2026.06.05 - Rock am Ring 2026 (+ Livestream)

[RogueSoul]

There comes a moment in every Linkin Park fan's life where we ask ourselves: is it time to go to Rock am Ring? For me, today is not that day. For many others, however, today will be one for the record books. Linkin Park returns to headline Rock am Ring in Nürburg, Germany for the first time in eleven years and the first time since their comeback today, June 5, 2026!

 

Linkin Park and Rock am Ring are just two things that go hand in hand, and that's for good reason. Over the years, the band has time and time again delivered career-defining performances at the festival, and it's time to see if history repeats itself on the band's sixth time there. The story all began back in 2001 on the Hybrid Theory World Tour, before they had reached headliner status and playing in the middle of the day. While that may be the case, the band demanded the crowd's attention as they proceeded to perform one of their greatest shows of the era. With everything from an iconic 'With You' and 'Runaway' show opener, album cuts like 'By Myself' and 'Forgotten,' and even pre-Hybrid Theory tracks including 'High Voltage,' 'And One,' and unbelievably even a bit of 'Pictureboard' as an instrumental interlude -  before we had known what the song actually sounded like with the Hybrid Theory 20th Anniversary release, the performance was known as the 'In Yourself/Be Yourself' interlude. The case was finally cracked in 2020 with the boxset release, making an already historic show that much more insane. Before ending things off with an electrifying 'One Step Closer,' the band even jammed a bit of Guns N' Roses' 'Sweet Child O' Mine.' There's pretty much nothing this set doesn't have for an early Linkin Park show!

 

 

Linkin Park's full performance from their very first Rock am Ring appearance on June 4, 2001. While they were only beginning their world takeover, with performances like these you can tell that everything was already set in stone.

 

Linkin Park's next appearance at Rock am Ring was meant to kick off their headlining history, but unfortunately that had to wait just a bit longer - Rock am Ring 2003 was set to kick off the Meteora European Tour in June 2003, but the whole tour was cancelled just days before the show due to Chester being hospitalized due to severe back and abdominal pains. The band was able to make up their performance for Rock am Ring 2004, another legendary performance from the band seeing them in possibly some of the best form they had ever been in. Now with two albums and multiple jaunts around the world under their belt, the band burst back into Rock am Ring with confidence and even more flair. Meteora hits like 'From The Inside' and 'Somewhere I Belong' finally graced the stage while all the old monsters made their way back into the set; 'A Place For My Head' and 'Papercut' included. Multiple of the Meteora-era live classics also snuck their way into this one, including the Hip-Hop Medley featuring 'Step Up,' 'Nobody's Listening,' and 'It's Goin' Down' as well as the band's cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Wish.' While the band didn't get to fulfill their headlining dreams at this show (Die Toten Hosen were billed above them), they were still able to perform a full set which still gets spoken of to this day.

 

 

Linkin Park's full set from Rock am Ring 2004 on June 6, 2004. An age old debate: which early era show was more iconic, RaR 2001 or RaR 2004?

 

It was upon their return with Minutes To Midnight that Linkin Park finally got to headline Rock am Ring, with the band's Rock am Ring 2007 performance once again going down in history, but this time as more a legend. The label prevented this show from being webcast, so unlike the previous years there is no full proshot recording of this show. A handful of songs were released on various channels after the fact (and a full audio recording does exist from the crowd), but we are largely missing a good view of the whole show. What we do know is that the band once again brought an insane performance to Rock am Ring, delivering the likes of 'No More Sorrow' and 'What I've Done' upon the crowd while dusting off new songs from the tour like 'Leave Out All The Rest' and 'The Little Things Give You Away.' And while we don't have a full recording, the performance of 'Faint' from this show is widely regarded as one of the best in the song's whole live history, from Chester's crazy screams to the unreal solo from Brad Delson.

 

 

Linkin Park performing 'Faint' at Rock am Ring 2007 on June 1, 2007. I know for a fact that this is my favorite performance of the song ever - is it yours?

 

The A Thousand Suns World Tour was the first to NOT feature Linkin Park at Rock am Ring, but that was swiftly corrected right at the start of the next tour. The band headlined the festival for the second time on the Living Things World Tour, bringing chaos at Rock am Ring 2012. The brand new setlist featured a lot of revivals of older tracks, including 'With You' (the heftiest revival, haven't being performed for almost six years at that point), 'Runaway,' 'Points Of Authority,' and 'Somewhere I Belong.' 'A Place For My Head' made a massive return as well, becoming the opening song of the night with a new intro to boot. Tracks like 'The Catalyst' and 'Iridescent' (in the form of the Ballad Medley with 'Shadow Of The Day' and 'Leave Out All The Rest') got a moment to shine after their album tour had missed the Rock am Ring stage, as well as two new songs from the upcoming record: 'Burn It Down' and 'Lies Greed Misery.'

