A Thousand Suns World Tour: Recap and Reflection

As many fans know, Chester recently suffered an injury to his shoulder on the Asia tour which caused the band to withdraw from the DeLuna Festival. The show, which would have taken place on October 16th, was the last scheduled show of this year for Linkin Park. Judging by Mike Shinoda's recent blog post along with tweets by Phoenix and Chester, it would appear that the A Thousand Suns World Tour has most likely come to a close. Whether or not this winds up actually being the case, we at the LPA thought that it would be a good time to recap and reflect on this highly successful year long world tour.

Before we begin, the LPA would like to take this moment to give a big thanks to all of our members and the rest of the fan base who helped to make our A Thousand Suns World Tour coverage a complete success. For the vast majority of the band's shows we had one or more fans that took time away from their concert experience to update the setlists for us, sometimes getting us the set lists and exclusive details ("No Roads Left" etc) before anywhere else. Without your help, our tour coverage would not have been nearly as sustainable as it turned out to be so we appreciate all of your hard work! As for those who wish that they could have helped us out this tour cycle, there's still a chance to do so. If you took pictures and/or shot videos from any of Linkin Park's shows in the past year (or even in previous years), we would like to have them as part of our interactive tour map. Simply locate your date, follow the instructions and feel free to submit them to us via our tour page.

With that aside, the LPA would like to take this opportunity to look back at the year long journey that was the A Thousand Suns World Tour:

WARM UP SHOWS

To properly introduce the world to the experience that was A Thousand Suns, Linkin Park had a few notable appearances before they embarked on their official world tour. Some fans may not remember this, but the first time Linkin Park played songs live from A Thousand Suns was during Kevin and Bean's Breakfast show (Sept. 7, 2010) at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. In that performance we heard the live debuts of "Waiting for the End", "Iridescent", and "The Catalyst." Five days later (Sept. 12) Linkin Park would go on to perform the television debut of "The Catalyst" (albeit a shortened version) at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles which was broadcasted on the 2010 MTV Music Video Awards (video HERE). Two days after that performance (Sept. 14) Linkin Park played their "A Thousand Suns Release Show" in New York City at the Best Buy Theatre (setlist and videos HERE and HERE. ) where they performed "The Requiem", "The Radiance", "Jornada Del Muerto", "Wretches and Kings", and "Fallout" live for the first time. The band would then take about a month off before officially kicking off their A Thousand Suns World Tour in South America.

SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR

In October, the band flew down to South America where they played a total of three shows. Here were the dates from that leg:

Oct. 7, 2010 - Buenos Aires, Argentina, Valez Stadium
Oct. 9, 2010 - Santiago, Chile, Maquinaria Festival
Oct. 11, 2010 - Sao Paulo, Brazil, SWU Music & Arts Festival

At the first show of this leg in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Linkin Park debuted more songs from A Thousand Suns including "Empty Spaces", "When They Come for Me", "Wisdom, Justice, and Love", and "The Messenger." The setlist also featured all 18 songs played in New York City the month before. This setlist (known as set A1) notably saw "Wretches and Kings" open the set right after "The Requiem" which is how most of Linkin Park's shows would open for the foreseeable future. Buenos Aires also brought forth the debut of a live remix of "The Radiance" (known as the "Oppenheimer Outro" on official setlists, as it normally followed 'Numb'), which featured a new keyboard part along with Mike singing part of "The Catalyst" over top a stuttered clip of Robert Oppenheimer's well known "Destroyer of Worlds" speech. It's also worth mentioning that this was the first show in Argentina for Linkin Park.

In Santiago, Chile, the band again resorted to setlist A1, but changed it slightly as Mike sang a portion of "Burning in the Skies" during the bridge of "Bleed It Out." This would be the first time any part of that song was played live. Also, this was Linkin Park's first ever show in Chile.

The last show of this leg in Sao Paulo, Brazil did not see much change from the first two shows except for a slight change in song order, as "Bleed it Out" was moved to the last song instead of "What I've Done" (which had closed the first two South America shows along with the New York show). This would be the order of the A1 setlist for the rest of the world tour.

