Posted on October 4, 2024 by Kevin
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Linkin Park has just posted a live recording of their new single "Heavy Is the Crown" from their concert in London on September 24th to their YouTube channel. You can check out the video below.


Hopefully this is the first of many official recordings from the bands From Zero world tour that we will get to see.

What do you think of the video? Will we get more recordings from the tour? Come and discuss in our forums.

 
Posted on September 30, 2024 by Kevin
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Brazil managed to sell out a 40,000+ stadium in 20 minutes, causing protests outside the stadium in São Paulo, so now Linkin Park has added a second date in the country, making Brazil the only other country to get a second date on the From Zero world tour. The second show takes place on November 16, the day after the first show, and the release date of From Zero, on November 15.


Are you going to this second show? Are you going to the first show? Come and discuss in our forums.

Source: Linkin Park Twitter

Current Tour Schedule:
November 03
- Paris, France
November 08 - Dallas, Texas
November 11 - Bogota, Colombia
November 15 - São Paulo, Brazil
November 16 - São Paulo, Brazil

 
Posted on September 27, 2024 by Kevin
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2011. That was the last time that South Korea got a Linkin Park show. Twice before that, the band has rocked out in the city of Seoul. In 2003, the band ended their Australian/Asian tour in the city, with a show that was finally officially released on DVD on the Meteora | 20 Anniversary box set. Official recordings are something the Korean fans can be glad that all their Linkin Park shows have. In 2007 the band once again ended a tour in the country, this time their ten date Asian tour, and the official recording here comes from the official DSP program, available to listen to here. In 2011 the band didn't end a tour in the country, it was actually the second date on their 2011 Asian tour. There is a great video filmed from the crowd with the officially recorded audio edited in, and you can watch that here.


While Linkin Park may not have visited the country since 2011, Mike Shinoda made sure to stop by pretty early on his Post Traumatic tour in 2018, it was actually just the third date with touring members Matt Harris and Dan Mayo added to the lineup. The show was a festival so Mike had to play a shorter set than he would normally play on the tour, but he made sure to keep some favourites in the set like CASTLE OF GLASS, ROADS UNTRAVELED, Crossing A Line and of course the piano version of In The End.


So, that London show, huh? The band was clearly having fun at this show, being more interactive with the crowd than we've seen before on this tour. Joking around, catching drum sticks, playing with instruments, this was a really good show for the band. Setlist B got played, with Mike even calling it out on stage and giving a shoutout to our friends over at LPLive (but, like ... we're here too, Mike. We also care) Setlist B means that the lyrics being sung over the Inception intros is Iridescent, and that the LOST IN THE ECHO/A Place For My Head rotation spot gets another song added to the rotation. With Heavy Is the Crown being added as the second to last song of the set, Keys to the Kingdom now competes with the other two songs for attention.


Ok, now we know what Set B means. Thank you for the demonstration, Emily.
I also want to highlight the song My December here, and the performance of it that the band gave. As you can see earlier in this post, I've included the 2003 live version of the song. Below is the 2024 live version from the London show. This song that the band wrote in 2000 after the release of Hybrid Theory, recorded specifically for Kevin & Bean's album The Real Slim Santa, has had so many different versions performed through the years, and maybe that's something we'll talk in the future.


Wiktionary
polymath (plural polymaths)

  1. A person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge.
Synonyms: polyhistor, Renaissance man
Coordinate terms: automath, monomath, opsimath
This was supposed to be the second the last show of the tour, with it ending in Bogota, Colombia on November 11th. But Linkin Park decided that I need to write some more of these posts, so they announced three more shows for November. Europe, the United States and South America get one more show each, with the tour now ending on the date of release for the bands new album From Zero, on November 15th in São Paulo, Brazil.

With the advancement of technology, making it easier to livestream than ever before, fans at home were able to watch the Hamburg show on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, getting to experience the show along with the fans attending the show. While we're not gonna ask our readers to livestream the show, if anyone reading this finds a stream or you're streaming it, let us know so we can watch along with you.

Are you going to this show? Have you attended any shows on this tour? Come and discuss in our forums.

