Park 'Live'

I would rank them as one of my favourite bands. When they released their first album, it captured emotions I was feeling and became a soundtrack to many moments of those times. There is a raw passion and emotion to their songs that is hard to ignore. Their blend of almost classical melodies mixed with screaming choruses not seen in such brilliance since Axel Rose graced the stage, rings out in perfect balance. I’d thought about what it would be to see them perform ‘live’ for many years and always said it would not be an event I’d miss.

At around seven o’clock we left our apartment and headed out into the night. A few drinks mixed with a few songs at home, got our hearts beating to the evenings pace. The closer we got to the Vector arena, the more people streamed onto the road we followed, and we became lost in a single mass of people, carried along by snippets of songs sang proudly by the crowd.
The support act for any gig is usually a good indication of the quality of the main event. In this instance, the support was probably worthy of the ticket alone. Chris Cornell played a great mix of his solo work, Audioslave greats, and took us on a memorable trip down ‘Soundgarden’ lane.

A short intermission and a quick beer later and we were back in the thick of the crowd counting down to the main event. Bright lights lit up a huge thin curtain covering the stage and the start of a song began. As soon as one scream rang out from the crowd, it set off a sequence and the whole place erupted. Link Park had arrived in New Zealand.

They played an incredible set. If you could pick a top selection of their tunes, then I’m sure that every one of them was played with passion. When they reached the end of the night, and I said to Lucie that they hadn’t played ‘Faint’… well, you can guess what the first encore was. We sang along throughout the night like everyone else, and emerged outside afterwards slightly deaf and unable to speak. It was an incredible show and I’ll definitely be first in line to buy tickets when they next head this way.