EUROPEAN TOUR

After taking about a week off for travel, Linkin Park flew half-way across the world to begin their first European leg of the A Thousand Suns World Tour. The dates for this leg were:

Oct 20, 2010 - Berlin, Germany, O2 World
Oct 22, 2010 - Stuttgart, Germany, Schleyer-halle
Oct 23, 2010 - Linz, Austria, Tips Arena
Oct 25, 2010 - Paris, France, Bercy
Oct 26, 2010 - Dortmund, Germany, Westfalenhalle 1
Oct 27, 2010 - Cologne, Germany, Lanxess Arena
Oct 29, 2010 - Hamburg, Germany, O2 World
Oct 30, 2010 - Herning, Denmark, MCH Arena
Nov 1, 2010 - Zurich, Switzerland, Hallenstadion
Nov 2, 2010 - Frankfurt, Germany, Festhalle
Nov 4, 2010 - Manchester, UK, M.E.N. Arena
Nov 5, 2010 - Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, Metro Radio Arena
Nov 7, 2010 - Madrid, Spain, Puerta de Alcalá
Nov 9, 2010 - Birmingham, UK, LG Arena Birmingham
Nov 10, 2010 - London, UK, The O2
Nov 11, 2010 - London, UK, The O2

The first three shows of this leg in Berlin, Struttgart, and Linz saw the same A1 setlist that was played in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was not until the fourth show in Paris, France where a memorable change to the setlist was made. At that show fans saw a special performance of "A Place For my Head" in its entirety as the band acknowledged the 10 year anniversary of Hybrid Theory. This ended up being the only full performance of the song in this year long world tour. However, at the show in Hamburg, Germany, Linkin Park found a different way to incorporate the song into their shows when they replaced "Burning in the Skies" over the "Bleed it Out" bridge with "A Place For my Head." The special bridge featured Mike rapping the first verse of the song and Chester singing the bridge to the Hybrid Theory fan favorite. From that show on in the world tour, Linkin Park elected to have "A Place For my Head" over "Bleed it Out" more times than not. Moreover, at the band's show in Frankfurt, Germany, Mike tweaked with "Bleed it Out" further when he rapped the first verse of the Xero song "Reading my Eyes" during the intro upon a fan's request at a meet and greet. After this show Mike would repeat this every once and a while throughout the tour.

For the first eight shows of this world tour Linkin Park, for the most part, retained the same setlist. It wasn't until the band's show in Cologne, Germany (Oct. 27), that they finally chose to switch things up a bit by replacing "Papercut" with "Lying From You" and "The Messenger" with "Leave Out All the Rest." Linkin Park thereafter rotated this setlist with their original set for the rest of the European leg. Although, in the long run, "Lying From You" turned into a staple song that would be played in most shows the rest of the world tour. "Leave Out All the Rest" on the other hand only appeared in a handful of future shows.

The next memorable performance that happened in this tour leg was Linkin Park's show in Madrid, Spain (Nov. 7) at the Puerta de Alcalá. The performance was a part of the 2010 MTV EMA awards where Linkin Park was awarded "Best Live Act." The band played an abbreviated set which saw "One Step Closer", "Crawling", "Given Up", and "No More Sorrow" dropped from the setlist. The performance of "Waiting for the End" from this show was broadcasted on the award show. Furthermore, the Madrid show was used for a digital six-track EP entitled A Thousand Suns: Puerta de Alcalá (Live) (tracklist HERE) along with the European A Thousand Suns reissue called A Thousand Suns+. The reissue features the regular album along with a DVD of the Madrid show.

To give back to their fans who supported them over the years, the band wrapped up their first European tour leg with a bang when they hosted the first ever LPU summit which took place in London, UK in the midst of back to back shows (Nov. 10 and Nov. 11) at London's O2 Arena (browse several videos from the event HERE). The summit featured exclusive activities such as back stage tours, a Q&A session with the band, and an LPU raffle while it also saw the first ever acoustic performance of "Leave Out All the Rest" and a special performance of "The Messenger." Regarding the two shows, the first night saw a relatively normal setlist. However, the second night featured a brand new setlist that saw "Fallout" and "The Catalyst" open the show and "Empty Spaces" and "When They Come for Me" open the encore. Additionally, "From the Inside" was played for the first time at a show supporting A Thousand Suns.

MIDDLE EASTERN TOUR

After the band finished their first European leg they immediately traveled to the Middle East to play a couple shows. The dates for this brief leg were:

Nov 13, 2010 - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Yas Marina Circuit
Nov 15, 2010 - Tel Aviv, Israel, HaYarkon Park

The show in Abu Dhabi saw the identical setlist to Linkin Park's previous show in London (night two). The performance was the first of two on this world tour that took place at a Formula 1 Grand Prix event. As for the show in Tel Aviv, the band switched back to their familiar A1 set. Although, Chester surprised fans at the show when he began "The Messenger" with a partial cover of "No Woman No Cry" by Bob Marley.

AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Coming off a few weeks of rest after their European and Middle East shows, Linkin Park began their Australia tour. The shows for this leg were:

Dec 3, 2010 - Brisbane, Australia, Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Dec 4, 2010 - Newcastle, Australia, Newcastle Entertainment Center
Dec 7, 2010 - Perth, Australia, Burswood Dome
Dec 9, 2010 - Adelaide, Australia, Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Dec 11, 2010 - Sydney, Australia, Acer Arena
Dec 12, 2010 - Melbourne, Australia, Rod Laver Arena
Dec 13, 2010 - Melbourne, Australia, Rod Laver Arena
Dec 15, 2010 - Sydney, Australia, Acer Arena
Dec 16, 2010 - Canberra, Australia, AIS Arena

The Australia leg began with its first three shows having the A1 setlist. It wasn't until the performance in Adelaide, Australia (Dec. 9) that the band changed things up a bit. At that show "From the Inside" was played again and "Empty Spaces"/"When They Come for Me" opened the encore for only the second time.

The most notable thing to happen in this leg were undoubtedly the live debuts of "Burning in the Skies" and "Blackout" at the second Melbourne, Australia show (Dec. 13). These songs were two of the three remaining tracks from A Thousand Suns that had not been played live prior to that show. As many fans know, "Robot Boy" was the third and to this day it has still not been performed live in any form.

Another thing to point out from the Australia leg is that the second LPU summit took place prior to the Sydney show (Dec. 15). At the event acoustic performances of "The Little Things Give You Away" and "The Messenger" were played to the LPUers in attendance.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

Following the Australia cycle Linkin Park returned home and took about a month off from playing shows. After the break they began what ended up being their longest leg on the world tour. The concerts played in North America were:

Jan 20, 2011 - Sunrise, FL, USA, Bank Atlantic Center
Jan 22, 2011 - Tampa, FL, USA, St. Pete Times Forum
Jan 23, 2011 - Atlanta, GA, USA, Phillips Arena
Jan 25, 2011 - Detroit, MI, USA, Joe Louis Arena
Jan 26, 2011 - Chicago, IL, USA, United Center
Jan 28, 2011 - Minneapolis, MN, USA, Xcel Energy Center
Jan 29, 2011 - Kansas City, MO, USA, Sprint Center
Jan 31, 2011 - Philadelphia, PA, USA, Wells Fargo Center
Feb 1, 2011 - Boston, MA, USA, TD Garden
Feb 4, 2011 - New York, NY, USA, Madison Square Garden
Feb 5, 2011 - New York, NY, USA, Saturday Night Live
Feb 7, 2011 - Montreal, QC, Canada, Bell Centre
Feb 8, 2011 - Toronto, ON, Canada, Air Canada Centre
Feb 10, 2011 - Washington, DC, USA, Verizon Center (CANCELLED)
Feb 11, 2011 - Uncasville, CT, USA, Mohegan Sun (CANCELLED)
Feb 13, 2011 - Cincinnati, OH, USA, U.S. Bank Arena (CANCELLED)
Feb 19, 2011 - Las Vegas, NV, USA, MGM Grand - Garden Arena
Feb 20, 2011 - San Diego, CA, USA, Viejas Arena
Feb 22, 2011 - San Jose, CA, USA, HP Pavillion
Feb 23, 2011 - Los Angeles, CA, USA, Staples Center
Feb 25, 2011 - Salt Lake City, UT, USA, Energy Solutions Arena
Feb 26, 2011 - Denver, CO, USA, Pepsi Center
Feb 28, 2011 - Phoenix, AZ, USA, US Airways Center
Mar 2, 2011 - Dallas, TX, USA, American Airlines Center (ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR FEB. 15)
Mar 3, 2011 - Houston, TX, USA, Toyota Center (ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR FEB. 17)

Coming into the first show of this leg, many fans were wondering if Linkin Park would begin a system of rotating setlists similar to the Minutes to Midnight tour cycle. At this point, the A1 set was being played far more often than the other setlist. This trend would end up continuing for the first three shows of this leg at Sunrise (Jan. 20), Tampa (Jan 22.), and Atlanta (Jan 23.). With that said, slight changes did occur. "Fallout" and "The Catalyst" at the Sunrise, Florida show were dropped for the first time since the world tour began due to time constraints. Also, Linkin Park decided to switch "Wretches and Kings" and "Papercut" around at the Atlanta show. From that night on "Papercut" would follow "The Requiem" in the A1 set.

