LPLStaff

QWERTY time.

For lack of a better term... the hosts felt aggressive. lol

Nick's family has included Linkin Park in his obituary: https://www.batemanallenfuneralhome.com/obituary/nicholas-c-kramar/ Nick had a passion for music and made many lifelong friends through this love of music. In particular, Nick was a key figure in establishing a longstanding Linkin Park website and global community, LPLive, through which he was able to share his appreciation of the band with others. His detailed knowledge of particulars about live shows, touring, songs, and more were instrumental in this project. For nearly twenty five years, Nick traveled across the country to see the band, hosted his music friends from across the world at his home, contributed frequently online, and more.

Linkin Park's second television performance of the From Zero era takes place on February 10 in Tokyo, Japan for DayDay. This performance was announced by Emily, Mike, and Colin backstage at one of the Mexico shows recently, saying they were excited to appear in studio and perform together. According to Oricon Music, DayDay is at 9:00 a.m. local time and "the special performance will be available on this day only." We'll see if it gets uploaded to YouTube after-the-fact or how this performance makes its way into the hands of fans. Mike says this is the band's first morning show in Japan. As far as what to expect from this performance, obviously it will be stripped-down in some form because of just three band members appearing. It's also important to note that the band plays two days in a row after this performance so it won't be anything too hard on Emily vocally. We'd expect something from From Zero, maybe just one song but there is truly no telling as the band has not performed stripped-down with this lineup yet. This performance of three band members takes us back to how the One More Light era got started, with the full band (and then Mike and Chester) performing together across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and even Japan for Nippon TV. When it was all said and done, there were twelve promo performances for the album, featuring both new and old songs. This was a unique way to start an album era for the band as they had never kicked it off in this style before, but it made complete sense with the toned-down One More Light album sound. The last one of these twelve performances came in Tokyo as we mentioned, and was Chester's last performance in Japan. The song they performed that day was the lead single for the album, 'Heavy'. The band was slated to headline three shows in Tokyo that fall, which ended up being canceled, but we'll get into more of that with the Saitama show threads. This 2017 performance was the first time the band visited Japan since the iconic Summer Sonic 2013 shows at the end of the LIVING THINGS cycle as the cycle for The Hunting Party didn't take them to Japan, unfortunately. So, this is just the SECOND time Linkin Park (in any form) has performed in Japan in nearly 12 years. Wow! As far as the From Zero era goes, the full band performed on Jimmy Fallon the day after the Barclays Center show in Brooklyn in September. They performed 'The Emptiness Machine' with a really unique stage design, before heading off to Europe and South Korea for the rest of the "first leg" shows for the promo cycle. This was just their fourth public performance together after the Warner launch show, the Kia Forum, and Barclays. After Fallon, Linkin Park performed for the Worlds 24 Opening Ceremony in London and had several performances aired for awards shows - 'The Emptiness Machine' from the Korea headline show for the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes in November, and 'The Emptiness Machine' again from Brazil for the Billboard Music Awards. But as far as stripped-down performances in this era, this is the first one! And we have no idea what they will play - maybe a version of 'The Emptiness Machine', or maybe another song on the album. Colin has been playing guitar on 'My December' live (not in the current setlists from Mexico, at least) so he can definitely perform guitar if Mike hops on piano... but we truly don't have a great guess for this one. Let's see what happens! As always, we'll keep you covered on social media and here in the thread about where this DayDay performance will end up being uploaded online. The NRJ performance from South Korea was blocked on YouTube, but lp-bits is the best friend for anyone who downloads torrents in the LP community. Linkin Park returns to the stage full-band for the two Saitama, Japan shows on the 11th and 12th! They then head to Jakarta, Indonesia before just over two months off before a heavy touring slate kicks in. Check out all of the 2025 dates on the Tour Page.

