European Summer Tour 2014

Introduction

The European Summer Tour in 2014 was similar to what Linkin Park did to start the Living Things touring cycle in 2012. This was a 9 show tour in May and June across the continent playing a mix of headline shows and festivals before The Hunting Party was released.

Before the tour

A week before the first show in Lisboa, Portugal, Linkin Park played the first show of the touring cycle in Tucson, AZ, headlining KFMA Day. This was the first touring cycle to start at a festival headlining show, without any club shows, private rehearsals, or smaller shows to "warm up" at.

At this show, Linkin Park debuted the biggest change to the setlist format we've ever seen. Styling it like a DJ set at Mike's request, they played short versions of songs that segued into others, they added solo portions of the show for Mike and Joe, and they made the show have one big "flow". That show will likely be the largest show page in LPLive's history.

Three songs, Guilty All The Same, Wastelands, and Until It's Gone, were debuted from The Hunting Party. A notable feature in the set was the first performance of Robot Boy in any form live (this time an instrumental), the only song from A Thousand Suns which hadn't been performed live. In all, 26 different songs were played (in many forms) along with a new show intro.

To go along with the show, there was a controversy with Sublime with Rome, a band that accused Linkin Park of calling the police on them backstage for smoking pot. Obviously, with Linkin Park's history of touring with Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill, and more, Mike set this controversy to rest by tweeting, "LP didn't "call the cops" on @RomeMusica smoking pot. Not sure where the rumor came from. Definitely not my style, bummer it happened.", "We were at a meet & greet when Sublime was on stage, not dressing room. Wouldn't even know if there was smoke. CC: @AltPress @RomeMusica", and "If someone was "representing the band" to the cops in the venue about weed smoke, they were out of line."

Summary

Live Debuts

• Guilty All The Same [2014.05.24 Tucson, AZ]
• Wastelands [2014.05.24 Tucson, AZ]
• Until It's Gone [2014.05.24 Tucson, AZ]
• Robot Boy [2014.05.24 Tucson, AZ] (Instrumental)

Memorable Moments

At the second show in St. Petersburg, Brad failed to show up backstage pre-show, leading band members to worry. He ended up injuring his back and going to the doctor, prompting Mike to prep Brad's guitar tech Warren to play the show. It was just Warren's third show on the job, and Brad had never missed a full headlining show before in the history of the band (side note: he missed two TV promo appearances in Japan in 2012). Brad ended up being able to play, but leaned up against Joe's riser on stage for the next few shows. The entire incident is documented in the LPTV episode from the tour.

After the tour

After Download Festival, Linkin Park flew directly back to California to start promotion of The Hunting Party in the United States. They played shortened sets at the KROQ Red Bull Sound Space and the iHeartRadio Theater, both of which were webcasted online. A third performance at Jimmy Kimmel Live was canceled due to the production schedule at Kimmel, so the band played three songs after the iHeartRadio Theater set to be filmed and aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live instead.

A badly kept secret was the band's surprise set at the Ventura, CA stop of the Vans Warped Tour, their first Warped Tour appearance ever. Linkin Park played a seven song set to a big crowd and featured guests on all seven songs, ranging from Jeremy from A Day to Remember to Ryan from Yellowcard and more.

Crew

Name	Job
Jim Digby	Production Manager
Ken "Pooch" Van Druten	FOH Engineer
Kevin "Tater" McCarthy	Monitor Engineer
Warren Johnson	DJ Technician
Mark Fiore	Videographer