At the Detroit, Michigan (Jan. 25) show a brand new setlist was debuted called "B11." The set opened with "New Divide" after "The Requiem" and saw "Blackout" open the encore for the first time ever. "Papercut" also found itself in the encore. Additionally, "Lying From You" and "Leave Out All the Rest" returned to the set. It's also worth mentioning that this was the first time "Wretches and Kings" was not played on the world tour.

After the Detroit show Linkin Park went to Chicago (Jan. 26) which hosted the third LPU Summit. Unlike the first two summits, there was no special acoustic performances. Nonetheless LPUers in attendance got to experience the usual festivities that go along with summits including backstage tours and playing the band's instruments on stage. The show that night saw yet another new setlist known as B13. The set introduced "Faint" as another opener to follow "The Requiem." Also, like the B11 set, "Blackout" is again featured except not in the encore.

The last brand new setlist to be played on the North American leg was in St. Paul (Jan. 28) which saw the set named "C5." Interestingly enough, this was the only setlist that featured "Burning in the Skies" which in turn means the song made its U.S. debut at the St. Paul show. Another interesting thing about this set is how different the encore was to previous setlists. It opened with "Wisdom, Justice, and Love" followed by "Iridescent." "Shadow of the Day" was also in the encore which undeniably made this encore one of the "slowest" in Linkin Park's setlist history.

On this leg the band's schedule was very eventful in New York City. Firstly, they played a show at Madison Square Garden (Feb. 4) which was broadcasted after the fact on Fuse.tv. Then, a day later, Linkin Park made their second appearance on Saturday Night Live as the musical guests with Dana Carvey as the host. The band elected to play "Waiting for the End" first (which was the new single at the time) and "When They Come for Me second (the performance to this was broadcasted in black and white, the first time a performance had ever been done as so in SNL history).

After the SNL performance the band left the country to play a few shows in Canada. After their show in Toronto (Feb. 8), Chester tweeted the following:

Unfortunately, his illness would wind up becoming worse which led to the next five shows in D.C, Uncasville, Cincinnati, Dallas, and Houston being canceled. Luckily enough, the two Texas shows were able to be rescheduled for early March, but the first three shows were completely cancelled and never got made up within this touring cycle.

After giving Chester time to recover the band went on to play the last nine shows of this leg, starting with Las Vegas, Nevada (Feb. 19.), which saw an equal distribution of setlists. Three shows (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix) saw the revised A1 set ("Papercut" before "Wretches and Kings"), three shows featured the B13 set (San Jose, Salt Lake City, and Dallas) and three shows had the C6 (C5 with "Bleed it Out" closing) set (San Diego, Denver, and Houston). Interestingly enough, the show in Phoenix, Arizona (Feb. 28) saw the last known performance of "Wretches and Kings."

SUMMER TOUR

After their North American tour, Linkin Park took three months off from playing shows to begin work on their future fifth studio album. During this break, the band put out the instrumental "Issho Ni" which was a part of Music for Relief's "Download to Donate: Japan" release that came after the devastating earthquake/tsunami in Japan on March 11th. Linkin Park also announced during this time between tour legs that their song Iridescent would be featured in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Once the three months of rest passed by, the band kicked off their summer tour which began with two off-shows in the U.S. which were followed by another string of Europe shows. The dates from the summer tour were:

Jun 4, 2011 - Irvine, CA, USA, Verizon Wireless Ampitheater
Jun 5, 2011 - Mountain View, CA, USA, Shoreline Ampitheater
Jun 11, 2011 - Nickelsdorf, Austria, Nova Rock Festival
Jun 12, 2011 - Donnington, UK, Download Festival
Jun 14, 2011 - Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson Globe Arena
Jun 16, 2011 - Helsinki, Finland, Kaisaniemi Park
Jun 18, 2011 - Leipzig, Germany, Festweise
Jun 19, 2011 - Oberursel, Germany, Hessentag State Fair Festival
Jun 21, 2011 - Hamburg, Germany, O2 World
Jun 23, 2011 - Moscow, Russia, Vasilyevsky Spusk - Red Square
Jun 24, 2011 - Munich, Germany, Reitstadion Riem Stadium
Jun 26, 2011 - Imola, Italy, Autodromo di Imola (Racing Circuit)
Jun 28, 2011 - Arendal, Norway, Hove Festival
Jun 30, 2011 - Rotselaer, Belgium, Rock Werchter Festival
Jul 1, 2011 - Arras, France, Main Square Festival
Jul 2, 2011 - St. Gallen, Switzerland, Open Air Festival
Jul 4, 2011 - London, UK, The Roundhouse

