Post Traumatic Tour Highlights (So Far)

[hahninator]

We wanted to run down a short list of highlights in Mike's current set in case any of you have missed his performances to this point. To recap, in support of Post Traumatic, he has performed at the KROQ Weenie Roast and Identity LA in May, as well as intimate Amoeba Records and KROQ Sound Space performances in June.

 

These are some of the best moments of his show so far in our opinion - see if you agree with these or disagree and have other highlights!

 

 

1. Kenji

 

In what many of you could easily argue is Mike's best solo song ever, Kenji was shockingly never performed live in Fort Minor's The Rising Tied era (2005-2006). In 2015, Mike implemented the verses over Castle Of Glass live, but the studio version never saw a real performance... until this year. When Identity LA was announced as a celebration of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we knew the chances for Kenji were high.

 

Mike delivered a exceptional version of the track live. What is shocking is that in recent Post Traumatic interviews, he was hesitant to say that if it would remain in the live show. Here's to hoping he keeps it around, as it is a true highlight of his solo career and is a fantastic live track. The song is mentioned in every single review of The Rising Tied as a highlight of the album and we hope to see it performed again.

 

 

2. Running From My Shadow

 

As one of the "heavier" songs on Post Traumatic, Mike decided to add this to close the live show after Remember The Name - a great idea as this one will become a staple for fans. It reminds us of Petrified being a hard-hitting closer on the very first Fort Minor tour in August 2005... with fans coming back saying, "woah... that last song!" Mike also goes into the crowd on this song, which is fun for everyone in attendance. As Remember The Name is significantly shortened live, it's good to have a full song close the live show - RFMS accomplishes that well.

 

 

3. About You / Over Again / Papercut

 

Mike flips this mashup up with a nice vocoder intro to About You and after the second verse goes right into Over Again. He appeared to drop a verse of Over Again for the Amoeba performance... probably because the song is a very difficult one to perform live so we don't blame him.

 

But the mashup takes About You and Over Again before going into a crowd-favorite and longtime live monster Papercut. As Mike figures out how to handle Linkin Park songs in a live setting, we give a thumbs up to this one as it combines some of his very best rap verses. The whole mashup reminds us of Chester every step of the way, in a good way.

 

 

4. Sorry For Now

 

New circumstances require new solutions. As Linkin Park was unfortunately not able to debut Sorry For Now yet on the One More Light Tour as of July 2017, Mike took matters into his own hands and debuted the song at Identity LA himself. Being one of two songs on One More Light where he sings lead, we thought it was only a matter of time before it snuck into a live set... but Mike went ahead and brought it in immediately. It's a highlight of the album and will continue to sound better and better live.

 

 

5. Ghosts

 

Ghosts could have honestly been the first single on Post Traumatic. This one will instantly become a crowd favorite due to its catchy chorus and fun instrumental. Any song that gets Mike out from behind the keyboard to fine-tune his "frontman" skills and show off his voice is great. Some of you have already pointed out his live "singing voice" sounding improved already just from May. Look for it to get even better as the Post Traumatic Tour continues across the world.

 

 

6. Roads Untraveled

 

In one of the most shocking moments of the Living Things World Tour (to us), this song, Powerless, and I'll Be Gone never received live debuts on stage. That tour was pretty short and perhaps the band just didn't have the time to get around the world enough to keep adding more songs into the sets. The same thing happened to The Hunting Party but Linkin Park rectified this problem with the One More Light World Tour, rehearsing at least eight songs for immediate setlist inclusion before the touring cycle even began.

 

Roads Untraveled was brought out in an incredible live debut at the Hollywood Bowl in October. Everyone, especially Rob Bourdon, sounded great on the track. It is another Linkin Park song where Mike can easily sing lead on the entire track, like Iridescent, Burning In The Skies, etc. In Mike's solo shows, the guitar part mid-song is removed, but the song clocks in almost the full version and sounds great in a live setting.

 

 

7. Castle Of Glass

 

Closing out our list is Castle Of Glass. Mike recently tweaked this song to perform piano on it and the new version has an excellent live sound. He is easily able to tackle the vocals on the full song here. In a shocking move, he didn't elect to go with a remix live as he did in 2015 but that's better for us as we get to see what is essentially a studio version of it after Linkin Park rarely performed the studio version in 2012-2013.

 

 

What do you think about the list of tracks? Are you excited to see any of these songs in a live setting?

 

Mike's full touring schedule for Post Traumatic can be found here.

[Geki]

Sorry For Now is by far the biggest highlight to me. I hope he plays it for the show in NYC. Kenji is dope, too. Wish he played Kenji when I saw Fort Minor in Boston back in 2006. Would love to see it now. Running From My Shadow is also a good live song.

[GlassCastles]

I would go ahead and throw the new version of Castle of Glass in there as one of the peaks of Mike's set. He sounds incredible on it and the new arrangement is perfect both for the solo show and for when LP comes back.

[hahninator]

I also really hope he keeps Kenji in there. Yeah Castle of Glass, I agree, I can add that. The new piano-style version is fantastic.

 

If he sticks with a set like this (Identity + the new songs from Amoeba), it's better than what Fort Minor was performing in 2005/2006 and in 2015. It is also longer. Yeah, I know we miss Cigarettes and High Voltage, but the new Post Traumatic songs are fantastic. He once again is faced with having too many "great live songs" to fit into one set. We will see how the world tour goes.

