Linkin Park to Launch 2011 Tour at BankAtlantic Center

Arena-rock monolith act Linkin Park has chosen South Florida as the launch pad for its 2011 tour dates in support of A Thousand Suns. One of the crankiest, stodgiest music scribes around (and a friend of County Grind) freakin’ loves this album, raving in sister paper Village Voice: “the easiest comparison point here is seriously Radiohead’s OK Computer — uninhibited

hooks, daffy left turns, piano-soaked bathos, explorations of the human

relationship with technology, a complete avoidance of metal.”

Whether ticket buyers are the group’s longtime fans or a bunch of curious noobs who wrote off Linkin Park from its first nü-metal scrapes into mainstream stardom a decade ago and now are paying attention to “The Catalyst” — this show will unquestionably sell out. And fans at the BankAtlantic Center will get to see/hear what this tour cycle is all about before the rest of the U.S. does.

Oh, by the way, the date in question is Thursday, January 20, 2011, at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise.

Here’s “The Catalyst” vid, and the entire tour schedule (via MTV).

» 1/20 – Sunrise, FL @ Bank Atlantic Center

» 1/22 – Tampa, FL @ St Pete Times Forum

» 1/23 – Atlanta, GA @ Phillips Arena

» 1/25 – Detroit, MI @ Joe Louis Arena

» 1/26 – Chicago, IL @ United Center

» 1/28 – Minneapolis, MN @ Xcel Energy Center

» 1/29 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center

» 1/31 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center

» 2/1 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden

» 2/4 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden

» 2/7 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre

» 2/8 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre

» 2/10 – Washington DC @ Verizon Center

» 2/15 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center

» 2/17 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center

» 2/19 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena

» 2/20 – San Diego @ Viejas Arena

» 2/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center

» 2/25 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Energy Solutions Arena

» 2/26 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center