I wrote this post a few years ago, and with the death of Chester Bennington, I thought I should share it again. It’s from one of my older blogs, but this was one of the best times I’ve had with my son:

My son is a huge fan of Linkin Park. This happened because of the song they did for Transformers. My kids have grown up listening to music that my wife and I listen to. This can run from Nine Inch Nails(my favorite band) to Lacuna Coil(My wife’s favorite band) or any number of classical musician’s that I may listen to while writing. They have had an eclectic mix of music in their ears from birth until now. Right now I am listening to Staind while doing my revisions. So when our son became more interested in the band than just liking the song from Transformers and wanted to listen to other albums from the band we indulged him. After listening to the albums he wanted to see them in concert. Many parents would have a problem with taking a then 4-year-old to see a rock band. I told him that once he was a little older I would take him to see them when they came to our city (Las Vegas). He said okay and then my wife forgot about it, I did not.

Linkin Park came out with their new album, “A Thousand Suns” in 2010. It is their best album since Hybrid Theory imo. I waited for them to announce a tour date for Las Vegas, tickets went on sale in December. After talking my wife into it; it didn’t take much talking, I planned for the date and asked him where he would like to go for dinner. After that was set, I thought that I might be one of the few dads to take his six-year-old to a rock concert. My first concert was Ratt and Bon Jovi in the 80’s, I think I was eight and it was not my choice to see the bands.

The week leading up to the Linkin Park concert one of the lead singers became sick. I was worried that my son would not be able to see his favorite band, and sent a get well message on the band’s website. Two day’s before the concert word came that the singer (Chester Bennington) was feeling better and it was much more than just the flu. The post on the band’s website said it was more serious, follow the link to learn more.

The night of the concert we left the house, not without my wife taking a picture of us first. After dinner we arrived at the venue a little later than I planned. The opening band “The Prodigy” was in the middle of their set. They were awesome, I had wanted to see Prodigy for a long time and got my chance. After Prodigy we went to get drinks and returned to our seats in anticipation of Linkin Park, my son sat on the edge of his seat until they started.

Watching his eyes light up hearing the songs on the radio/computer/or CD was nothing compared to the look he had hearing them live. Watching him sing along to Chester and Mike was one of the best moments I have had as a parent. Today I took him to Guitar Center to see about lessons. I had put it off until he saw the concert. If he still wanted to after the show I told him I would get him lessons, today I followed through. He will begin lessons in the next few weeks. I had more fun watching him than I did watching the band. He knew nearly every lyric and sang along. I look forward to many more concerts with him in the future.

Bri

*Update – It has been almost a year since this concert. He still love Linkin Park. We couldn’t make their show at The Joint for money reasons, but we’re going next time they come to Vegas.

He has been playing for almost a year now and loves playing just not practicing. He has private instruction once a week for thirty minutes and love his instructor.

This is still my favorite moment as a parent!