3 YEARS IN THE WAITING LINKIN PARK PROJEKT REVOLUTION TOUR UNDERWAY

After a three year layoff, Linkin Park are back out on the road touring on their Projekt Revolution tour and 2007’s version is certainly geared more towards rock with acts My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, HIM, Saosin and Placebo all joining the tour. On Projekt Revolution Tours in the past, which took place in 2002, 2003 and 2004, Linkin Park always tried to bridge the gap between Rock and Hip Hop with previous artists performing on the tour like Xzibit, Snoop Dogg and Cypress Hill. With Linkin Park’s latest release being more centered around Rock, Linkin Park decided the time was right to have Projekt Revolution centered around Rock N Roll as well. With two stages and twelve bands, this years tour features close to 10 hours of live music with no overlaping sets, which can force fans to miss some great music on other traveling tours like Warped.

We caught up with Rob Bourdon of Linkin Park, who along with lead vocalist Chester Bennington, had a direct hand in choosing the lineup for this years Projekt Revolution and for all Linkin Park tours, to talk about the successful start to the bands first US Tour in support of the chart topping album ‘Minutes to Midnight.’

“For all the tours we basically throw together a wish list for all the bands that we would like to tour with. For most of our tours, Chester and I are on the tour committee in the band. We have different committees for everything that we do. Because we’re on the tour committee we’re very involved in putting together Projekt Revolution and all the tours that we do around the world. Usually we start off by getting a list of all the available bands and we just check off the ones that we just love to tour with. We have no limitations on our wishes, we just kind of put them all down and hope that we get as many as we can. This years Projekt Revolution came together great. We went back to the rest of the band and everyone was just so excited to see the bands that were available and the bands that we were able to lock down for the tour. So far and we’re only three shows in, but it’s been really positive and there’s a great vibe on the

We also caught up with Placebo, who hail from the UK, to talk about how surprised and happy they are that Linkin Park invited them out on tour, which is a good opportunity to steal some of My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park’s fans.

“It was a big audience. We were surprised and up for the challange really and really happy that Linkin Park invited us. Also we’re very happy that we’re going to be spending six weeks with My Chemical Romance who we know from European festivals, so we thought it was a good opportunity for us to get exposure and for us to steal a few My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park fans, which is kind of what it’s all about.”

We also talked with H.I.M., who are the first and only Finnish band to go have a Gold album in the U.S., to get their thoughts on performing on Projekt Revolution, a traveling tour, which is something they don’t have in Europe.

“We’re flattered. Originally our new album ‘Venus Doom’ was supposed to be coming out like now. Yeah around this time. So we thought that would be a great way of promoting it. Unfortunately we don’t have anything out so we’re just playing the same old same old with a few new tracks as well so that’s pretty good. It’s a fascinating concept, a traveling festival because we don’t have them in Europe at all. There’s good bands, I love Placebo. A band like Taking Back Sunday, no body knows them in Europe so it’s very educating. It’s very educating indeed.”

For this year’s tour, Linkin Park decided to make the tour green by donating $1 of every ticket to American Forests ensuring a tree is planted for every Projekt Revolution ticket that is sold. In addition, some bands are using biodiesel on their buses, eliminating an estimated 350 tons of carbon emissions. Julien K, Mindless Self Indulgence, The Bled, Styles of Beyond and Madina Lake all round out the lineup for 2007’s Projekt Revolution Tour, which will zig zag across The U.S. with dates extending until September 3rd in Colorado.