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Is Linkin Park planning a return to China?


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As you may remember, Linkin Park went through a massively successful Chinese Tour in July 2015 towards the end of The Hunting Party World Tour. It seems that that success is bringing them back to the country sometime soon.

The 2015 Chinese Tour was a huge deal. It was the band's only Asian appearances for the THP Era, the band's first appearance in mainland China since Shanghai 2009 (and the band's third overall appearance in China after cancelled shows there in 2008 and 2011). The tour came with some drawbacks, namely the band having to censor songs like 'Given Up' and 'Welcome' as a result of the country's strict censorship laws.

The negatives were far outweighed by the positives, however. For one, the band's performance there opened up the Chinese market for many rock bands to follow. Bands like Muse and Iron Maiden amongst others soon heading to China after Linkin Park's success there. In fact, Metallica just announced their first ever appearance in Beijing! Secondly, the tour was one of the band's most lucrative, partially as a result of their new deal with Mercedes-Benz, who sponsored the China tour. Chester and Joe appeared at a Mercedes-Benz event in Shanghai in 2016, performing the Ballad Medley and 'Burn It Down' to a backing track. A few days later, Chester even took to the streets of Beijing to perform an improv. acoustic jam to a small crowd!

Chester performed a quick jam on a street performer's guitar to a crowd in Beijing.

There's a couple of things that are leading us to believe that the band will be returning there on their tour for the next record. One thing: the money. The band's been slowly announcing a European Festival Tour slated for June and July in 2017, and they seem to be hitting some key markets that they did really well in during The Hunting Party Tour: Belgium, France, and Poland, specifically. Hitting markets they know will draw in a lot of ticket sales is a no-brainer, and China seems to be the best place to go.

Mercedes-Benz is sure to bring money to the band if they go there again, but something else is also standing out as evidence. The band's production manager Jim Digby tweeted at the end of October a picture of him visiting a stadium - and not just any stadium. It's the Shenzhen Universiade Centre in Shenzhen, China. It's unlikely he's just taking a vacation to China and checking some places out. It's very likely that he is scanning venues for potential Linkin Park performances there - that's part of the job as a production manager. He did the same in 2015, personally inspecting some venues in China ahead of the band's tour there. Perhaps the band's first tour of the cycle will be in China?

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Jim Digby's photo from the track at the Shenzhen Universiade Centre.


What do you guys think? Is Linkin Park plotting a return to China - or all of Asia? Phoenix said in an interview earlier this year that the band has a big world tour - including Asia - ahead. Whether or not that claim comes true, it looks like China is definitely being considered. Check out our tour rumors thread for more discussion on potential upcoming dates, and follow us on Twitter + like our Facebook page to make sure you don't miss any announcements.

it will be funny to hear again a censored show)

I don't know what previous setlists looked like for China but just ditch songs like Given Up for the show and replace it with many of the clean songs they have to make it easier.

 

Although we know LP doesn't like to switch it up often

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