As a whole, the gigs played during the summer tour were often times a part of big music festivals. The first show of the tour in Irvine, California (Jun. 4) was no exception where Linkin Park closed out the 2011 KROQ Weenie Roast. The show was actually webcasted live (along with the other bands' performances throughout the day) and memorably was played after a surprise one hour performance by the Foo Fighters that cut into Linkin Park's time slot considerably. The band would go on to play an abbreviated setlist (which was the C6 set without "Burning in the Skies", "Fallout", and "Shadow of the Day"). This same setlist was played the next day at their show in Mountain View, California (Jun. 5) which closed out the Live 105's BFD 2011.

Following their two off-shows in the states Linkin Park traveled to Europe where they would stay the rest of the summer tour. The first show in Europe was in Nickelsdorf, Austria (Jun. 11) where the band headlined the Nova Rock Festival. After that show the band headlined the Download Festival in Donnington, UK (Jun. 12). At both of these concerts they played a similar set to the one played in the Irvine/Mountain View with "One Step Closer" and "Bleed it Out" switching spots. Also, for an unknown reason, "Jornada Del Muerto" was not played in Austria but quickly made its way back into the set the next day at the Download Festival.

On the summer tour there were only a small handful of gigs that were not a part of a festival. The first of these shows was in Stockholm, Sweden (Jun. 14). On this date the band went back to a regular length set which happened to be the B13 setlist except with "Burning in the Skies" replacing "Blackout" and the addition of "Fallout."

Projekt Revolution, a well known music festival hosted by Linkin Park, returned for the first time since 2008 in Helsinki, Finland. The other Projekt Revolution shows on this summer tour were in Leipzig, Germany (Jun. 18), Oberursel, Germany (Jun. 19), and Munich, Germany (Jun. 24). Unlike the other festivals that the band played in this leg, Linkin Park played full length setlists at these shows. This was most likely due to the fact that it was their own festival.

In between the Projekt Revolution dates were shows in Hamburg, Germany (Jun. 21) and Moscow, Russia (Jun. 23). Regarding Hamburg, it was the host of the fourth LPU Summit. This summit is mostly remembered for Mike and Chester's acoustic cover of "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele. The performance was a YouTube hit and got considerable press. On that night a new variation of the C6 setlist was played which had "Blackout" replace "Shadow of the Day" in the encore. As for the show in Moscow, it was a special performance since it was a part of the Transformers: Dark of the Moon premiere. Director Michael Bay himself helped with the design of the stage which obviously had a Transformers theme. Concerning the setlist, it was very short (only 20 songs/interludes). Interestingly enough, the set notably did not open with "The Requiem." Instead, it started with "New Divide" which had a new intro (video HERE) which is now known as the "Moscow Intro." Later in the show, the fans in attendance surprised the band when they all held up signs that said either "Wisdom", "Justice", or "Love" during the interlude. This was followed by a unique performance of "Iridescent" (video HERE) that tried to slightly resemble the remixed version of the song. This entire show ended up being released as an MP3 for free via the "Linkin Park Trading Cards" game.

Once Linkin Park played their last Projekt Revolution show, they finished the summer tour by headlining more festivals. These included the Hove Festival in Arendal, Norway (Jun. 28), the Rock Werchter Festival in Rotselaer, Blegium (Jun. 30), the Main Square Festival in Arras, France (Jul. 1), and the Open Air Festival in St. Gallen, Switzerland (Jul 2.). These shows all saw slightly shorter setlists similar to the ones played in the earlier part of the tour leg.

The last performance of the summer tour took place at the Roundhouse in London, Uk (Jul 4). The show was a part of the month long iTunes Festival where one or two bands played at the venue each night throughout the month of July. Each show, including Linkin Park's, was webcasted live on iTunes. This was the second show on the summer tour to be webcasted live with the first being the Weenie Roast performance which was the first show of the whole tour leg. Prior to this show, Linkin Park teased fans on social networking sites that some kind of surprise was going to happen at this show. The surprise ended up being a piano cover of "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele to start the encore. This came after the positive feedback the band got after their acoustic version that they played at the Hamburg summit a while back. This performance, along with five others from this show, was featured on a six-track EP called iTunes Festival: London 2011 - EP.

