusicCares that intends on “helping our sisters and brothers most in need to make ends meet in scenarios such as these. Monies raised for emergency expenses via the Roadie Rescue Go Fund Me Campaign will go directly to MusiCares ® to assist professionals affected by the pandemic.” Organizers have so far raised nearly $9,000 of their $250,000 goal.
In other Linkin Park news, ESPN’s anchors took a note out of Gal Gadot’s playbook and created their own bad self-isolation cover. The video, presented by ‘High Noon’ co-host Pablo Torre, features a handful of the station’s personalities speak-singing “In The End.”