[GlassCastles]

Pretty much the only iffy parts of the set to me are GG/BIO and WFTE/WYG. I'd be fine with cutting both of those for PT songs (PICK, NMSA, IOU, CHYN, HIT etc.)

[hahninator]

Pretty much the only iffy parts of the set to me are GG/BIO and WFTE/WYG. I'd be fine with cutting both of those for PT songs (PICK, NMSA, IOU, CHYN, HIT etc.)

 

Agreed 100%. Where'd You Go studio version perhaps and either Hold It Together or IOU would be cool. I bet he debuts those live on the world tour at some point.

[KeysToTheLinkinPark]

As you already pointed out...Mike is improving and I'm curious to where he takes us with his voice. But now that he has to sing more and is doing quite a lot of shows, we have to get used to the fact that he will have some vocal problems here and there like Chester had. It's normal when you sing so much for so many shows, but Mike never really had vocal problems since he never sang so much in LP shows.

 

Yep, I hope that he plays Hold It Together or Can't Hear You Now

[LPngdf]

For me his whole performance is a highlight

[DexLP]

As you already pointed out...Mike is improving and I'm curious to where he takes us with his voice. But now that he has to sing more and is doing quite a lot of shows, we have to get used to the fact that he will have some vocal problems here and there like Chester had. It's normal when you sing so much for so many shows, but Mike never really had vocal problems since he never sang so much in LP shows.

 

Yep, I hope that he plays Hold It Together or Can't Hear You Now

 

I don't think so. At least by now, his tour is not comparable in amount with the tours LP did. Like 5 shows in 7 days and a loooot of screaming from Chester. I guess Mike can handle that very well.

 

But I would love to see him playing more acoustic. He uses way too much playback and sings over it for me, even in songs he absolutely doesn't need to - like Remember the Name for example.

 

He should't make that except for featuring like Holly Brook or K. Flay.

 

Obviously no hate but I feel like the shows are not done in the same perfection yet like LP shows used to.

[hahninator]

I think that's because it's so much harder to do the show as one person versus a band.

 

If you had Phoenix, a drummer, a DJ, and a guitar player up there with Mike, you'd have a different sounding show. LP at the Hollywood Bowl obviously sounded much more complete playing Roads Untraveled than Mike does solo.

[KeysToTheLinkinPark]

Well at least he is not abusing it as much as all these other mainstream artists out there. Sometimes you need more voices to get the effect to the audience. Without any background voices it might be hard. But maybe he is not there yet, where he can completely get rid of it.

[stich]

I didn't like too much good goodbye/bleed it out and I prefer the studio version of Where'd you go over the mashup with Waiting For The End

[Coizu]

I also think that the Where'd you go / Waiting for the end mashup doesn't sound as good as any of the songs individually. Especially if you think about what Mike did with Waiting for the end before. The HHH version was way better.

[AlyKaye]

I whole-heartedly agree with all of these. Ghosts sounds great live and the people in the audience dressing up as Boris or bringing their home-made Boris sock puppets is an added bonus. Makes my day every time I see them.

I hope Kenji gets mixed in some future shows. It's such a powerful song and I think at this point in time, we need to remember our history more than ever.

SFN and Roads Untraveled are two of my top five fav LP songs so I'm never disappointed with them. Mike's voice sounds so incredible on them. I think they really capture how brilliant of a singer he's become.

[Geki]

Am I the only one pissed that hardly any TRT is being played? 2015 had sick versions of Petrified, Cigarettes and Believe Me. Keep Kenji album version and 2017 version of Remember The Name. Ditch Where’d You Go completely and just sing WFTE in full, Mike can do it.

[GlassCastles]

No shot Mike could sing WFTE in full. If that song is gonna stay in the set, it has to be a mashup of some kind.

 

I honestly think the more solo songs, the better. I'm far more interested in hearing Hold It Together, Promises I Can't Keep, Nothing Makes Sense Anymore, Can't Hear You Now, IOU etc. than LP/FM songs. In my ideal world, the set would be 17-18 songs: 3 for LP (ITE, COG, and a rotation of SFN/RU), 3 for FM (RTN, Kenji, and either Welcome or Where'd You Go), then 11-12 PT songs

[hahninator]

I thought more about Petrified, In Stereo, and Cigarettes not being in the set. It's an impossible balance to fit all the songs. Rotating sets is obviously the only answer but I'm not going to say Mike SHOULD do that, hell i'm just grateful he is even touring.

[Geki]

Idk, I honestly think that Mike could sing WFTE in full. Sure, it wouldn't sound like Chester, but I can see him doing it. Everybody always underestimates Mike. Listen to him sing COG recently. Listen to him sing RU or SFN (the one performance we got needed some work but he is likely better now). Listen to Promises I Can't Keep off of Post Traumatic. He can do it!!!!! But if not, idk. I just hate that WFTE/Where'd You Go mash up.

 

I agree about wanting as much Post Traumatic as he will play but I also want FM stuff, too. FM is also Mike. Some of that 2015 was sick as hell. I know it's too hard to fit it all in a set. Sucks. I hope someday he can have long sets with all this shit. I'd pay money to see it!

[hahninator]

Aaaand biggest highlight of the show to me... maybe When They Come For Me. It was as if that was a top LP single or something. Or Watching As I Fall, the place really blows up on that one. Whole setlist is awesome, I actually don't dislike anything in the set. Crossing A Line is still my least favorite song of the show but it isn't bad.