2017.07.06 - Birmingham, ENG

[RogueSoul]

This is it! We've reached the end! Linkin Park's One More Light European Tour is finally coming to a close after almost a month on the road and 16 shows in the books. The 17th and final show of the tour will be in Birmingham, England on July 6 at the Barclaycard Arena.

 

Linkin Park has a history in Birmingham, but nothing compared to the 27 shows they've played in London over the years. Linkin Park first played Birmingham in 2003 on the Meteora tour. The show came at a pretty unique time during the cycle, as the band played a pretty out-of-the-ordinary set in November 2003 for the Meteora UK Tour. 'Papercut' opened the show for the first time ever in these sets with a long intro, and 'Breaking The Habit' was being performed for the first time ever. 'Nobody's Listening' would be extended with a verse from an LPU Demo called 'Standing In The Middle,' as well. The band returned to Birmingham 7 years later for the A Thousand Suns tour, performing new songs like 'When They Come For Me' and 'The Catalyst.' This show came with a couple of cool surprises: a fan playing guitar on 'Crawling' for the first time ever (this was also the first time since the very start of the Minutes To Midnight tour that a fan had been brought up to play a song with the band) and Mike rapped 'Reading My Eyes' and 'A Place For My Head' over 'Bleed It Out.'

 

Watch the band bring up a fan named Chris for 'Crawling' at Birmingham 2010!

The band's last show was in London, and it was a pretty special one. Linkin Park performed at the legendary Brixton Academy for a second night in London, and it was a pretty special night. The smaller venue led to some huge energy from both the crowd and the band, their extended set time allowing them to play two old classics that everyone jammed to: 'Points Of Authority' and 'A Place For My Head.' There were a couple of guests at the show, as well: Stormzy made a return for 'Good Goodbye' as he did at the O2 Arena the night before, and Jon Greene from The Bonfires joined the band for 'Nobody Can Save Me' for the first time ever (Greene worked on the song in the studio with the band). 'Bleed It Out' was moved down to close the main set instead of being in the encore (the first time both of these things have happened since January 2014), leading to an epic finale of 'Papercut' and 'Faint' to close out the show. 'Sharp Edges' opened the encore as it normally does in headlining shows, and Mike rapped verse 1 of 'Petrified' over 'Castle Of Glass' for the second time ever (the first being in Sweden). He also brought out the 'Reading My Eyes' verse over the bridge. A pretty huge night for a smaller venue!

 

Birmingham is bound to be a special night as well, but perhaps more spiritually than on paper. There's no telling if all these guests will come back out in Birmingham (both artists are from London, after all), so that's one variable to look out for. The setlist will still be extended, but it's likely we see the same setlist from Night 1 with different verses and perhaps a return to the live version of 'Good Goodbye.' The setlist is nothing to be disappointed about, though: you're getting 'Battle Symphony,' 'From The Inside,' and 'Somewhere I Belong' in one long and epic set. You'll have an epic time no matter what the band does! It is entirely possible the band throws us some curveballs to keep us on our toes, so take this all with a grain of salt. It's anyone's game. It's the last night of the tour nonetheless, so it should be an epic night regardless of anything the band does!

 

You've already seen Stormzy on 'Good Goodbye,' so check out Jon Green on 'Nobody Can Save Me!'

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Before closing things off for the tour, something should be said about the cancelled show in Manchester that was originally going to close the tour. The show was cancelled after a terrorist attack occurred after an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena, where the band would have played after this show. It's a tragedy for a lot of us, not necessarily in regards to the artist but in terms of music itself. We can all vouch for what it means to be at a concert. A concert is when thousands of music fans can all come together free of any judgements or disagreements and for an hour or two and enjoy the night. We overcome our differences to meet on one common ground: a love or music. An attack on music is an attack on art and an attack on the world. I'm not telling you to go out there and go beat up a terrorist; don't put yourself in harm's way. But what you can do is show love and compassion to everyone around you, and stand up for what you believe in and for each other. The way to stop hate is to first stop it within ourselves, and then continue to spread that sentiment.

Here is a list of all the people who died at the Manchester attack. Some were parents waiting to pick their kids up from the show, and others were the kids who had the time of their lives. Let's keep them in our hearts for today as the tour comes to a close here and remember that all of reading this is one family. God forbid it was one of us on this website or fanbase that was lost in a tragedy.

Saffie-Rose Roussos, 8

Eilidh MacLeod, 14

Nell Jones, 14

Sorrell Leczkowski, 14

Megan Hurly, 15

Olivia Campbell, 15

Chloe Rutherford, 17 & Liam Curry, 19 (couple)

Courtney Boyle, 18

Georgina Callander, 18

John Atkinson, 26

Kelly Brewster, 32

Philip Tron, 32

Angelika Klis, 40 & Marcin Klis, 42

Alison Howe, 45

Michelle Kiss, 45

Lisa Lees, 47

Jane Tweddle-Taylor, 50

Wendy Fawell, 50

Elaine McIver

Martyn Hett

You can read all of their stories and see who they were in this article.

The following performance is 'One More Light' dedicated to Chris Cornell back at the Jimmy Kimmel Live performance in May. Let's all dedicate this song to those lost in Manchester tonight and sing the song for them.

Thanks for reading. Back to your regularly scheduled pre-show post!

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Who's going to the show? Linkin Park has no more tour dates in Europe just yet, but it won't be too much longer until they're back on the road! The band will return to the stage in North America later this month for the One More Light North American Tour with Machine Gun Kelly starting on July 27 in Mansfield, Massachusetts followed by the two Welcome To Blinkin Park shows with Blink-182 in Flushing, New York on July 28 and in Hershey, Pennsylvania on July 30. For updates on this show, join our Discord server and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

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

[Soeffingnaive92]

Great post. RIP for these people

[RiderSSPU]

Still so sad what happened. I'm a huge Ariana Grande fan and it amazes me how someone could be so heartless to target a show that's fan base is full of teenage girls. No one deserves to die like that.

