Live In Texas

12/09/2003 6:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

Welcome to the future. It's a time in which the most popular rock band on the planet doesn't just feature a singer, bass, drums, and guitars, but synthesizers, a DJ, and a rapper; when an audio CD is not enough to close a sale, so a record company packages it with a full-length DVD; when a record company is so anxious to squeeze every dollar out of its hot commodity, it releases a remix collection and a live album, although the group in question only has two proper studio releases two its credit.

That said, this collection, recorded on the 2003 Summer Sanitarium stadium tour, is pretty solid. The "live" versions don't sound a heck of a lot different than the studio tracks, which will suit those Linkin Park newbies with a limited budget just fine. This can serve as sort of a "best of" the band's first two studio albums with all the hits—from "One Step Closer" to "Faint"—included. However, there is nothing new here aside from the usual cliché stage patter that you'd hear on a live album by just about any band. As for the faithful, they'll eat it up, especially since the DVD features five additional tracks of the Parkers in all their raging glory. In case you're wondering, the future is now.