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As Linkin Park's The Hunting Party Chinese Tour begins to wind down, the band certainly isn't. The penultimate fourth show of the tour will take place in Chongqing, on July 24, 2015 at the Chongqing Olympic Banging Centre Stadium. This will be the band's first time performing in Chongqing.

 

As this is the fourth show of the hour, I feel as if reiterating the history of Linkin Park in China would just be a bore to you guys. So let's quickly skim over it, so we can get into the real good stuff. With this tour, this is Linkin Park's third journey to China, after two prior visits there: once in 2007, and twice in 2009. When the band visited Shanghai in 2007 (the band's first venture to China), they became the first major rock act to rock the stage in China! The band returned to Shanghai and went Macao in 2009 after cancelled appearances in 2008 due to Chester sustaining an injury. Due to government restrictions, 'Given Up' and 'Hands Held High' both had to be dropped in Shanghai, but Macao did not have the same restrictions. In fact, Macao even had some special additions to it, namely Mike rapping 'Papercut' over the extended parts of 'Bleed It Out'! After that, Linkin Park was banned from China due to association with the Dalai Lama, which resulted in headlining shows in 2011 being cancelled in China. Looks like they've come to terms, however!

 

The band's last performance took place in Shanghai, where the band played their normal setlist. It's unlikely we'll see any changes in the setlist for the rest of the tour, despite what evidence we have of the band trying new ideas. 'Don't Stay' was leading a poll for what songs the fans want to see the band perform on the upcoming Beijing broadcast (more on that later!), and 'Keys To The Kingdom' appeared on the list of songs the band wanted to get approved to perform in China. Maybe we'll see some changes for the end of The Hunting Party touring cycle in Europe in August. Time will tell! Highlights from the China setlists include censored versions of all of the songs with cursing ('Given Up', 'Remember The Name', 'Welcome, and 'Bleed It Out') and Mike's Fort Minor section of the set. 'Crawling', which originally appeared on the physical setlist at the first show in Nanjing but ultimately dropped, has finally been put to rest in a similar fashion to the Honda Civic Tour in 2012. Despite the lack of setlist changes, the band is seemingly still having fun with them - with the names. Shenzhen's setlist was entitled "Amazing Shenzhen", and Shanghai's was "Spectacular Shanghai". What do you think Chongqing's setlist name will be? Will they stick with the alliteration? Are we in for "Commendable Chongqing"? Maybe Beijing will be "Badass Beijing". We'll see! In addition, the band also had an after party for the show, where Joe performed a DJ set!

 

Check out the beginning of Linkin Park's set in Shenzhen in the video below! 'Papercut' through the bridge of 'One Step Closer', where it appears the taper was jamming so hard that he dropped his camera.

 

 

In an unexpected turn of events, we actually got a few sources from a few shows back in Shenzhen! Both an audio and a video source have popped up from Chinese tappers. If you're a collector of Linkin Park's live happenings, hop on over to or Live Audio Downloads or Live Video Downloads sections to grab a download of the sources! They're pretty damn good.

 

There's been a bit of controversy regarding these Chinese performances, for a number of reasons. The most fan-concerning issue may be the fact about meet and greets. Perhaps in accordance with the sponsorship deal with Mercedes-Benz (after all, this wouldn't be one of the band's biggest tours in terms of gross income without them...), it appears that they have taken over the meet and greets for shows. This means that only Mercedes-Benz owners and VIPs may attend the pre-show meet and greets. The LPU has set up LPU Meetups, where the band has shown up to them, but were not able to deliver the same experience as an LPU Meet and Greet, unfortunately. The second (and last) LPU Meetup will take place before this show. Sorry, Beijing. You've gotten the short end of the stick...

 

Another issue in the Chinese shows themselves are the presence of the government officials there. According to many fans, the Chinese S.W.A.T. team has been present at all of the shows so far, demanding fans do not stand in their chairs and forcing them to sit before the show begins. Another problem? Chairs. Due to China's strict censorship laws, the band has had to censor the four aforementioned songs, as well. While this isn't necessarily a detriment (the fans scream "FUCK" louder than Chester!), it's still somewhat of an inconvenience. We have to respect the government's decisions, but some of these changes seem a little drastic...

 

That aside, have you felt the inexplicable urge to watch Linkin Park live lately, but you just don't live in China? Tough life. Lucky for you (and for all of us, really), Linkin Park's last show of the tour, Beijing, on Sunday, will be broadcast live! Mark your calendars for July 27, and keep track of the time until the show with this countdown. It's a pretty inconvenient time for North American and South American viewers, but, for once, everywhere else in the world has a pretty good time. Who's excited for it? It'll definitely be a fun time. The first proshot of the Linkin Park version of 'Welcome' will be great! And who doesn't like watching 'A Line In The Sand' live? Lots of great moments to be had!

 

Is anyone going to the show? After this show, the band wraps up their Chinese tour in Beijing on Sunday, before taking about a month off before they embark on the last major tour of The Hunting Party Tour in Europe. Fort Minor is making two appearances between dates on The Hunting Party European Tour, in Copenhagen and Berlin. If you're not attending any shows any time soon, why not take part in some discussion? We've been talking about Linkin Park as a brand, 15 years of LPU, and Linkin Park's attitude towards their live shows as of late. Really interesting ideas being thrown around!

 

Make sure to keep up with all things Linkin Park by keeping us with us on social media: for some awesome pictures of the band, follow our Instagram! Keep updated by liking our Facebook page, too. If you're a Chinese fan, be sure to follow us on Weibo! For updates on the show, check back here or follow us on Twitter.

 

Check out the rest of Linkin Park's 2015 touring schedule here.

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