Live review: Mike Shinoda completed Singaporean fans’ hearts with ‘Post Traumatic Tour’

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There may not be a single word, phrase or paragraph to describe the catharsis of a night that was experienced when Mike Shinoda played in Singapore on Wednesday night, August 22.

I’d say this is the kind of the show that you needed to let everything there absorb through your heart. Mike Shinoda’s Post-Traumatic show has to be felt rather than just to be seen.

Playing at Zepp@BigBox as part of his Post-Traumatic Tour, fans of both Linkin Park and Fort Minor indulged in layers of emotional overtones as they were letting all feelings cumulating and colliding. Those emotions were spinning like a vortex of shifting winds in a hurricane.

The brutal honesty and raw sincerity of emotions rocked the whole room to the core as a sense of belonging rested over the crowd’s souls throughout the night.

“Tonight was for our ghosts…”

Fans sang their hearts out to the pieces from Shinoda’s latest effort Post-Traumatic— “Petrified”, “Hold It Together” and “Crossing A Line”. The voices grew even stronger when  Linkin Park’s forever hits conquered the room. “In The End” and “Bleed It Out” formed the bonds between fans and artist.

Indeed, the moment magically stunned and warmed my heart. It was a beautifully heartfelt moment to remember for a lifetime.

It was also such a treat to hear “Hold It Together” live on stage for a very first time in Shinoda’s tour. This live debut sent shockwaves through the heart for its poignancy.

Yet, it was “In The End” that crumbled it – the scale, magnitude and enveloping feelings that surrounded this song, as fans sang out loud to the late Chester Bennington’s part, was just surreal…

Shinoda said this before the song:

“You guys are gonna feel a lot of different things. Like some people come here and they wanna hear the Fort Minor stuff. Or they wanna hear the new stuff and they wanna hear the upbeat. They wanna party, you know. And other people, they come because they feel like something is like unfinished. Or they need like…closure. And there’s nothing wrong with any of those things. Like if you wanna come and you wanna laugh or if you wanna come and you wanna cry, that’s ok. Don’t ever, ever, ever be ashamed of that. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“So on this one like we always do, I have always asked everybody for I don’t know how many years… I want you guys to sing Chester’s part as loud as you can, ok?”

And no one disappointed him.

From softer, more harmonic melodies to the more upbeat and rock-out tunes, it was indeed a variety of feelings, experiences and memories that encompassed each and every song.

Nonetheless, “Roads Untraveled” and “Castle of Glass” were beautifully done as well. Meanwhile, “Sorry For Now” had the most gorgeous and ripe drum solo by Dan Mayo.

Watching “As I Fall”, “Remember The Name”, “Running From My Shadow” and many more in the setlist were filled with vibes of energy and musical colours from Mike Shinoda, drummer Dan Mayo and keyboardist Matthias Harris.

It was perhaps most riveting to see Shinoda not just rap and sing but also play the guitar and drums on stage. His diversity of musical talents knows no bounds.

At one point during “Crossing A Line”, the talented musician even did all three and then proceeded to throw his guitar pick and drumsticks to some lucky fans in the crowd.

As he ended his performance with Running From My Shadow, I would say this about Mike Shinoda’s Post-Traumatic Tour:

It was coruscating – like an opal shining with layers and layers of emotions and music that fill the soul.

As fans refused to leave the hall and continued to sing out loud to songs of Linkin Park long after Shinoda had left the stage, it was evident that the night was to remember for all. And for ones’ lifetime perhaps.

Wanna hear all the setlist? Well, we got you something straight from Mike Shinoda’s instagram!

Special thanks to LAMC Productions.

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