It's a shame, because Powerless could have been real standout moment for the set. It would have translated better live than most songs on Living Things.
The only reason Powerless hasn't been played is because Brad is lazy. Mike recorded all of the guitar parts for it in the studio and he never bothered to learn them. The song was actually performed in Berlin 2012 (long before the show that day) for the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer music video. There's almost NO shots of Brad because he never learned the song.
Seriously? This is being brought up in 2015? Any chance of a new Living Things song debuting in full is dead. It flat out will not happen. I agree, they should have played it, but, like Soul said, Brad is lazy and didn't want to learn a relatively easy guitar part because he didn't record it. Hell, Mike played the guitar part on Tinfoil, I believe, which is pretty much identical to one of the parts in Powerless. At this point, I'd hold out hope that MAYBE the band brings out KTTK during this upcoming tour, as that seems like the only other new song we'll see until LP7 comes out.
The formula is to wait 2 *cycles* after the album is released. They'll become interludes on the next touring cycle, à la Robot Boy
Fixed that. 2 years would have been 2014, and no LT interludes were played in 2014, unless we count the short LITE as an interlude, which we almost could. Less of that was played than Robot Boy
Oops, fixed it. And LITE might as well have been lmao. But we already had that one performed in full, so its not the same.
Perhaps Brad doesn't know it, but I doubt that's the only reason. The song is too ridiculously easy on guitar for that to be the reason. It's more likely that they didn't want to go through the trouble of loading all the electronic elements, practicing the harmonies, etc. Plus, we know that had I'll be Gone queued before Powerless, and if that never happened they probably never even tried it.
I'd agree with you there, but keep this in mind: Brad still has to read off the chord progressions for New Divide every night. By that point there were playing Iridescent (Ballad Medley) and Lost In The Echo (the outro, specifically is what I'm talking about) where they executed the harmony parts pretty well. Worst comes to worse, I'm sure if they really wanted to play Powerless they could put some of the harmonies as backing vocals not sung by the actual band, like in the case of the latest performances of Iridescent. It's pretty clear that even in 2012, before LIVING THINGS even came out, the band knew how to play the song in some fashion. It's Brad that was the problem with this one.
I guarantee you Brad not wanting to learn it played a big part. If Rebellion hadn't been released as a single, then that wouldn't have been played either. Brad is 100% the laziest member of the band, but he always carries a lot of influence in what they play. He's the reason APFMH isn't in every set, as the rest of the band openly loves it. He played the bridge of Runaway wrong for a long ass time, and consistently fucked up the chorus of Numb. I'm also pretty sure he has the guitar part to ND on stage somewhere, despite the song consisting of, like, 5 notes. He BUTCHERS the outro solo on Faint nowadays, because he apparently lacks basic knowledge of scales. I mean, compare any of his 2014-2015 Faint solos to the one Benjamin did in Brazil. Night and day. Brad not wanting to learn the guitar parts of Powerless, regardless of how simple they are, is almost certainly the big reason the band didn't play it. While those other reasons COULD play into it, I doubt it. A decent amount of the electronic elements in Powerless are present in Tinfoil, which was played a lot through the LT cycle. Those elements were already loaded and ready. The harmonies really are easy, and Mike, Chester, and Phoenix are capable and willing to put the effort in to learn them. Hell, they're the only 3 that consistently are audible on Iridescent's bridge.
I agree with everything else you said but that's a bit harsh. The Faint outro is fine note-wise; in fact, it was better in 2007 and 2008 when it was LESS scale oriented. It's become less wild nowadays, it's just him moving up the scale in a tremolo fashion now. I recall he did an interview awhile back, the first thing he recommended to new musicians was for a basic knowledge of scales. I'm pretty sure he has that. The only time where it comes to doubting if he knows his scales or not is on the outro solo for KTTK. Who knows, maybe he's a hypocrite.
I phrased that incorrectly. He has basic knowledge of scales, he just fails to properly use it in a manner that's NOT just going up the scale. The MTM cycle was the peak of the Faint outro. It's gotten worse since then, because it's become predictable and less fun. It's another prime example of the whole "tremolo picking notes as fast as I can with no real rhyme or reason behind it". At least the early Faint solos still had some flare to them. Well, no. I don't think Linkin Park would still be Linkin Park without Brad, but he just seems like he lacks a lot of interest in playing guitar now compared to past years. The only reason he even did some of the stuff on THP is because Mike dragged it out of him, and you can tell he doesn't have much fun playing it live. I get the feeling he's more comfortable producing nowadays. I mean, he had a blast playing the samples on LGM live, he has fun in the studio etc. He just doesn't have the energy when playing guitar live, and that's fine, but it becomes a problem when it starts holding the rest of the band back.