Intimate shows in Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angeles, California

Having Come off another two months of rest that came after the completion of the summer tour, Linkin Park got ready to play two off-shows in the U.S. before traveling to Asia to play what would be the last leg of the A Thousand Suns World Tour. These two shows, both being in small venues, were:

Aug 30, 2011 - Las Vegas, NV, USA, The Joint
Aug 31, 2011 - Los Angeles, CA, USA, Mayan Theatre

The first show in Las Vegas, Nevada (Aug. 30) was played in The Joint which only had a capacity of 4,000 people. The setlist for this show had the same version of B13 that Stockholm, Sweden saw except instead of "The Requiem" opening, "Cure For the Itch" (live remix version) opened a show for the first time since 2008. After this performance, Linkin Park went back to their home city to play at the Mayan Theatre. This venue was even smaller than the one in Las Vegas with a capacity of only 1,000. As many fans know, this was the relief show for Japan (AKA the "Secret Show") in which fans that were in attendance had to raise $500 to get two tickets. As a result, the band raised over $350,000 for Japan which all went to an organization called "Save the Children." As for the setlist, it was similar to the one in Las Vegas. The only difference was that "The Messenger" replaced "Empty Spaces"/"When They Come for Me" in the encore. This was actually the first time "When They Come for Me" was not played in a full concert since its live debut in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Oct. 7, 2010).

Asia Tour

After the two shows in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, Linkin Park went to Hong Kong to kick off their first Asia tour since 2009 and the last tour leg of the A Thousand Suns World Tour. The shows played on this leg were:

Sept 6, 2011 - Hong Kong, Hong Kong, AsiaWorld-Expo Arena
Sept 8, 2011 - Seoul, South Korea, Olympic Park Gymnastics Gymnasium
Sept 10, 2011 - Chiba, Japan, Makuhari Messe
Sept 11, 2011 - Chiba, Japan, Makukari Messe
Sept 13, 2011 - Yokohama, Japan, Yokohama Arena
Sept 14, 2011 - Nagoya, Japan, Nagoya Gaishi Hall
Sept 16, 2011 - Osaka, Japan, Intex Osaka
Sept 19, 2011 - Taipei, Taiwan, Nanagang Exhibition Hall
Sept 21, 2011 - Jakarta, Indonesia, Stadion Utama GBK
Sept 23, 2011 - Bangkok, Thailand, Aktive Square
Sept 25, 2011 - Singapore, Singapore, Padang Main Stage

The first two shows in Hong Kong, Hong Kong (Sept. 6) and Seoul, South Korea (Sept. 8) had the same setlist as the Las Vegas show except with "The Requiem" being back as the opener.

One of the most unique moments in Linkin Park's career came in Tokyo, Japan (Sept. 9) which was where the A Thousand Horizons charity art show took place. The event began with an art museum that those in attendance could browse. Following the museum was a special multimedia experience that was shown while select remixes (some made by Joe Hahn) were being played in the background. In the middle of the presentation, Chester came out and sang "The Messenger." Following this, a lengthy Q&A with the band was held(you can watch the entire multimedia show and the Q&A HERE). The event also sold special merchandise in which the proceeds made from selling them went to the Japan tsunami relief.

A Thousand Horizons was actually day one of the fifth LPU Summit in Tokyo, Japan. The rest of the event took place in the midst of the back to back shows in Chiba, Japan (Sept. 10 and Sept. 11) which included the usual activities involved with summits. Regarding the shows in Chiba, the first night saw the C6 set. As for the second show, it saw the same set that was played in the Hong Kong and South Korea shows. With that said, the second Chiba show included perhaps the biggest highlight of the Asia tour. During the bridge of "Bleed it Out" at the show, Mike sang the first verse and chorus of "No Roads Left" (followed by the usual "A Place For my Head" appearance). This was the first time any part of the Minutes to Midnight bside was played live. Mike would go on to do this one more time at the show in Yokohama, Japan (Sept. 13). Videos of both performances of "No Roads Left" can be viewed HERE and HERE. It is unclear if the full song will ever be performed in the future as Mike has stated on several occasions that he does not feel comfortable singing the song live due the vocal demands of replicating it in a live setting.

