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
This was the first time in the band's history that they kicked off a tour in a location that they started a tour in before. The Living Things European Tour in May/June 2012 started at Rock In Rio Lisboa and The Hunting Party European Tour in May/June 2014 began at the festival as well. This ironically made it two European Tours in a row that started in Lisboa since the canceled European Tour for fall 2012 did not end up happening. The 2008 performance at Rock In Rio didn't miss by much either, as it was just the second show of the European Tour in June 2008 after Skive Beach Party in Denmark.
Due to Rock am Ring moving locations after 2014, Linkin Park was the second to last headliner to ever play at Nürburgring for the festival. Metallica took the honor of being the last headliner the following day on June 8th. During the intro of Bleed It Out, Mike talked about seeing footage of them playing at Rock am Ring in 2001 (earlier in the day), the first time they played the festival, and talked about it being their fifth time playing the festival. The band then had the crowd chant "Rock am Ring!". Chester thanked MLK, the German promoter, for all of the successful shows that Linkin Park has had in Germany over the years. He hugged Andre Lieberberg, the son of Marek Lieberberg, during the song.
In Milano, Mike spoke in Italian on stage before 'ntil It's Gone, telling fans to film the song for the band's upcoming live video of the song. There was a flashmob on the song, with Italians throwing glowsticks in the air all over the stage. The final video was released online in July 2014.
The Download Festival show was announced in November 2013, where Linkin Park would be playing Hybrid Theory in full for the first and only time ever. The band reportedly decided to perform it at this festival instead of at a series of smaller club shows. This was the first time that the full studio version of Cure For The Itch was performed live. Mike rerecorded the vocal samples in the song for this performance and Joe added a few more improv beats over the song. The ending fade-out was lot longer than the studio version and past performances.
By Myself was last performed live on October 29, 2003 in Seoul, South Korea. Forgotten was last confirmed to have been performed on February 24, 2002 in Las Vegas, NV. Mike read lyrics from the stage for both By Myself and Forgotten.
After opening with all of Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park went on to play a mix of the current tour's setlist. This was the first full show that Faint had not been played at since the beginning of the LP Underground Tour in 2003 when it was debuted live for the first time. It was also the first time that just one song from Meteora (Numb) was on the setlist for a show since the touring cycle began for that album.
The show at Rock in Rio IV was webcasted online, the third consecutive Linkin Park broadcast from Rock in Rio Lisboa (2008, 2012, 2014). The show at Rock am Ring was webcasted online, the first Rock am Ring webcast for Linkin Park since 2004. The show at Download Festival was released in a professionally-mixed audio format to those who preordered The Hunting Party from linkinpark.com.
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 first show in Lisboa, Steve Aoki came out on A Light That Never Comes (after watching a portion of Linkin Park's set from the side of the stage) but did not "perform" on it since he didn't have any gear set up. Before the show, Chester admitted that they didn't know Steve would be at the show until the night beforehand when they saw the festival lineup for the first time, so they didn't plan a legit collaboration with him.
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 |