Shows left:
September 28 - Seoul, South Korea
November 03 - Paris, France
November 08 - Dallas, Texas
November 11 - Bogota, Colombia
November 15 - São Paulo, Brazil

Setlist:
1) Somewhere I Belong
2) Crawling
3) Lying From You
4) Points of Authority
5) New Divide
6) The Emptiness Machine
7) The Catalyst
8) Burn It Down
9) Waiting For The End
10) Castle of Glass
11) Joe Solo
12) When They Come For Me / Remember The Name
13) A Place for My Head
14) Given Up
15) One Step Closer
16) Lost
17) Breaking the Habit
18) What I've Done
19) Leave Out All The Rest
20) My December
21) Friendly Fire
22) Numb
23) In The End
24) Faint
25) Papercut
26) Heavy Is the Crown
27) Bleed It Out (Reading My Eyes // Bridge)

 
Posted on September 26, 2024 by Kevin
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We now have the first episode of LPTV documenting the From Zero world tour. We get to see some nice shots of the band performing, the band after their show in Los Angeles and even get a clip talking with superfan Sal before the show in New York. Make sure to check out the episode below.


What do you think of this LPTV episode? What do you think will happen in the next one? Come and discuss in our forums.

Source: Linkin Park YouTube

 
Posted on September 26, 2024 by minuteforce
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Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda recently called into BBC Radio 1's New Music Show with Jack Saunders a day ahead of the band's September 24 show in London earlier this week. You can listen to the full interview segment here, where it will remain available to listen to for about a year time of writing.

In the fairly brisk 10-minute interview, Shinoda speaks with endlessly-energetic show host Jack Saunders about reconnecting with the Linkin Park fanbase through the band's new music releases and touring. He reflects on how Linkin Park's songs and live performances have consistently promoted catharsis and a sense of community for fans, and says he still considers this "part of the band's core DNA".

Later on in the interview, Shinoda speaks about seeing the new Linkin Park album From Zero slowly come into focus while aimlessly creating music with his bandmates, and the challenge of moving forward with the band and making a public return. He lastly also touches on about bringing newer band members Emily Armstrong and Colin Brittain into the Linkin Park fold, and the "constant evolution" of the chemistry within the band.

Again, the whole interview is available to listen to on BBC Sounds for a limited time.

Source: BBC Sounds via @Casualty

 
Posted on September 25, 2024 by minuteforce
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Linkin Park's "Heavy Is The Crown" was finally revealed to be the Worlds 2024 anthem just the other day, and both the full song and the official video dropped less than 12 hours ago to great fanfare.

However, it seems Linkin Park and Riot Games have got more in store than just the song's splashy release. Riot has revealed more of the tracklist for the official soundtrack album accompanying Season 2 of Arcane (now in pre-release mode on various platforms like Spotify), and announced the title of the opening track: "Heavy Is The Crown (Original Score)". From that name, we will likely be hearing a new arrangement of "Heavy Is the Crown" made specifically for the show. The track's credited primary artists are Linkin Park members Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong, possibly suggesting that there will still be vocals in this version.


The soundtrack album, titled Arcane League of Legends: Season 2 (Soundtrack from the Animated Series) and containing 22 songs, is set to be released on November 23, which is well after the actual show returns to screens on November 9. Whether or not the soundtrack version of "Heavy Is The Crown" will be officially released ahead of the album remains to be seen, but it is at least likely that it will be heard in the series.

Most of the tracklist was actually made public earlier this month and reported by publications including Forbes and Billboard, but the first track and several others were initially kept under wraps and steadily revealed one by one, with only track 10 now still to be unveiled. We now know that Riot was keeping the major secret of a brand-new Linkin Park song being used as the Worlds 2024 anthem and appearing in some way in the next Arcane season, something widely speculated but only now officially confirmed.

Of course, "Heavy Is The Crown" will also be on Linkin Park's November 15 studio album From Zero. From what we can see, this makes it the only song on this soundtrack album to have not been created exclusively for Arcane, not to mention the fact that it is also the new Worlds anthem.

Linkin Park is joined on the Arcane soundtrack by other big names including Twenty One Pilots, Ashnikko, Stray Kids, and Imagine Dragons, whose long relationship with the League of Legends franchise began back in 2014. You can pre-save the album on platforms including Spotify and Apple Music.

