2018.08.19 - Chiba, Japan - Summer Sonic

[RogueSoul]

Mike's return to Japan was a huge success, in many regards. He's playing the second night of the Summer Sonic festival on August 19 in Chiba, and there's plenty to look forward to!

 

 

Mike's show in Osaka was full of interesting moments. Keeping up with tradition, Mike made sure these Summer Sonic shows were important. On top of being the very first shows announced on the Post Traumatic Tour, Mike made a statement during his set. 'Kenji,' a song written about his grandfather and family being forced into Japanese internment camps in Los Angeles during World War II, made its Japanese premiere, and the additional 'Hands Held High' verse during the extended intro added to its political message. It's almost like a moment of redemption for Mike, seeing him perform that track in Japan. This was also the first time 'Kenji' was performed during a shortened festival set (it was absent from all of the previous non-headlining festival shows). 'I.O.U.' was also set to make its festival debut but unfortunately had to be dropped due to time.

 

Another awesome moment at Osaka: Mike joined ONE OK ROCK onstage! Mike came onstage to perform on the song 'One Way Ticket,' which he helped produce. He came out and rapped most of the first verse and part of the bridge of 'Where'd You Go' before just singing the song normally with Taka for the remainder of it. ONE OK ROCK are big fans and friends of Linkin Park - they were set to open part of the 2017 One More Light North American Tour as well as their following three shows in Japan later that year. Taka was an awesome guest at the Hollywood Bowl, his performance on 'Somewhere I Belong' being a fan-favorite. Following Chester's passing, ONE OK ROCK performed 'One More Light' during their set in dedication to him. Most recently, he joined Mike for his Identity LA performance earlier this year for the 'Where'd You Go' and 'Waiting For The End' mashup. ONE OK ROCK unfortunately isn't performing at the Tokyo festival, but that could mean a number of things (that we'll get to in just a bit)!

 

Watch Mike perform with ONE OK ROCK during 'One Way Ticket' in Osaka!

It's no surprise that these Summer Sonic festivals will be packed of special moments like that, as the festival's always been an important one for Linkin Park. Their iconic 2006 Tour was almost exclusively performed at this festival, which featured the world premiere of 'QWERTY,' the first confirmed performance of 'Reading My Eyes,' the live debuts of the piano versions of 'Pushing Me Away' and 'My December,' and, finally, marked the first shows where 'One Step Closer' didn't close a full set, instead having 'Breaking The Habit' close. In addition, Mike performed with Fort Minor earlier in the day pulling double-duty, with Chester joining him for 'Where'd You Go' because Skylar Grey (a.k.a. Holly Brook) couldn't make the trip last minute. They returned to the festival in 2009 while touring for 'New Divide,' where Dead By Sunrise performed a special set during Linkin Park's first encore. In 2013, Linkin Park delivered a huge show opening for Metallica, before Mike and Chester joined Steve Aoki later in the night for his set for the world premiere for 'A Light That Never Comes.' Great things happen at Summer Sonic, and Mike's carrying on the legacy!

 

For this show, we have more potential for a different set. Mike's set is moved up because ONE OK ROCK isn't playing, which means he has a bit more set time. This should account for enough time to let 'I.O.U.' get performed (since it was dropped in Osaka due to time), and possibly another song. The 'Waiting For The End' and 'Where'd You Go' mashup wasn't played because Mike rapped 'Where'd You Go' with ONE OK ROCK, so that track has potential to come back. Any number of tracks could be subbed in, from 'When They Come For Me' and 'Sorry For Now' to 'Watching As I Fall' and 'Ghosts.' At the end of the day, it'll really just be whatever Mike wants to play that night! You can count on 'Kenji' being played, given its importance. Mike's kept the track record for differing setlists throughout this tour up, currently 7/7 on changing them up (even more if you go back to the start - when you get down to it, from when Mike started in May until now, he really hasn't played the same show twice). Will that continue here?

 

Watch Chester perform 'Where'd You Go' with Fort Minor at Summer Sonic 2006!

 

Is anyone going to the show? After this one, Mike has ONE show left on this run of Asian shows, wrapping up his Asia Tour in Singapore on August 22. That'll be the last headlining show for about a week, with Mike heading straight to Europe for festivals in France and England before embarking on some headlining shows throughout the continent. That tour wraps up when he opens up for Thirty Seconds To Mars in Italy, and then he's off for a month before returning for the extensive Monster Energy Outbreak Tour throughout North America in October.

 

We'll be keeping you updated on everything that happens at this show, so be be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates, and join the LPLive Discord for discussion with fans around the world! We just launched the new LPLive Archive YouTube Channel that is loaded with hours of rare content from the Linkin Park world, and we'll also be uploading videos from the Post Traumatic Tour there, too. Be sure to subscribe!

 

Check out the rest of Mike Shinoda's touring schedule here.

[hahninator]

I bet he squeezes in IOU at this one and shortens the ITE speech.

[RogueSoul]

COMPLETELY different set here. Wow. 'Petrified' opener, WTCFM festival debut, WTFE acapella (exactly like the Faint acapella in Shanghai)... Mike is really having some fun with these sets. Great to see.