Happy Birthday

Due to Linkin Park touring for over 25 years, there have been quite a few moments where band members have had birthdays occur while on tour.

This page serves as a comprehensive list of each birthday celebrated by the band (or affiliated crew member) on stage by era.

Hybrid Theory

On December 1, 2000, Linkin Park performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Brad's birthday. There is no known recording of this show.

On February 8, 2001, Linkin Park performed in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Phoenix's birthday. There is no known recording of this show.

On February 11, 2001, Linkin Park performed in Chicago, Illinois on Mike's birthday. There is a partial recording of this show but it is cut between most songs so it does not feature an assumed Happy Birthday song for Mike.

On March 15, 2001, Linkin Park performed in Paris, France opening for the Deftones on Joe's birthday. There is an audio recording of this show but the band does not sing Happy Birthday to Joe. They were limited to around a 35~ minute set, so that could be why.

On March 20, 2001, Linkin Park performed in Deinze, Belgium opening for the Deftones on Chester's birthday. There is an audio recording of this show but the band does not sing Happy Birthday to Chester. The setlist on this tour crammed as many songs as possible, one after another, into the band's set and did not leave them much time to talk.

On December 1, 2001, Linkin Park performed in Lincoln, Nebraska on Brad's birthday. There is no known recording of this show but this was a headline show for the band.

On February 8, 2002, Linkin Park performed in Uniondale, New York on Phoenix's birthday. The band sang him Happy Birthday to start the encore with Brad playing it on guitar. There is an audio recording of this show.

Meteora

On March 15, 2003, Linkin Park performed in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Joe's birthday, ironically at the same venue where Phoenix celebrated a birthday in 2001 with the band. There is no known recording of this show.

On March 20, 2003, Linkin Park performed in Dallas, Texas on Chester's birthday. There is no known recording of this show.

On January 20, 2004, Linkin Park performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Rob's birthday. There is no known recording of this show.

While the band did not perform on Mike's birthday in 2004 (February 11), they performed in West Valley City, Utah the day before and in Vancouver, British Columbia the day after.

On March 15, 2004, Linkin Park performed in Inglewood, California on Joe's birthday. Chester's birthday was just a few days later on March 20. To open the encore, the band celebrated both of their birthdays by singing to them and bringing out cakes for them. Joe ate several bites and then threw his cake into the crowd. This show was rescheduled from February 6, 2004 due to Chester being sick, so it is somewhat lucky that it fell on Joe's birthday. This show has both a video and audio recording.

Fort Minor

On February 10, 2005, Fort Minor performed in Washington, D.C. to close their North American Tour. With Mike's birthday the following day, the group celebrated his birthday on stage. Ryu and Tak from Styles Of Beyond stopped the show to sing Happy Birthday to Mike several times. In photos and limited video of the show, the artists all appeared to be partying quite a lot. When the encore came around, Fort Minor and their guests (Holly Brook, Eric Bobo, etc) came out with party hats on. The last few songs of the show were quite chaotic and fun. There is a very bad audio recording of this show circulating from a fan's cellphone. Interestingly, this show was rescheduled from February 6, 2005 to February 10, 2005 because of Linkin Park performing at the Grammy Awards.

Minutes To Midnight

It was nearly four years before the band celebrated another birthday on tour. At this point in their career with the band, the amount of shows on birthdays fell drastically.

On January 20, 2008, Linkin Park performed in Frankfurt, Germany on Rob's birthday. The band stopped "Bleed It Out" after Rob's drum solo and sang Happy Birthday to him before continuing with the song, complete with an operatic backing track. After they started back, Chester led the crowd into the chorus sing-a-long bridge. This show was officially released by Linkin Park as a Digital Souvenir Package (DSP) show. This was the only birthday celebration during the Minutes To Midnight era.

A Thousand Suns

On January 20, 2011, Linkin Park performed in Sunrise, Florida to kick off the A Thousand Suns North American Tour. Rob's birthday was this day so the band actually stopped the intro of "In The End", sang Happy Birthday to Rob, and then restarted the song. This occurred in the encore and Linkin Park posted a video on the LPU (in LPUTV) of this moment. This show was officially released by the band as a Digital Souvenir Package (DSP) show.

LIVING THINGS

There were no band member birthdays on the LIVING THINGS Tour.

The Hunting Party

During The Hunting Party Tour, the band had shows scheduled in 2015 on birthdays but the tour ended up being canceled due to Chester's broken leg. January 20, 2015 was going to be a show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Rob's birthday and February 11, 2015 was going to be a show in Saskatoon, Canada on Mike's birthday. Dave's birthday on February 8, 2015 did not have a show scheduled, but the band would be in Lincoln, Nebraska the day prior on February 7, 2015.

One More Light

There were no band member birthdays on the One More Light Tour. With a majority of the band's birthdays occurring at the beginning of the year, it is unknown if a show would have potentially fallen on a birthday in early 2018. Negotiations were underway for the band to tour Australia in March 2018.

From Zero

On February 11, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan at the first night in Tokyo, the band celebrated Phoenix's (February 8) and Mike's (February 11) birthdays. After "When They Come For Me/Remember The Name", Joe said, "Konnichiwa, motherfuckers. You know what it is? It's your sensei's birthday." The crew brought out a cake for Mike as Emily had the crowd sing Happy Birthday to Mike as Emily said "and Dave!" while Mike grabbed him to come blow out candles. Phoenix thanked the crowd on his microphone, speaking Japanese to them.

On May 6, 2025, in Raleigh, North Carolina, the band celebrate Emily's birthday (that day). Mike said before the live debut of "IGYEIH", "I really want to get to this next song, but...." as the crew brought a cake out for Emily and the crowd sang Happy Birthday to her. Emily celebrated by going out into the crowd into the pit during the live debut of the song.

Linkin Park performed in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on January 20, 2026 on Rob's birthday, their first time doing so after he left the band several years prior.

On January 25, 2026, in Mumbai, India, the band celebrated videographer Mark Fiore's birthday. They brought him on stage to sing to him with the crowd. After the song, the crowd chanted for Linkin Park and Mark hyped them up.