 

Spread love, not hate.

 

Hope everyone who goes to this Linkin Park show stays safe and has fun!

[Smarky]

I've got meet and greet, I'll ask if they can dedicate the song!

They did it!!! Yea!!! I asked Mike and had a long conversation with him about it but he wasn't sure if they could, said they were a lot of issues around it, so I asked Chester and he said he would and told me he had these plugs in his ears with bees on since the incident and he wasn't going to take them out until we learned to all live together!!

 

He then told the story again on stage and made a beautiful tribute before they played one more light!!!

[BeardyWilderness]

Great job Smarky!

[Smarky]

So a few more details now I am back at my hotel...

 

I told Mike I had a request from myself and LP live members and he looked worried lol so I told him "don't worry it isint no roads left" and he laughed and I asked if they could dedicate one more light to the manchester victims as it would of been that show tomorrow and he said t would like to and he would think about it but they had to be careful and sensitive to certain issues, he said after it happened Chester had written a statement and asking people to come out to the other shows but they didn't put it out cause they didn't want to be seen harming the other venues (management thing), he said they tired really hard to find another venue but with so many other bands doing the same nothing was available and he then said he would think about it, he spoke about it for some time and seemed very upset about it.

 

So then when Chester came I asked the same and he said he would do it, he showed me his ear plugs which have bees on it and did he put them in right after it happened and wasn't going to take them out until something like we learn to be free and to live together, he repeated this story on stage and described it as a horrible incident and said he would do it cause he had thought about doing something already but wasn't sure what to do

 

Oh and the official LPU camera guy, I think his name is travis? Came up and fist bumped me afterwards

Edited July 6, 2017 by Smarky

[Justin]

That's awesome, Smarky! I like how you said it wasn't NRL, because odds are he immediately thought it would be that, or some obscure song they haven't played in years lol.

 

I also like how their response to the request worked exactly how I would have imagined. Mike saying they need to think it over and be careful, and Chester just immediately saying "Yes I'll do it".

[linkinepi]

Didn't Pez play guitar on Faint in 2010/2011 twice?

[GlassCastles]

Didn't Pez play guitar on Faint in 2010/2011 twice?

Yeah, after the Birmingham show.

[RickLPL]

So a few more details now I am back at my hotel...

I told Mike I had a request from myself and LP live members and he looked worried lol so I told him "don't worry it isint no roads left" and he laughed and I asked if they could dedicate one more light to the manchester victims as it would of been that show tomorrow and he said t would like to and he would think about it but they had to be careful and sensitive to certain issues, he said after it happened Chester had written a statement and asking people to come out to the other shows but they didn't put it out cause they didn't want to be seen harming the other venues (management thing), he said they tired really hard to find another venue but with so many other bands doing the same nothing was available and he then said he would think about it, he spoke about it for some time and seemed very upset about it.

So then when Chester came I asked the same and he said he would do it, he showed me his ear plugs which have bees on it and did he put them in right after it happened and wasn't going to take them out until something like we learn to be free and to live together, he repeated this story on stage and described it as a horrible incident and said he would do it cause he had thought about doing something already but wasn't sure what to do

Oh and the official LPU camera guy, I think his name is travis? Came up and fist bumped me afterwards

Wow that's awesome, well done!

[Smarky]

"We share some of our love and our prayers for the families and the victims of the tragedy of Manchester arena, my heart has never been broken so much on the day I found out that tragedy happened and since that day I have been wearing these little ear rings with the bees in them, I know that's a symbol of strength and hope for the city of Manchester and I am going to keep these in until all this nonsense stops and we can start loving each other, until we can stop hurting each other because we believe in something different to the person standing next to us, the one thing that cannot be defeated is love, right?

 

You can conquer hate by ignoring it, you can destroy it by loving the person next to you, so I want everyone here tonight to look at the person standing next to you and just tell them that you love them and you are happy that they are here with you tonight, having a good time, listening to music, celebrating life, we don't care what you look like, we don't care where you come from, we don't care what you believe in, we love every single one of you out there and nothing will ever change that, with that said, let's sing some songs together... "

 

- Chester Bennington.

Edited July 9, 2017 by Smarky

[thedamian58c]

Very well done Smarty, and that was a very nice move and speech of Chester

[Smarky]

If anyone is interested... I am trying to organise and memorial for Saturday in Birmingham, were fans will meet and we will visit the venue of Chesters show and lay flowers etc and have a memorial, we will also chat and share stories about the band and what they meant to us.

 

Not for sure yet, just gauging interest across all channels, let me know.

Event going ahead. Message me here or let me know if you wish to attend, or follow me on twitter @smarky or we now have a Facebook group, but most contact is happening over twitter.

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/958707614271423/

[Kilmer]

Who would think this would be his last show ever... Maybe this should be added to the show page, I don't know

[DamoF86]

Hi, my name is Damian. The 2003 Birmingham show was a very special one for me. Anyone who was there may have remembered some people being pulled out of the crowd to go on stage with the band during "Place for My Head." I was one of those people, which made it one of the best days of my life. When we got off the stage to the side, we had to say on camera that we gave permission to use any images or recordings, which I obviously agreed to. However, I have never been able to find any photos or videos of that gig, so if anyone has any of us on stage with Linkin Park, I would be forever grateful.

 

Thanks.