LPxDBZ

Yes. LPU Legacy members (members before August 24th) get access to pre-sale tickets 2 hours earlier than Passport Plus members, but anyone that signs up now will get access to the later time.

I bought a year of LPU just for the presale access, better safe than sorry. I remember how much of a headache it was buying Radiohead tickets at Wells Fargo Center in 2018, the site kept crashing from all the traffic, and I was very lucky to get the tickets I ended up with. I know the demand is going to be unreal with this too, but hopefully it's a smoother process this time. Aiming for the pit or floor level seats no matter the cost, but I'll take whatever's available.

I see it too, in fact, it was the first thing I saw in this image before noticing Mike's face. It does look like someone facing away from Mike, but now I think it's just smoke, you can see more smoke on the left too.

It would be funny if after all these rumors and speculation there isn't a new vocalist, just Mike on vocals and maybe at most guest features if we're getting a new album. The only issue is touring, unless they get singers to tour with for Chester's parts. I'm still leaning towards a new addition to the band, it makes more sense to me, but who knows.

While the band has always done things like this, for whatever reason I didn't expect it this time, so jokes on me. At least with the Living Things scavenger hunt, HT20 & M20 interactive websites, etc it was a way for fans to interact, but outside of more waiting (September 5th?) there isn't much to speculate here. The Altguy leaker stated hearing there's a new track coming in the second week of September, so if you want to believe that, then this could be more than just live show announcements, we're possibly getting new music at the end of this. Regardless, some fans may be annoyed or disappointed right now, and while I don't love the announcement of an announcement marketing myself, we won't care when the actual news finally drops, we just have to wait some more. That said, nobody should have taken off work or set their whole day around this countdown, lol, that was just setting yourself up for disappointment.

I'm trying to keep my expectations in check, not expecting a new album or a full on tour announcement just yet. I think a safe guess is we're getting the announcement of a few shows (Rock am Ring?) and a new vocalist, if there is one. I imagine 2025 will be more of a warmup year, then touring throughout 2026. I hope Rob is a part of this, but I'm half expecting him not to be.

Always an emotional experience hearing Chester on these unreleased songs, especially here where it's one of the last Linkin Park songs he ever recorded. I don't think FF would've disrupted the flow of OML given how short the album already is nor do I think it's too similar to any other song on the album, but I'm sure they had a good reason to cut it. The tracklist is odd, in a greatest hits release that should represent every era of the band, omitting THP is an interesting choice. While the record label likely pushed for this release to follow up the success of M20, I'm sure the band had the final say in the tracklist and the lack of THP was their choice. And yeah, songs like Given Up and The Catalyst that are important songs of their respective eras probably also should be included, but it's subjective and when you're limited to 20 songs for whatever reason (19 not including FF) it's not an easy decision on what to include. That said, I'm happy that QWERTY will be hitting streaming services and is a song that newer fans may not have heard before. Greatest hits/compilation albums aren't really for me anyways, I'm just ecstatic to get Friendly Fire out of this, I legit didn't expect to hear this song for many more years.

I haven't been following social media much in general lately, so imagine my shock when I get an email from Linkin Park that Friendly Fire is out friday! When Mike talked about this song a few years ago I thought it would be saved for an anniversary release, but it makes sense to keep the momentum going after the success of M20. I wonder what other surprises might be in store for LP fans this year, still hoping for Mike to announce a tour. I've just got to avoid playing that snippet too many times before the full release. Getting to hear anything new with Chester let alone a fully finished song is such a gift, this last year has been amazing for fans.

Song is a short banger and will sound even better live. The bridge could have been more substantial, but I do like the frantic energy of the song. It's for sure the most LP-like out of Mike's solo work aside from Promises I Can't Keep. New music is always exciting, but I'm more excited about seeing him live. I missed the Post Traumatic tour, I'm not missing the next one, whenever that is.

Mike explained it here on this podcast interview starting around 24:30 Mike Shinoda - The FADER Interview (pca.st) We had it mixed originally by Andy Wallace, after we listened to that in the context of everything, we were like let's give it a new mix We love Andy to death, he's an absolute legend, and he mixed Hybrid Theory, he mixed Meteora. It wasn't so much about Andy as it was about the sounds that we gave him We reapproached that mix to make it more presentable for almost like 2023 standards

M20 is crossing off multiple fan "holy grails". TTAMP = Lost, Cumulus with vocals (More the Victim), and Mike basically confirmed Rob's drum track from the Making of Meteora is one of the titles too. Mike really wasn't kidding about this year being an exciting time for fans.

Unlike Lost, Fighting Myself was a step below finished, but it's the next most "complete" track with 2 verses and a chorus. According to Mike, "we had the makings of a chorus that was like 90% done, to the listener it's done". More The Victim is another demo, "More the Victim, released in a version that's basically 'the furthest we got with it, in terms of a demo'".

April 7th is the correct release date. Someone needs to update Linkinpedia.

Mike basically confirmed Rob's drum track from The Making of Meteora will be on the box set. Mike was live on TikTok and played the clip of it from the documentary when asked about it, he said "you'll find out soon enough, maybe you should check out the Meteora box set". This has been a "holy grail" for fans much like Pictureboard and Lost, I can't wait to finally hear all of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLOBokuSFpI New interview with Mike. At around 26:00 Mike talks about Lost and also talks about another unreleased track, Fighting Myself.