Arcane League of Legends: Season 2 tracklist:
  1. "Heavy Is The Crown (Original Score)" - Mike Shinoda, Emily Armstrong
  2. "I Can't Hear It Now" - Freya Ridings
  3. "Sucker" - Marcus King
  4. "Renegade (We Never Run)" - Stefflon Don, Raja Kumari ft. Jarina De Marco
  5. "Hellfire" - Fever 333
  6. "To Ashes And Blood" - Woodkid
  7. "Paint The Town Blue" - Ashnikko
  8. "Remember Me (Intro)" - d4vd
  9. "Remember Me" - d4vd
  10. TRACK 10
  11. "Cocktail Molotov" - ZAND
  12. "What Have They Done To Us" - Mako, Grey
  13. "Rebel Heart" - Djerv
  14. "The Beast - Misha Mansoor
  15. "Spin The Wheel" - Mick Wingert
  16. "Ma Meilleure Ennemie" - Stromae, Pomme
  17. "Fantastic" - King Princess
  18. "The Line" - Twenty One Pilots
  19. "Blood Sweat & Tears" - Sheryl Lee Ralph
  20. "Come Play" - Stray Kids, Young Miko, Tom Morello
  21. "Wasteland" - Royal & the Serpent
  22. "Enemy with JID (Opening Title version) from the series Arcane League of Legends)" - Imagine Dragons feat. JID
Source: Spotify via @Zak

 
Posted on September 24, 2024 by minuteforce
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The mystery and anticipation around Linkin Park's "Heavy Is The Crown" possibly premiering as the official anthem for Riot Games' 2024 Season World Championship has been building and building throughout these past few weeks, as if the band hadn't already made enough of a splash with its dramatic return at the start of the month! Among other things, we saw a vague subtweet, followed by a little hint on linkinpark.com, followed by a surprise live debut of the song in Hamburg ... and, finally, we got a proper announcement putting all the speculation to rest.

Now, the "Heavy Is The Crown" music video has premiered on the League of Legends YouTube channel and is out to the public - watch it here:


"Heavy Is The Crown" is an immediate, high-energy firecracker. Trademark Linkin Park guitar riffs are complemented with dramatic strings over a breakbeat rhythm, creating a cinematic rock sound fitting for the epic Worlds 2024 championship event. Mike Shinoda delivers some rapping for the verses, making way for a propulsive chorus led by Emily Armstrong. The song reaches its peak in the bridge where it takes a more metal turn, with Armstrong delivering a violent scream likely to shock unprepared first-time listeners.
This is what you asked for / heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise / ashes raining down
Try to hold it in but it keeps bleeding out
This is what you asked for / heavy is the
Heavy is the crown
As with previous anthems, "Heavy Is The Crown" has been paired with a League of Legends-themed animated music video. This visual was created with help from French production studio Eddy Animation, known for their work on game cinematics. Its animation style is beyond anything that previous years' videos have presented, combining 2D digital textures and 3D modelling; the end result clearly references the distinctive, cutting-edge look of the League of Legends spin-off series Arcane, marking the first anthem video to reference the show in any capacity. The video primarily depicts last season's League of Legends e-sports world champions, T1 from South Korea (whose roster includes the formidable Faker), defending their title against fierce competition both old and new, using the abilities of in-game Champions.

Alongside these riveting battle scenes, the members of Linkin Park are shown rotoscoped and animated for brief performance shots, another first for anthem videos. They appear in outfits that seem to point to Noxian military's preference for red highlights, as seen in Arcane, and are seen rocking out in what could be a Noxian throne room. While the Noxus faction has been featured heavily throughout past League of Legends lore, it has so far only been hinted at in Arcane, and is expected to have a more prominent role in the story during the upcoming second season, set to release later this year.

The tenth annual Worlds anthem to date, "Heavy Is The Crown" was previously revealed to be appearing on Linkin Park's upcoming eighth studio album From Zero, coming November 15. These circumstances set it apart from all anthems before it which, by contrast, were written, tailored and released for the Worlds events specifically - until now, no artist has ever premiered an anticipated track from an upcoming album as a Worlds anthem.

In a press release quoted by outlets ranging from Kerrang! to Dot Esports, band member Mike Shinoda says of the collaboration:
“It’s been an amazing experience partnering with Riot to bring this anthem to the global League of Legends community[...] The song is a real highlight of this new era for us, harnessing our signature sound and infusing it with fresh energy. We’re so excited for players and fans to experience this!”
Maria Egan, the Global Head of Music at Riot Games, also comments:
“The Worlds anthem is the music moment that League players look forward to the most each year, and it has become a highly coveted fixture in music across the world[...] As the band embarks on this exciting new chapter, we’re honoured to partner with them for the 2024 anthem. The lyrics for Heavy Is The Crown perfectly capture the narrative for this year’s Worlds and they are a powerful companion to the themes of our music video.”
The music video's connections to Arcane, although not necessarily very direct, lend strength to recent rumours that "Heavy Is The Crown" will appear in the second season of the show in some capacity. And Mike Shinoda is, of course, a noted Arcane fan ...


