Linkin Park Shed Light on Energy Issue at ‘Rio + Social’ Event

Last year, Linkin Park announced their association with the Power The World organization as they attempted to bring light to many areas of Africa where electricity is not a luxury.

Earlier this week, the band attempted to rally support in South America for their program and showed a little more of how their plan was being put into action at the ‘Rio + Social‘ online event. Bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell stated, “We want to see a generation behind us that’s in a better place than we are now and we want to see, for lack of a better way of putting it, a hope for the future and we really think that sustainable energy is not, if the most, one of current issues we need all over the world”

Mike Shinoda stated that they were told after meeting with officials from the U.N. that 1.3 billion people around the world currently live without access to sustainable energy. He adds, “You almost can’t fathom that number. It’s such a large percent of the world’s population and that really caught our attention and I feel like with the platform that we’ve got and just the people that are paying attention to the band, we can put that information out there and hopefully in numbers we can make a difference.”

During the online discussion, the group had an obstetrician show off the solar suitcase, which is primarily being used to aid with childbirth in clinics. In some cases, deaths of mothers and infants have been happening, which is something that could be alleviated with more frequency with the proper lighting to perform emergency procedures. The band’s Music For Relief organization is currently working to place the solar suitcases in 100 clinics in Uganda.

Farrell urges fans to go online and encourage others to join them in signing the petition at PowerTheWorld.org that will aid in making sustainable energy a reality everywhere. The group concluded with a six-song performance featuring the new songs ‘Burn it Down’ and ‘Lies Greed Misery,’ along with ‘New Divide,’ ‘What I’ve Done,’ ‘Waiting for the End,’ and ‘Numb.’ The entire performance portion was lit with solar powered lights that Farrell discovered during a trip to Haiti. Watch the entire chat and performances in a series of videos seen here.

In other Linkin Park news, the band has signed on to play a private club show at Los Angeles’ Club Nokia June 29 to kick off the ‘X Games.’ Plus, they’ve posted another video preview for their ‘Living Things’ album. In it, we see Mike Shinoda working with a very sick Chester Bennington to deliver some of his rougher vocals for ‘Until it Breaks’ and ‘Victimized’ from the new album. Check it out below. The disc arrives Tuesday.

Watch Linkin Park’s Behind the Scenes ‘Apaches / Battle Axe’ Video