Oh no, I'll explain better. Nick did so much of this work in the era BEFORE YouTube even existed. It was MySpace days, trading lists on sites, FTP servers, email lists, etc. There was no Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, anything like that. Imagine trying to order "bootleg" CDs in the mail from Japan by mail slip doing this. He did it. Imagine trying to track people down with no social media - he did it. Nick would obtain these shows, transfer them and post them everywhere. This is why SO MANY of the 2000-2007 shows exist online, because of his work. He would spend years going on just a rumor that a show existed and he'd track it down and post it for free for fans. Torrent sites, FTP servers, forums, these were the mediums in which he would release them. If in 2005/6, he got the show from Yokohama 2003 (which remained extremely hard to get for years), he'd post it on a forum or in an mIRC chat for fans. This is the origin is a LOT of LP tapes. In later years he worked with @felipeintheend to get shows and they both were really successful at it too. LPLive was created in 2005 and eventually became a platform for Nick (and Felipe) to release shows on. Music For Relief 2005 is one of those. He never made a YouTube account to post shows on because so much of his work was done years and years before that. He saw LP on the very early tours and from that point was interested in getting recordings to share with fans. To explain it easily for the people that have joined the fanbase from MTM and beyond - the reason you can go on YouTube or other platforms (or Google in general) and type in "Linkin Park Inglewood 2004", or "Linkin Park Tokyo 2003", or "Linkin Park Music for Relief 2005", or a LOT of other shows, is because Nick figured out how to track people down, get the shows, and post them online for fans. Besides that he was also huge in the trading scene, he got a Xero tape which helped us immensely as finally someone close to LPLive was able to obtain a Xero tape. When he was selling his collection (a LOT of items) in later years, he was known for just selling very expensive LP items to fans for almost nothing - the cost of shipping, or just $100 on a $1,500 item. He was truly selfless and kind. One day he called me out of the blue and said "hey man, wake up, I have an unreleased LP song called She Couldn't. You need to hear this." That was in 2009. Nick is the entire reason She Couldn't made it into the hands of fans. He is a massive cornerstone of this community and his work is all over this website/Linkinpedia, YouTube, torrent sites, the community at large, and even the Internet at large. Just think - setlistfm has all of these early LP sets now because Nick found recordings. Etc. It is truly an impressive BODY of work by him and because he was so "in the shadows" or reserved online, and didn't want to take credit for things personally himself, I don't think a lot of people even know/knew or understand what he did for the Linkin Park community. I remember the day he found the Palladium 2001 VHS. I remember when Yokohama 2003 finally arrived at his house. I remember when he taped Bamboozle 2007 and Camden 2008. Just truly an icon in the LP world. Honored to have known him and VERY MUCH appreciate his trust, knowledge, and support of LPLive. The LPLive project started in 2005 and he was a major player in it and was super supportive like - "yeah there are a lot of great fansites out there, but I think you can do this idea for a LIVE-only website and be successful with it, we can fill in details no one else knows and be super accurate." Those were conversations we would have. I hope this helps explain. LOL @neil. That's great. Ironically listened to Bamboozle 2007 last night. What makes that recording so much fun is the Jersey crowd around him: "OMG MIKE SHINODA IS SO HOT OMG", after Mike asks how many people have been around since Hybrid Theory the guy next to Nick yells "WOW WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU **WERE** HYBRID THEORY?!?!?!?" hahahaha. Nick and I would joke about the people on that tape randomly for years.

The sound was quite low at the Forum and Barclays. Mainly talking about the intro samples like LFY and POA. Barclays was just not mixed that great, the intro of the show was insanely overwhelmingly loud bass to the point where we had no idea what song was on the Inception Intro. Arlington was a stadium show and sounded incredible, though. That was mixed VERY well, you can even hear in the audience videos how fantastic that was. The comeback show in-person was mixed well at Warner but standing under the speakers that came out into the crowd was obviously better. It's hit or miss. Not sure what to think yet as we are still only a few shows in on the world tour. The 360 shows seem to present some sound challenges for the band. If you are too close at those shows the sound is going to suffer, you need to back up a bit.

We are sorry to let everyone know that a member of the LP family has passed away this past week - @nkramar. Nick was instrumental in the creation of LPLive back in 2005 and has become a very close friend for many. Nick has been around since the early days of the band and is a key reason why so much information on Linkin Park is readily available online. With a few clicks of a mouse, you can watch MANY Linkin Park shows, listen to many shows, etc because of the work he put in to obtain shows and post them online freely over the years. SO much about the early days of the band is known due to Nick's work. Back before social media, back before fans were filming everything on their phones, it was rare to be able to track a recording down of a full show. And that's where Nick excelled. We would call him, in our opinion, the true first archivist of the band's live shows. Tokyo 2003, Yokohama 2003, many 2004 shows, Music for Relief 2005, Japan 2007, Hollywood Palladium 2001, and more... these are just the start of the list. His support to create this website and his friendship meant a lot to us over the years. Nick was gracious enough to host the rest of the LPLive team at his home for the Camden, NJ 2012 LPU Summit as well as for other LP shows in the following tours. In true Nick fashion, @felipeintheend who worked with him over the years to obtain a lot of these shows, has posted an uncirculated audio recording of Linkin Park in Orlando 2003 for download. There are endless stories to tell about Nick, but having him work tirelessly to get "bootleg" recordings from Japan, obtain shows you may have heard of a recording existing from but not knowing how to get it, etc was just a total blast for all of these years. To a GREAT friend - we will miss you, Nick. Pour one out and queue up a great show from the early days this weekend if you get a chance.