 

The band's most recent Rock am Ring excursion was on The Hunting Party World Tour, headlining Rock am Ring 2014. Another huge show full of unforgettable moments, the band performed their new setlist segmented into "acts" at this show, opening on a massive note with 'Guilty All The Same.' The band bounced between interludes and shortened tracks (a huge debate at the time) to stuff as many as they could into one set, and to their credit, they definitely brought a good variety of music to the crowd with these setlists. Even rarer tracks like 'A Light That Never Comes' and a full 'Until It's Gone' (with its short-lived 'No More Sorrow' + 'The Catalyst' mashup intro) had time to shine in the encore. The original Mike Shinoda solo medley (this version being a mashup of 'Wretches and Kings,' the 'Skin To Bone' Recharged remix, and 'Remember The Name') was also performed here, with Mike whipping out a verse of 'Hands Held High' over it - even a rarity to this day! With five unreal performances behind them and a long anticipated sixth just on the horizon - will Rock am Ring 2026 be another one to remember for a long time?

 

 

Linkin Park's full performance from Rock am Ring 2014 - the last Chester Rock am Ring. Which performance at the festival over the years is your favorite?

 

While the band will be returning to Rock am Ring for the first time in awhile, they've certainly been busy elsewhere in Germany. The band just wrapped up two massive sold out shows at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, and night two was definitely a whole different beast. With 'The Emptiness Machine' with its new extended intro following Inception Intro C ('Burn It Down' lyrics), the show got off to an eruptive start as 'Points Of Authority' made its first appearance on the leg right after. And after missing its first show of the entire tour, 'Somewhere I Belong' returned to close out Act I. 'Cut The Bridge' returned to Europe as well for the first time early in Act II, before 'Lying From You' came in by surprise after 'Waiting For The End.' Mike whipped out multiple 'Step Up' choruses (this seems to be the norm now) and a verse of 'Lift Off' for his solo medley, with Emily joining on drums again during the 'Remember The Name' section. 'Casualty' returned to the set for just the second time in 2026 afterward, with 'One Step Closer' taking out Act II. 'Breaking The Habit' and the shortened piano 'Lost' remained in Act III before 'Stained' rotated in again, two shows in a row but in different spots (and with Emily on keys!). 'Pushing Me Away' made an appearance as the synth intro to 'Overflow,' and 'From The Inside' was the night's final rotation right after. The band once again jammed to Tears For Fears' 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' spontaneously after 'Numb,' giving up after no one could decide which key to play it in. The night ended with 'In The End' and 'Faint,' a classic old-school combo to sign off an astonishing two sold-out stadium shows in Germany.

 

Rock am Ring holds a lot of history, but does it hold time for some surprises? Despite the comeback and headlining slot, Linkin Park is allotted for a shorter set time than usual, getting the normal festival allotment of 90 minutes, similar to some of the sets they were doing in the summer of last year (e.g. Rock for People, Welcome To Rockville). But even with shorter sets, the band found plenty of time to change things up between shows with rotations and even debuts - 'Let You Fade' was performed for the first time a day after its release as Welcome To Rockville! So nothing is out of the question just yet, though some may say it's too late in the cycle for anything new to happen... But all we're saying is since the band has been experimenting with opening songs, an opening with 'A Place For My Head' would really blow our minds. The band doesn't typically cater their setlists to festivals, but we'd like to think Rock am Ring might be an exception this year. We're still holding out hope that 'With You' or 'Blackout' end up making an appearance before the tour is over - Rock am Ring may be just to spot to bring 'em out of retirement! The only rotation songs missing from the tour after the three shows so far are 'Castle Of Glass' and 'Given Up' - the second of which with its nature as a heavy single might finally get its moment here.

 

 

Linkin Park opening their second night at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Germany with Inception Intro C and 'The Emptiness Machine.' With three possible opening songs now ('Somewhere I Belong,' 'The Emptiness Machine,' and 'Lying From You'), do you think the band will keep trying new ones out?

 

As we all hoped and prayed, this show will be livestreamed! The stream will be live via Magenta TV  and MagentaMuzik, and will live on magentamuzik.de. According to the company on Instagram it appears that the stream will be available to watch worldwide! In the event it is region-locked to Germany, make sure to prepare a VPN which historically work with these events.

 

Who's going to the show? Weatherman Rogue Soul is spending his day traveling to Austria for the next headlining show so sadly I won't be there, but I can tell you to pack a hoodie or coat because tomorrow is looking chilly and damp with a high of 19°C and a low of 8°C. Not a lot of rain is in the forecast but expect there to be bouts of it throughout the later afternoon. Doesn't look like anything that should stop the fun, though! The band share the bill with a plethora of great artists throughout the day including Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Architects, Don Broco, Within Temptation, Mastodon, Loathe, and plenty more - the day is absolutely packed, so be sure to catch as many good bands as you can! Linkin Park continues to Rock im Park after this show before continuing the headlining run with shows in Vienna, Austria and two in Munich, Germany - I'll be seeing you at those!

