Mike Shinoda
Roundhouse // London, England // 10 March, 2019
Photos and review by Rachael Dowd
Over the years, Mike Shinoda has gained a reputation for his cross-genre innovation, finding new and fresh ways of blending together different genre influences to create something uniquely his own.
To a sold-out London crowd of 1,700 at the renowned Roundhouse, Mike Shinoda put on a performance unlike anything else in live music right now. With a hefty 22-song setlist that included material from his Fort Minor and Linkin Park days, he managed to entertain the crowd for almost two hours with his impressive discography, all while playing multiple instruments and cracking a few jokes here and there.
Setting the tone for the night, he opened up his set with the 2005 Fort Minor song “Petrified” which immediately earned warm applause from those in the crowd who were wary on if any Fort Minor material was going to make into his setlist. He may have only performed one other Fort Minor song, “Remember The Name”, but those two songs earned two of the loudest applauses throughout the night, proving that his project that was released over a decade ago still resonates so greatly with his fanbase.
Often during live performances, performers try to crank out as many songs as they can, not taking a lot of time to address the crowd. For Shinoda, not only is he wickedly talented musically, but he is also wickedly funny. Taking multiple times during the night to interact with the crowd, even signing a girl’s poster and telling her that he’s “mostly signing it so she will put it down so the people behind her can see”, there were also moments when he poked fun at himself. When someone in the crowd requested he play “Step Up”, a Linkin Park track that was released on the 1999 Hybrid Theory EP, Shionda said he would be able to perform it before quickly realising he couldn’t remember the lyrics, earning laughs from everyone in the crowd as he remarked, “this song was released in 1998!” In the end, he read the lyrics off of a fan’s phone, the performance offering a humble and humanistic moment from Shinoda you don’t often see from performers these days.
Some of the most memorable moments from the night were, of course, his performances of Linkin Park material, especially his stripped-down performance of “In The End”, notably one of Linkin Park’s most popular, and most impactful, songs they ever released. Before beginning the song, Shinoda shared an anecdote about the last time Linkin Park were at the Roundhouse for their iTunes Festival performance in 2011. They performed a cover of Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep”, Chester Bennington giving a vocal performance that has since surprised everyone that has listened to it, many often not realising just the vocal capabilities he had. Shinoda himself was surprised and in awe of Bennington’s performance, remarking that that performance especially was one of his favorite Linkin Park memories.
The stripped-down version of “In The End” had the crowd singing Chester Bennington’s vocals, offering a serene and emotional moment that Shinoda dedicated to Bennington’s memory, everyone in the crowd singing as loud as they could for Chester to hear. It’s been nearly two years since Chester’s passing, but his impact, and the impact of his death, is still prevalent in the lives of both Linkin Park and Mike Shinoda fans, Mike taking multiple moments during his set to pay tribute to his bandmate and friend.
The London show was also very special to Shinoda as two individuals he collaborated with on Linkin Park material were in attendance that night. Jon Green joined him onstage for the performances of “Battle Symphony” and “Nobody Can Save Me”, two Linkin Park tracks he helped co-write. Eg White also joined Shinoda onstage for “One More Light”, offering an incredibly emotional and raw moment in the night. Following “One More Light”, Shinoda admitted he had had a lot of anxiety leading up to playing that song, the track still being very hard for him to perform. However, sharing the moment with both Eg White and the crowd created a special moment for him, helping to lift that weight off his shoulders once the song was over.
Closing out the night with “Running From My Shadow”, his most popular solo track to date, Shinoda jumped from the stage and joined the crowd, hi-fiving everyone he passed and climbing on top of the barricade to share the final moment with his dedicated and passionate fans.
Having been in the industry for so long, Mike Shinoda’s career is not only impressive but is greatly diverse, offering a repertoire of material many artists should be envious of. He plays his own instruments, writes his own material and is capable of putting on a performance that captivates every single person he stands in front of, making for one of the most distinctive and personal live sets music has seen in a long time.
