2017.06.14 - Nickelsdorf, AT - NovaRock (Warm Up)

[RogueSoul]

After a successful first headlining show in Berlin, Linkin Park are ready to keep their streak of great shows going. Linkin Park are playing at the first "warm up" day of the NovaRock festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria!

 

This isn't the first time the band will be taking the stage at NovaRock - this is the fourth time the band will be playing it! Their first was in 2007 at the end of the first Minutes To Midnight European Tour, where they played before Pearl Jam. The setlist featured new songs like 'The Little Things Give You Away' and 'No More Sorrow,' among others. Fun fact (or not-so-fun fact, really), this show was almost cancelled due to the band's gear getting damaged a few shows prior at the Heineken Jammin' festival in Italy when a sudden, violent tornado struck the festival grounds. The crew had to piece together what working gear they had and what he festival had for the band to go on. They returned in 2011, opening their A Thousand Suns Summer European Tour with a headlining spot at the festival. This was the second show on the entire cycle to not feature 'Jornada Del Muerto' before 'Waiting For The End.' A year after, the band returned for the Living Things tour, but their set was delayed by about 45 minutes due to severe weather. Still, they found time for new songs 'Burn It Down' and 'Lies Greed Misery,' as well as some tracks they hadn't played in a long time, like 'Points Of Authority.'

 

Living Things was brand new when the band visited Austria in 2012, so this performance of 'Lies Greed Misery' was one of the first.

The band's most recent show, their headlining show at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, was full of surprises. The most striking aspect of the setlist were the two live debuts! Two more tracks from One More Light were performed live: 'Nobody Can Save Me' and 'Sharp Edges.' 'Nobody Can Save Me' replaced 'Battle Symphony' in the set, while a stripped down version of 'Sharp Edges' featuring Brad, Chester, and Rob was added to the very start of the encore. Other surprises included a new intro to the show, featuring Chester singing an acapella of 'One More Light' after a screening of Mercedes' "50 Years Of AMG" clip and 'Points Of Authority' returning to the setlist by complete surprise, replacing 'Somewhere I Belong.' Oh, and don't forget Mike whipping out the first verse of 'It's Goin' Down' over the extended outro of 'Castle Of Glass' - the first time the song was featured in a Linkin Park setlist since Las Vegas 2008!

 

While Linkin Park will likely be returning to the classic festival setlist at this show (even though they aren't the closing band - Fatboy Slim is playing last on the mainstage), there may be a surprise lurking. After asking us about how we felt about the setlists, Mike launched a Twitter poll asking fans to vote on what song they should add to the setlist: the vote was between 'A Place For My Head,' 'From The Inside,' and Shaggy's 'It Wasn't Me.' While it's fairly obvious which song is winning ('It Wasn't Me' got jacked, honestly), we wouldn't be upset with any of these choices. 'A Place For My Head' is a classic as we all know, and 'From The Inside' would get some more Meteora representation into the set. We also politely asked for a third set with 'Sorry For Now' and 'Halfway Right' (the only songs from the new record that haven't been played yet) to be put into rotation... so keep your eyes out for that one, too. We don't know when the winner of Mike's Twitter poll will be added to the set, but both actual songs are ones the band doesn't need a lot of time to rehearse, so it could be at any point. We'll keep our eyes peeled and our ears alert, and you should too.

 

A rare verse of 'It's Goin' Down' was rapped over 'Castle Of Glass' in Berlin. First time something other than 'A Place For My Head' was performed over the ending, and the first time the song has been played in a Linkin Park set since 2008. Mike performed it as Fort Minor in 2015!

As mentioned before, Linkin Park isn't the final act of the day. This show is only the warm up show for the festival, so the mainstage is the only one that's open, and Linkin Park is playing second-to-last; Fatboy Slim plays after them. The English DJ will perform plenty of well-known tracks well into the night. Before Linkin Park will be the infamous Five Finger Death Punch, who are playing their first show since they apparently broke up... yesterday. Read up on the situation, it's actually quite hilarious (and expected of them). Also performing on the mainstage is Steel Panther, a band that loves sex. I'm not kidding. Their entire new album Lower The Bar (check out my review here if you haven't heard it) is just sex references. Fair play.

 

Who's heading to the show? If anything surprising does happen, we'll be the first to let you know, so follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates, and add our Snapchat for some fun stuff. Don't miss our latest Grey Daze exclusive featuring live performance footage from 1997.

 

In Linkin Park news, Brad's recent interview with Billboard has brought up the possibility of b-sides from One More Light, and Mike was spotted wearing a new Fort Minor shirt lately, possibly meaning new merch (and music?) is on the way. He spent 13 hours in a studio today in Europe, so who knows! Next month, Linkin Park will be launching a new virtual reality experience called Linkin Park VR Destination that'll actually let YOU go onstage with them... in virtual reality.

 

Check out the rest of Linkin Park's 2017 touring schedule here.

[hahninator]

Full set but I think back to the festival main setlist. I think they debut a third set in Poland.

[Igussek]

Full set but I think back to the festival main setlist. I think they debut a third set in Poland.

Would be great

[hahninator]

Festival setlist but dropped Battle Symphony, WFTE, and OML. Surprised they dropped OML, wow. Swapped in POA for SIB.

[GlassCastles]

It kind of makes sense. They cut the songs they cut for the festival set back in South America, except for BS instead of invisible. I feel like that SIB slot will be a rotation spot for SIB/POA/APFMH, which I'm totally down for. It's a great start for what could lead to a fair bit of variety within the setlists if they keep this mindset going forward.

[Astat]

Yeah, Invisible is set to be a single and is getting more of a subtle push with the James Corden airing just taking place and whatnot. Makes sense to go back to the initial festival set but keep Invisible and drop Battle Symphony instead.

I like the idea of having one consistent set with rotating song slots in it, personally.

[Catalyst619]

Festival setlist but dropped Battle Symphony, WFTE, and OML. Surprised they dropped OML, wow. Swapped in POA for SIB.

Just got back from the show. Can confirm this.

 

Joe's machine that he plays samples from died during the intro of Invisible. It seemed like the band wanted to play it off and continue but Mike cut the song and told the crowd to hold on. Said he doesn't want to give us a half assed version of this song and wants to give us the full thing. Thought that was pretty cool.

 

There was a pretty obvious false start on some other song, cant remember which one.

 

Crowd observation, the start of the set was SLOW. People looked like they have no idea whats going on until OSC started. It picked up a lot after that though.