From Clash Music:
With day one drawing to an end, everyone was waiting for Linkin Park to finish off the day nicely. Playing a selection of hits from their three albums including ‘Faint’ and ‘Crawling’, it struck us how much we were looking forward to album number four. Then, to everyone’s surprise, lead vocalist Chester invited his new band up onto the stage. He wanted to give the UK a preview of this new band Dead By Sunrise.
A look of dismay was across everyone’s faces. Fans were here to see Linkin Park. So, was this a bad move from Chester? We’ll soon find out in September, announcing to the crowd that’s when his “new band” would be touring. Thankfully, it didn’t drag for too long until Linkin Park arrived back on stage and ended their roaring set with their dedicated fans supporting them.
From inthenews.co.uk:
After a crowd-pleasing Bullet For My Valentine close the Saturn Stage for the night with a collection of metal tunes that has the a sea of bodies singing along to every word of the Welsh quintet’s barnstorming set, Linkin Park round things off for the Apollo Stage, putting in a solid, if unspectacular, performance. Given Up and Somewhere I Belong are particular highlights early on, before Crawling and In the End drag things out of something of a mid-set lull. Bizarrely, vocalist Chester Bennington brings his side project, Dead by Sunrise, out for the encore, in a move which seems to win scant approval from festival-goers and is seen by many as an abuse of power rather than the special event that it will no doubt be pedalled as. Thankfully, Linkin Park do re-emerge for the second encore, finishing off with a superb One Step Closer.
From easier.com:
Early evening saw a fleet of blacked out vans pulling into the production area, and a strict no-smoking policy enforced in the back stage area, as clean-living headliners Linkin Park arrived on-site. Taking the stage to a chorus of cheers, the Californian sextet dealt out hit after hit as the sun set over Knebworth Park. Frontman Chester Bennington used the Apollo stage appearance to debut his new project “Dead By Sunrise” to UK rockers, who performed as part of Linkin Park’s encore to a rapturous reception, ending the main arena activity on Sonisphere day one.
From Music Radar:
So then to the Apollo stage and day one’s biggest draw: Linkin Park. In the weeks before the festival, Chester Bennington talked a very good game, promising to “kick some ass” and possibly even come away clutching the Best Live Band In The World title belt.
Sadly, the execution is lacking and the set sags horribly in the middle. When the hits come out they sound dated and the absolute nadir sees Bennington drag his Dead By Sunrise side project onstage for an encore that no-one in the crowd seems to be shouting for. They proceed to rattle through an incredibly lame Nirvana rip-off before being sucked into an ego vortex visible from space.