For the most part, after the surprise in Chiba, the last part of the Asia leg was in retrospect uneventful. Although, "Blackout" showed up in five consecutive shows from Yokohama, Japan (Sept. 13) to Jakarta, Indonesia (Sept. 21). It was not until the very last show of the Asia leg in Singapore, Singapore (Sept. 25), however, for a brand new setlist to be played. The setlist was similar to the Moscow show in the sense that the set started with "New Divide" which for the second time ever had the "Moscow Intro." The second and third songs to follow it were "From the Inside" and "One Step Closer" respectively. As a whole, the set was only 21 songs long which most likely had to do with the performance being a part of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix (which made this the second show on the world tour to be a part of a Formula 1 event). This was also the hardest leg of the entire tour for the band to play as before the Bangkok show (Sept 23rd), Dave contracted a severe case of food poisoning which lead to his parts having to be played by the band's bass tech Ted (one of very few times this has occurred during the band's career). That, combined with other injuries and ailments, plus technical difficulties made the Bangkok show one of the most toughest to play of the entire touring cycle. Mike later thanked the Bangkok fans for being so supportive and giving them the energy to still put on a good show.

At some point towards the later half of the Asia tour, Chester hurt his shoulder which led to "When They Come for Me" being dropped at the last show in Singapore. As already mentioned, this was also the reason why Linkin Park cancelled their last show of the year in Pensacola, Florida which was scheduled for October 16th. The show will not be rescheduled which brings the ATS tour to a close, at least for now.

OVERALL FACTS ABOUT THE A THOUSAND SUNS WORLD TOUR

-A grand total of 81 shows were played on the A Thousand Suns World Tour. That number disregards the warm up shows and the Saturday Night Live performance.
-Linkin Park on this world tour played in five continents: South America (3 shows), North America (25 shows), Australia (9 shows), Europe (31 shows), and Asia (2 shows in the Middle East and 11 shows in the Southeast Asia).

Song totals

Songs played in all 81 shows:

• "In the End"
• "Faint"
• "Numb"
• "Bleed it Out"
• "What I've Done"
• "The Radiance" (all versions)
• "Waiting for the End" (additionally played on SNL)
• "New Divide"

Songs played in all but one show:

• "Given Up"
• "No More Sorrow"
• "The Catalyst"

Songs played 70-79 times:

• "Empty Spaces" - (79) (additionally played on SNL)
• "When They Come For Me" - (79) (additionally played on SNL)
• "Jornada Del Muerto" - (79)
• "Iridescent" - (78)
• "Crawling" - (78)
• "One Step Closer" - (77)
• "The Requiem" - (75)
• "Papercut" - (72)
• "Fallout" - (71)

Songs played 40-69 times:

• "Wisdom, Justice, and Love" - (62)
• "Breaking the Habit" - (59)
• "Lying from You" - (52)
• "Burning in the Skies" - (41) (additionally played several more times over the "Bleed it Out" bridge)

Rest of songs played:

• "Wretches and Kings" - (36)
• "The Messenger" - (27) (additionally performed at LPU Summits in London, Australia, and Hamburg and was played at the A Thousand Horizons show)
• "From the Inside" - (25)
• "Blackout" - (19)
• "Leave Out All the Rest" - (9) (additionally performed acoustically at the London Summit)
• "Reading My Eyes" (first verse over "Bleed it Out" intro) - (6)
• "No Roads Left" (interlude in "Bleed it Out" bridge) - (2)
• "Cure for the Itch" (live remix version) - (2)
• "A Place for My Head" - (1) (additionally played several more times in the "Bleed it Out" bridge)
• "Rolling in the Deep" (Adele cover) - (1) (plus the performance at the Hamburg Summit)
• "No Woman No Cry" (Bob Marley cover over "The Messenger") - (1)
• "The Little Things Give You Away" - (acoustic rendition played at the Australia Summit)

