2026.06.07 - Rock im Park 2026

[RogueSoul]

WHO LET THEM COOK? After another Rock am Ring for the ages, Linkin Park are still in action as they head over to headline the sister festival Rock im Park in Nürnburg, Germany on June 7, 2026!

 

Rock im Park is perhaps just as important to Linkin Park as Rock am Ring, but it gets the short end of the stick for fans being that it generally is not livestreamed. That being said, Linkin Park has performed there just as many times as they have Rock am Ring, though surprisingly not all in the same year. The band doubled up on performances at Rock im Park 2001, performing their scheduled set earlier in the day which mostly mirrored their Rock am Ring 2001 set, missing some of the shenanigans. This came complete with the 'With You' and 'Runaway' opening combo and goods like 'By Myself' and 'Forgotten.' The band were asked to perform a second set that same day once Slipknot ended up cancelling their appearance last minute, and played pretty much the same songs in a different order (they didn't have much else they could play), moving heavier songs up in the set, opening with 'A Place For My Head' and 'Forgotten'  and even throwing a tease of 'Sweet Child O' Mine' by Guns N' Roses' into the mix. For their first Rock im-performances, the band really showed up ready to work!

 

 

Linkin Park's second performance at Rock im Park 2001 on June 2, 2001, filling in for Slipknot. The crowd initial boo'ed the band, but by the end of the set, Linkin Park had completely won them over.

 

Like with Rock am Ring 2003, the band's first headlining appearance at the festival was slated for Rock im Park 2003, but the entire 2003 European Tour was cancelled to to Chester being hospitalized with severe pains. And while they played a legendary set at Rock am Ring 2004, the band had to skip Rock im Park 2004 due to obligations headlining the Download festival in England (due to the fact they played two shows in 2001, the count of performances at Rock im Park and Rock am Ring still match up). The band finally returned to the Nürnburg stage at Rock im Park 2007, a day following their legendary appearance at Rock am Ring 2007. The setlist was much the same, with songs like 'Leave Out All The Rest' and 'The Little Things Give You Away' being freshly dusted off on this first full leg of the tour and songs like 'Given Up' and 'No More Sorrow' (which had a new Brad Guitar Tease intro here) continued to impress the crowds. It was at this show that the band let the crowd sing the whole bridge of 'In The End' for the first time, too - a tradition that stands still to this day!

 

The band returned for Rock im Park 2012, opening their set with a vicious combo of 'A Place For My Head' (with a brand new show-opening intro that had the fanbase in a headlock back in the day), 'Given Up,' 'Faint,' 'With You,' 'Runaway,' and 'From The Inside' - a true masterclass in epic openings. 'Numb,' which featured much earlier in the set than it normally does, had a false start on it while 'Breaking The Habit' featured a keyboard outro transition that segued into the Ballad Medley. The band brought up a fan named Richard - who had played the unique 'There They Go' and 'Faint' mashup on guitar with the band at their Berlin 2007 performance - during 'Bleed It Out' to propose to his girlfriend before the band kicked into a cover of the Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage.' The band's most recent outing at the festival was at Rock im Park 2014, where The Hunting Party songs like 'Guilty All The Same' and 'Wastelands' got a chance to shine. Other rare tracks like 'A Light That Never Comes' and 'Robot Boy' (the latter in the form of an interlude) also made appearances in this set. With a healthy history at the festival and a massive Rock am Ring performance behind them, we're sure big things are ahead for this year's festival, too!

 

 

Footage from Linkin Park's performance at Rock im Park 2012 on June 3, 2012.

 

Now, let's talk about the big guns: Rock am Ring 2026. It takes a lot for Linkin Park to impress the LPLive team nowadays after doing this for nearly 20 years, but yesterday was one of those nights we were blown away. Kicking the show off by announcing their Unshatter documentary (out in theaters soon), the band made sure fans knew this was a spectacle, with both the fans there and the ones watching at home already exploding with excitement. The surprises didn't stop there, as the band did the unthinkable: instead of opening the show with the regular Inception Intro, they whipped out the old Rock am Ring Intro from their 2001 show, right before performing 'With You' for the first time with Emily, Colin, and Alex, and for the first time overall since 2014! This song has been highly requested by fans since Colin mentioned wanting to play it last year - and they really did their homework for it. Complete with all the classic moments from the iconic "come on!" scream at the intro, Emily matching Chester's color scheme from the 2001 show, and the ever-beloved "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Hahn," it was truly a phenomenal performance. And though the band's set was a shortened 90 minute festival one, they packed it full of goods including 'Lying From You,' 'A Place For My Head,' and what might just be the best performance of 'IGYEIH' yet. To top it all off, Mike even threw in a verse of 'Reading My Eyes' over the extended bridge of 'Bleed It Out.' Ending the show with 'Faint' (perhaps as a nod to Rock am Ring 2007), fireworks sounded off as the band finished up their triumphant return to the festival. This really was another classic Linkin Park show in the making, with the band firing off on a cylinders from performance to setlist.

 

 

Linkin Park's full set from Rock am Ring 2026 on June 5, 2026. This will definitely be another show to add to the legendary Rock am Ring archives!

 

One thing we didn't see much of at Rock am Ring was collaborations - and we know the band has a lot of friends in town for this one. Papa Roach and Architects go on before the band on the Utopia Stage, while Don Broco plays on another. Limp Bizkit's set falls a good 45 minutes after Linkin Park's here as well, and with pictures of the band with Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach members floating around on Instagram now, maybe there could be some magic made onstage between them all! With a shortened festival set again on our hands, its unlikely we'll see too many rotations in the set, but we'll definitely see some flip ups - maybe some different Hybrid Theory songs like 'Crawling' or 'Points Of Authority,' and likely a different heavy song - 'Given Up' is still waiting for an appearance in Europe. The biggest question on our minds is whether or not the trailer + Rock am Ring Intro + 'With You' opening combination sticks around for the following shows, or if that was just a Rock am Ring special. We'll find out tonight!

 

Who's going to the show? After this festival, the band get back on to headlining stadiums with a show in Vienna, Austria and two in Munich, Germany - I'm parked up in Vienna for the weekend ready for the action, so I will be seeing you there! Weatherman Rogue Soul reporting a pretty beautiful day ahead for the festival, if not a bit cool with temperatures up to 22°C and down to 9°C. Dress appropriately and get to have a lot of fun with a lot of great music!

 

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)!

[LPLStaff]

I don't see them running the With You again to open, as much as we want it. Hell I'd take it every show the rest of the touring cycle it's so epic. They probably keep it as the one-off and now open with Emptiness. We REALLY need them to keep With You around in the setlists though somehow. Joe REALLY shines on that intro and the song overall.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

4 minutes ago, LPLStaff said:

I don't see them running the With You again to open, as much as we want it. Hell I'd take it every show the rest of the touring cycle it's so epic. They probably keep it as the one-off and now open with Emptiness. We REALLY need them to keep With You around in the setlists though somehow. Joe REALLY shines on that intro and the song overall.

 

I was just thinking about this

It works way better than Emptiness as the opener also it feels fresh. 

 

The inception and all the other interludes are getting really boring there's no hype anymore. 

 

Just open every damn set with With You, perfect way to finish this era. 

 

What if they show the trailer to Unshatter at every show?

 

[BartBart91]

Perhaps you'll open with "A Place for my Head," just like at Rock im Park in 2001.

[Steve]

I am surprised that there is still little to none fan videos from show especially intro because we need to hear beat situation ..... 90 thousands phones in crowd during show and still no uploads LMAO.