In the meantime, the song is now also available for listening on digital platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.

What do you think of the "Heavy Is The Crown" music video? Is your head spinning from the sheer amount of Linkin Park activity and content that we've gotten just within this month? Let us know on our message board!

It's pouring in / you’re laid on the floor again
One knock at the door and, then
We both know how the story ends
You can’t win if your white flag’s out when the war begins
Aiming so high but swinging so low
Trying to catch fire but feeling so cold
Hold it inside and hope it won’t show
I’m saying it’s not but, inside, I know

Today’s gonna be the day you notice
'Cause I’m tired of explaining what the joke is

This is what you asked for / heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise / ashes raining down
Try to hold it in but it keeps bleeding out
This is what you asked for / heavy is the
Heavy is the crown

Turn to run / now, look what it's become
Outnumbered ten to one
Back then, should've bit your tongue
'Cause there’s no turning back this path once it’s begun
You’re already on that list
Say you don’t want what you can't resist
Waving that sword when the pen won’t miss
Watch it all falling apart like this

This is what you asked for / heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise / ashes raining down
Try to hold it in but it keeps bleeding out
This is what you asked for / heavy is the
Heavy is the crown

Today’s gonna be the day you notice
'Cause I’m tired of explaining what the joke is
This is what you asked for

This is what you asked for / heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise / ashes raining down
Try to hold it in but it keeps bleeding out
This is what you asked for / heavy is the
Heavy is the crown
Source: League of Legends on YouTube

Special thanks to @.vis and @ScatterMatter

 
Posted on September 24, 2024 by Kevin
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Linkin Park has just announced three more tour dates for their From Zero world tour, they are now heading to Paris, France, Dallas, Texas and São Paulo, Brazil and they are bringing Sleep Token, Bad Omens, Jean Dawson and Helmet with them as openers. It looks like Brazil gets to celebrate the album release with the band, as their new album From Zero comes out on November 15 the same day as the show in São Paulo takes place.

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Show openers:
Paris
- Sleep Token
Dallas - Bad Omens, Jean Dawson and Helmet
São Paulo - None

Current Tour Schedule:
September 24
- London, UK
September 28 - Seoul, South Korea
November 03 - Paris, France
November 08 - Dallas, Texas
November 11 - Bogota, Colombia
November 15 - São Paulo, Brazil

Will you be attending any of these shows? Come and discuss in our forums.

 
Posted on September 23, 2024 by Kevin
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The crown might be heavy, but that’s nothing new for the United Kingdom.

Back in 2017, London got two full on Linkin Park shows, with the first one taking place at the O2 Arena, and the second one taking place at the O2 Brixton Academy. These shows were unique in some ways, they were two of the longest shows that the band had ever played in their careers up to that point. In terms of surprises, in the first show we got Mike adding an acapella verse of Hands Held High to the intro of Invisible, and we also got Stormzy coming out on Good Goodbye to do his part of the song. For the second show, not only did Stormzy return for Good Goodbye, Jon Green also joined the band on stage to help them perform one of the songs he helped them write for One More Light, Nobody Can Save Me.


But while Linkin Park stopped by for some special performances in 2017, they don't top what Mike Shinoda did when he came into town on March 10th, 2019. Not only did Mike bring up Jon Green to help him with the tour debuts of Battle Symphony and Nobody Can Save Me, he also brought out Eg White to help with the song One More Light. Battle Symphony got a nice stripped version with just Mike and Jon playing, while One More Light had Mike, Eg and Matt Harris (of Shinoda's tour band) playing their parts. This show was the only one on the Post Traumatic tour where Battle Symphony and One More Light was performed, with Mike even stating earlier in the tour that he didn't know if it even would be possible to play them.


I was at this show, this performance messed everyone up.
Now let's jump to the present, September 2024, and talk about what happened at the last Linkin Park show, in Hamburg, Germany. The band returned to Set A, and that means that the show and encore intros had CASTLE OF GLASS lyrics again, and LOST IN THE ECHO was played instead of A Place For My Head. Germany had a real thing for Emily, with the entire crowd chanting her name on three separate occasions, and her showing some love back to the crowd. On Bleed It Out, Joe was running around with a camera filming the stage, with the feed appearing on the large screens above the band, until Emily stole it. Multitasking her way through the last part of the song, both as camerawoman and singer, she ran around filming herself, the crowd, and then climbing up on Colin's drum kit, filming both him drumming and herself singing.