Notable songs that never made an appearance

• "Robot Boy" - This is the only song from Linkin Park's four studio albums to not be played live in any form.
• "Points of Authority" - This was a staple song in the Minutes to Midnight tour cycle. When it was played in 2007-2009 Mike enjoyed rapping verses to old Linkin Park songs along with Fort Minor material over the intro and outro of the song.
• "Pushing Me Away" - The band played this song frequently (including a piano version) in the last tour cycle.
• "Don't Stay" - Played often during the Minutes to Midnight tour, but absent this touring cycle.
• "Somewhere I Belong" - This is perhaps the biggest surprise. It had been played in virtually every show since Meteora came out before this world tour.
• "Session" - The instrumental got played in many shows in 2009.
• "Wake" - In the past this instrumental was frequently played before "Given Up."
• "Hands Held High" - Although appearances have become less frequent, an acapella version has been played multiple times including over the "Crawling" Reanimation intro as late as 2009.
• "Blackbirds" - Although a b-side, this song has still never been played live since its release in 2010.
• Songs/samples from Reanimation - Although a lack of full songs from the remix album is not in itself a huge surprise, Linkin Park in past years have sampled sounds from a few songs including "1stp Klosr" (the intro and the bridge) and "Krwlng" (the intro), which apart from Cure For The Itch were not played this tour.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Earlier this year Chester expressed a desire by the band to do shorter tours, and to release albums quicker which when put in combination with the previously mentioned Mike Shinoda blog post, it seems reasonable to expect the band will take a small break to recover and then continue work on their 5th album. There have been scattered reports and rumors of a potential 2012 South American Tour (as stated by various South American TV channels/Venezuelan concert promoters TuFlash) but no official reports have been made at this time, nor has the band given any evidence that they plan to tour in support of ATS past this year.

So with the potential of this being the end of the A Thousand Suns World Tour, we would like to ask Linkin Park fans to share their thoughts. What was your favorite memory from this recent world tour? Did you go to any shows? Was there anything else that you wish the band would have done or played? Be sure to share your thoughts and stories in our forums, and as always stay tuned to the LPA for all of the latest news regarding Linkin Park's upcoming new album and future tour dates!

 

I want to personally thank everyone for a great tour and the staff for allowing me to post this!

Oh, and I made this too. Maybe this should have started the post?
[video=youtube;xrNp0aOLcck]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrNp0aOLcck[/video]

 

They did that at other summits too. And sorry, I can't type every little thing that happened

But thank you.

 

That was epicly awesome and informative.

 

Definitely, this was a hell of a tour. Wonder what's going to be next...

Got some kind of emotional by reading this. Hope it won't be the last.

 

Great recap! I attended the show in Santiago, Chile and the one in Phoenix, AZ. Both were amazing!

It was a great tour in the beginning, but it became so boring at the end. I'd love Linkin Park to make their shows less predictable. Hopefully with a new album they'll be able to have different setlists, and by "different", I'm not talking about playing the same songs in different order or having one 'different' song per show.

By the way, Linkin Park played in FOUR continents. (North America and South America are the same continent)

 

[video=youtube;3uBcq1x7P34]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3uBcq1x7P34#![/video]

There are 7 fucking continents in my book. I would hardly call my North/South America thing a "fail."

If North and South America were one continent, then Europe/Asia/Africa would be too.

 

Great work guys ! thanks, it was a very interesting read that brought back a lot of good memories.
I didn't even know that Chester sang a part of No Woman No Cry.

What I've liked during this tour :
- I was at the show in Paris that was unforgettable because of the HT anniversary and the unique performance of APFMH.
- I also enjoyed watching the Madison Square Garden live which was very good, we can find it in very good quality.
- All the unusual places : Griffith Observatory, Puerta de Alcalá, Red Square, F1 ...
- Burning in the skies, I love this song and the way it's performed.
- The performance of WTCFM
- Rolling in the Deep cover. I remember a night, last month, drinking some beers with a friend in a bar, the performance was aired on TV, on MTV Fuse. I was euphoric (and drunk).
- No Roads Left

What I "didn't" like :
- I expected to see some accoustic performances of songs like BITS (we see a short one in a LPTV), WFTE, Robot Boy ...
- No Roads Left not played entirely

 

You're right.

 

I saw them in Linz, Austria last October, and it was without a doubt the best concert I've ever been to.

 

Does anyone else think that Robot Boy will never be played live?

(great post btw Ben )

 

Me too. And it was indeed an awesome performance!
I think the only thing that´s left to say is thank you Linkin Park! And thanks Benjamin for this detailed review

 

I went to the show at Madison Square Garden in New York. It was my first live Linkin Park show so I wasn't sure what to expect, but when they dimmed the lights and The Requiem came on, I lost my mind. Great show and great tour, with some bumps and road blocks along the way, but that's what makes any album cycle for these guys so special Thanks to Linkin Park for such a great performance and thank you all at the LPA for keeping the fans updated with the latest news. You all do a wonderful job, and damn, that OP is extremely detailed.