Wow the Mexico shows were very good. From the Inside performance, Emily nailed it. Very nice ending scream. That song suits her perfectly and is such a great LP song. It has been played every single album cycle since its released, like APFMH. It's definitely a fan-favorite/band favorite... it was technically a single but not globally blah blah blah (all the technical stuff) but so glad to get it back in rotation. Hope they keep playing it all year. They really could do a Set D, just repeat one of the other intros and use POA/Lost in the Echo. And even an E with BTH/LOATR. There are so many possibilities lol They are doing a fantastic job keeping the shows interesting for fans to follow.

Needs to be a From Zero song. Maybe they do two songs, who knows.

Was thinking about that this morning. Don't think it's ever been in the encore before.

Should definitely drink coffee before posting lol. An entire month off. Hilarious.

Mike Shinoda, Emily Armstrong, and Colin Brittain will be in studio in Japan for DayDay TV, performing on Monday, February 10th. Video of the band announcing their performance: https://x.com/BroodingAnanas/status/1887100816508518551 Rough translation from Japanese to English of the article: "Linkin Park, who released their first new song in seven years, "The Emptiness Machine," and released their new album, "From Zero," last year, will perform live on Nippon Television's "DayDay." (Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m.) on February 10th, just before their Japan tour. Emily Armstrong, Mike Shinoda, and Colin Brittain will appear live in the studio and perform a special performance for this one-day only. Starting on February 11th, they will perform in Japan as part of their first world tour since their new lineup, "LINKIN PARK: From Zero World Tour 2025." Their first Japan tour in 12 years will be a two-day concert at Saitama Super Arena." This will be the first stripped-down performance on TV by the band, taking us back to 2017 when Linkin Park began the One More Light cycle with special performances like this. Let's see what they play! Source here.

From the Inside is coming eventually. If it isn't today or this leg, then April, and if not April then June. They are definitely going to get to it - it's been in EVERY LP touring cycle since it was introduced in 2003 and they already said they want to play it. What a great, great song!

Absolutely fucking crushed it. Great read, loved hearing how great those shows were in Mexico that you attended. The 2012 show is pretty legendary. Awesome stuff - have an amazing show!

Breaking the Habit is better than Over Each Other, Burn It Down, Castle of Glass, etc. Definitely would like to see them rotate it around. Play everything. Let it get some 2025 plays, same for LOATR, Iridescent, etc.

Glad to see Keys back. Prefer it over Casualty.

It seems unlikely they will ADD songs since they have so many shows coming this year - it seems deliberate they cut it down. The touring schedule is intense.

They're going to have to get creative. Rotate Castle with Breaking the Habit and Leave Out All the Rest. Rotate Crawling with Points and Lying from You. Rotate What I've Done with Breaking the Habit or something. There are options. Given Up and Keys with Casualty. APFMH and Lost in the Echo and From the Inside together. They can do it haha

It doesn't seem like this new setlist has many built-in rotation spots. However, we may have said that about the 2024 one. Perspective lol. Just hoping they change up as much as they CAN in 2025 to keep the shows interesting. Crawling would be good rotated with Points and LFY - think Crawling is at a point where it can be rotated. Not really sure where From the Inside could go in... maybe they need to rotate some of the From Zero songs? Two Faced/Casualty, Good Things Go/Overflow? The crazy thing is they have a LOT of songs they have already brought in and out and we are only like legitimately 15 full shows in (or less?): Points of Authority Lying from You Lost in the Echo Leave Out All the Rest Breaking the Habit Friendly Fire My December Keys to the Kingdom (All for Nothing) A Place for My Head Given Up This is honestly a ton of songs - the OG band lineup would never have done something like this this quickly on a modern day tour. It's going to be hard to pop those in and out, but most of those should at least get a few plays each in 2025 to keep it fun. From the Inside could show up. If you need to, rotate something like Papercut too. Hoping Keys to the Kingdom shows up tonight or at the third Mexico show to signify it isn't dead in the water. Great post, @RogueSoul on this one. Really well done.

Alex learned how to play A Place for My Head correctly! Massive upgrade over 2024. That's how it's supposed to sound. Now, LFY and POA will be next lol

Song sounds more intense emotionally with it being heavier. Sounds solid.

Wow what a really strong tour opener. Lost full band, Good Things Go with Phoenix on keys, Overflow with Phoenix on bass. That's great. Of course a loss with the LFY/POA spot and BTH gone, but they'll rotate songs all year surely. Solid start to the year and shows this lineup isn't afraid to start changing it up. 25 songs also makes sense considering they have a massive touring slate coming up.

Wow this is going to be the best one yet. That's great.

As an avid collector of other rock band posters, this is a great move. The 2008 and 2012 posters sold so quickly and are almost impossible to find now online. Definitely will grab some of these 2025 ones.