August 12, 2007
Palm Beach Post

I must say something, and I mean it sincerely - it's truly awesome to see a collective of musicians and their fans who don't let their deepest pain and black-clad tendencies stop them from having both a good time and a sense of humor, no matter how dark that might be.

Projekt Revolution, starring Linkin Park and featuring the able-bodied and gleefully melodramatic assistance of Taking Back Sunday and My Chemical Romance, among others, proved Friday night that the youngest generation of hard, pounding rock fans are no longer staring at their shoes and whining about their angst but cleverly and loudly shouting from the rafters.

Sound Advice Amphitheatre became, alternately, a mosh pit, a mass singalong and a temple of winkingly self-indulgent emotion.

And it simply rocked.

After a day of bands out on the parking lot, the main stage opened with Placebo and HIM.

They were followed by the charismatic Adam Lazzara and Taking Back Sunday, or at least the current version. Adam Stern, formerly of Matchbox Revolution, filled in for ailing drummer Mark O'Connell, and guitarist Fred Macherino was called away on a personal emergency.

No matter. Stern's a killer stickman, insistently and expertly keeping steady time behind Lazzara's flannel-clad charm.

Starting with What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost, Lazzara swung his hair, noodled with the lyrics (inserting a bit if Amy Winehouse's Rehab into A Decade Under the Influence and freely admitting that he'd been up all night - not partying but reading the new Harry Potter book.

But if Lazzara is a rock star, My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way is a rock god. Equally descended from Freddie Mercury, Alice Cooper and David Bowie, the diminutive frontman just owned everything.

How is it that a band with songs with titles like I'm Not OK and House of Wolves can be so cheerful? Maybe it's the theatrics, with all the pyro, creepy wolf backdrops and heavy eyeliner.

The energy on Teenagers and especially the buoyant Welcome to the Black Parade was nothing short of miraculous.

This kid is brilliant. Really.

After that, there was no way that headliners Linkin Park could help but be a teeny bit of a letdown.

Not their fault, really, but the mood is just a little different, a little more straightforward and less winking.

Singer Chester Bennington kept that energy up, though, slamming into One Step Closer, the opener, with a vengeance.

Rapper Mike Shinoda brought the energy up even higher with his part on Lying From You and Somewhere I Belong.

The ballad Leave out All the Rest was also strong, feeding the crowd's sensitive side without making the energy flag.