Jump to 1:51:00 for the Bleed It Out part.
But before the band ended the show with Bleed It Out they pulled out quite a surprise. They skipped playing Keys to the Kingdom, and instead played a new song called Heavy is the Crown! Yes, the anthem for the 2024 League of Legends Worlds had its live premiere two days earlier than its official premiere on September 24th. On the setlist it was listed that Emily was gonna introduce it, but while Mike was talking to her and asking what she would say, Joe jumped the gun and asked the crowd if they wanted a new song. The song itself is a short but powerful anthem, featuring verses rapped by Mike, classic Linkin Park sampled synths, and a masterful performance by Emily, in the live version pulling off a thirteen second scream in the bridge, making the audience really explode with excitement. If you for some reason hasn't already seen the performance, do yourself a favour and check it out below.


I've been highlighting Emily performances in all these posts... what can I even say anymore?
After this performance in London, the band takes a few days off before heading to Seoul, South Korea to play one show on September 28th. That will be the last performance for over a month... supposedly. Rumours have started creeping up that Linkin Park will play some more shows between the South Korea show, and the supposed tour end in Bogota, Colombia, on November 11th.

With the advancement of technology, making it easier to livestream than ever before, fans at home were able to watch the Hamburg show on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, getting to experience the show along with the fans attending the show. It wasn't as stable as the Los Angeles or New York shows, but we managed to watch a good part of the show. While we're not gonna ask our readers to livestream the show, if anyone reading this finds a stream or you're streaming it, let us know so we can watch along with you.

Are you going to this show? Have you attended any shows on this tour? Do you think the band will announce more dates? Come and discuss in our forums.

Shows left:
September 28 - Seoul, South Korea
November 11 - Bogota, Colombia

Setlist
1. Somewhere I Belong
2. Crawling
3. Lying From You
4. Points of Authority
5. New Divide
6. The Emptines Machine
7. The Catalyst
7. BURN IT DOWN
8. Waiting for the End
9. CASTLE OF GLASS
10. Mr Hahn Solo
11. When They Come for Me / Remember the Name
12. Keys to the Kingdom
13. Given Up
14. One Step Closer
15. Lost (Piano version)
16. Breaking the Habit
17. What I've Done
18. Leave Out All the Rest
19. My December
20. Friendly Fire
21. Numb
22. In the End
23. Faint
24. Papercut
25. Heavy is the Crown
26. Bleed It Out

 
Posted on September 23, 2024 by minuteforce
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No more room for doubt: the official League of Legends Twitter account has outright named Linkin Park's "Heavy Is The Crown" as the anthem for Riot Games' 2024 League of Legends Season World Championship! The song will be used in promotional materials during the lead-up to, and all throughout, the Worlds event, which kicks off on September 25.


Per the announcement tweet, the song and its League-themed music video will be premiered on the official League of Legends YouTube channel at 8 AM PT on September 24. The very brief snippet of the song heard in the preview features a typical Linkin Park octave guitar part paired with dramatic string flourishes over an uptempo rock rhythm - it's no surprise that fans have likened it to "Faint".

In addition to being released in partnership with League of Legends, "Heavy Is The Crown" also serves as the second single taken from Linkin Park's upcoming eighth studio album From Zero ahead of its November 15 release, with lead single "The Emptiness Machine" having been unleashed earlier this month on September 5.

Fans who attended Linkin Park's most recent live show in Hamburg have actually heard "Heavy Is The Crown" in full ahead of everyone else as the band performed it live for the first time. Video recordings from audience members have since made the rounds, revealing that the song features rap verses by Mike Shinoda as well as a fittingly-anthemic chorus led by Emily Armstrong. These classic Linkin Park dynamics paired with an energetic symphonic rock sound have garnered a positive reception from fans worldwide, and created a lot of hype for the song's full release.

Linkin Park is still in the middle of a 6-date world tour ahead of the From Zero album release in mid-November, and it is not unlikely that "Heavy Is The Crown" will continue to be part of the setlists for the remaining dates.

Are you excited for this new single? Talk about it on our message board!

Source: League of Legends on Twitter