 

As always, we are looking for pictures or scans of a number of items from the band's 2025 and 2026 tour, including wristbands, tickets, setlists, exclusive pop-up store content, and more. If you have anything to contribute, check out our thread on the matter and submit your pictures directly to us - if they meet the mark we will get them uploaded to the show pages and credit you (and also blur your information out where applicable)! Last year we launched an LPLive Newsletter for those looking for more of a TL;DR version of what's going on with the tour than my pre-show posts - we'll be sending it out every couple of weeks so as to not flood your inbox, and will be bringing you an overview of both tour and general news updates, so be sure to sign up if you haven't already!

 

We'll have you covered on everything the band does at this show and everything they whip out for the rest of the year, so be sure to sign up on the forums and follow us on social media (Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook)!

[DerMatze-]

I would love to see Don Broco on APFMH like on Mikes Tour.... :O

[BartBart91]

Let's see which songs get cut from the festival setlist tonight, since the performance is limited to 95 minutes, whereas the standard 28-song setlists run for about two hours.

[Luki98]

This is a festival made for Linkin Park! They played so many incredible concerts there, and I hope tonight's will also go down in history and be remembered for a long time.

The set will be shortened, but maybe we'll see some surprises? I hope so, and I'll be watching the stream, of course.

[LPLStaff]

Bush is really kicking ass.

 

If LP wants to make a statement they should do a surprise.

[BeardyWilderness]

8 minutes ago, LPLStaff said:

Bush is really kicking ass.

 

If LP wants to make a statement they should do a surprise.

Gavin on LOATR?

[Mohnjorrow]

Where can I watch it?  

[Darklight]

https://www.magentamusik.de/

 

[noroadsleftforblackbirds]

What a killer way to kick off the set!!!

[LSAustralia]

With You w/ a new intro?? Fuck yeah 

[noroadsleftforblackbirds]

Just now, LSAustralia said:

With You w/ a new intro?? Fuck yeah 

It was the 2001 Rock Am Ring intro, killer killer call back to their 1st set at the Ring.

[RentEznor]

4 minutes ago, LSAustralia said:

With You w/ a new intro?? Fuck yeah 

 

Someone hasn't watched RaR '01 enough times, or at all. It's an homage to the original With You intro from their early 2001 shows, quite good remake I must say. I think Joe messed up the drum sample though.

[maro_12]

What a nice suprise!

[Chesterchaz]

Wow, With You... they did it! Did not expect it at this point. Even the red jacket could be a homage to Chester '01.

[noroadsleftforblackbirds]

With You opening and then having Reading My Eyes in the Bridge of Bleed it Out! Like What a Show!!!

[LPLStaff]

Takes a lot for this band to impress me or shock me to that level this far into it, over 20 years following the shows closely.

 

This show did it. Holy shit the With You intro was brilliant. The whole start to the show was just insane - movie trailer, RAR2001 intro, With You. Unbelievable.

 

Emily really delivering at this show too. Well done by everyone, this is a pretty great show and the band delivers massively at Rock am Ring once again. This is a CAN NOT MISS festival when they play it - period.

 

With You. It just fucking opened the show. Holy shit!

[Stephen]

I never ever post on a forum, but this show was from start to finish breath taking. A classic one - and I’ve seen many. The big Emily Armstrong Show. Thanks Shinoda for creating a new monster.

[linkin_boss]

Linkin Park at RaR is one of these legendary streaks, they nail it every single time. I'm so glad they brought back With You, I feel it was overdue, it seems like a good song for emily (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they changed the key on that one?)

[c3bebuilder]

2 minutes ago, linkin_boss said:

Linkin Park at RaR is one of these legendary streaks, they nail it every single time. I'm so glad they brought back With You, I feel it was overdue, it seems like a good song for emily (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they changed the key on that one?)

The song was played in the original key

Edited Friday at 10:54 PM by c3bebuilder

[Vinescence]

What the actual fuck did we just witness?! Another legendary show!!

 

The trailer was perfection, bringing back With You and its 2001 intro...let's not forget the nod to 2007 with Faint closing the set.

[Yucker]

The only thing that i didnt like at all was the cryo cannons. I'm going to find the genius that placed the ambient mics near the cannons and put his head into one. Couldnt hear a thing when they were shot.

[Ahfack]

Hell yeah - so good! I got a soft spot for With You - they alllways opened with it back in the day

 

 

[bloodbath]

44 minutes ago, Vinescence said:

The trailer was perfection, bringing back With You and its 2001 intro...let's not forget the nod to 2007 with Faint closing the set.

Absolutely! It was a great detail that might be overlooked 

[Xero21]

Incredible, they crushed it again. My favorite performance of Numb in a long time. With You returning, Reading My Eyes, APFMH.

 

Thank you so much Emily

[xxHybridXeroxx]

What a show. Holy cow. With You sounded awesome! 
 

Setlist was nice and heavy! I really like the four song run of Two Faced > APFMH > IGYEIH > OSC. 
 

Thought also Emily had a pretty good night, no major issues with her voice cracking or anything like in the Argentina stream.