Linkin Park makes a grand return to Baltimore, Maryland tonight with a stop at the CFG Bank Arena as part of their 2025 U.S. tour promoting From Zero, with grandson as opener. This is another city that the band hasn't played in for a very long time. The state of Maryland has only seen four Linkin Park shows to date. Two of those performances have been in Baltimore, the first of which was a show on December 2, 2000 at a bar venue called Fletcher's. This was one of several North American headline shows the band played to close out the year 2000, after spending most of November playing support on P.O.D.'s Kings of the Game U.S. tour. Linkin Park did not return to Baltimore again until 2008, with a show at 1st Mariner Arena. This was part of a North American run in February that year in support of the 2007 album Minutes to Midnight. The band's rotating setlists varied quite wildly during this tour cycle, and this particular show opened with "No More Sorrow" and "Don't Stay", the latter rarely appearing so early in the set during this time. Other highlights include the appearance of Minutes to Midnight deep cuts "Valentine's Day" and "The Little Things Give You Away", and Mike Shinoda delivering a verse from "Petrified" over the extended "Points of Authority" intro. For most of the 2008 tour legs, "One Step Closer" typically either closed the main set or kicked off the final encore, as was the case in Baltimore: Tonight's show in Baltimore will be the fourth on this 2025 U.S. leg, and Linkin Park has delivered quite a few surprises throughout the first three, rotating a variety of songs in and out of the set. Most recently, Grand Rapids, MI saw the first performance of Hunting Party fan-favourite "Keys to the Kingdom" on this tour leg - a total contrast to the "When They Come for Me / Remember the Name" medley preceding it, and also only the second time "Keys" has been performed all year. Other fresh additions for this tour leg include "Cut the Bridge", recent single "Up From the Bottom", and the Fort Minor song "Where'd You Go", still being performed as a lead-in to "Waiting for the End" - apparently, Emily Armstrong's requests can be quite compelling. Shinoda has also been keeping fans on their toes with things like spontaneously delivering rap verses from LP and Fort Minor songs like "UNTIL IT BREAKS" and "Petrified" (returning again!), referencing other artists' songs during the extended "Overflow" intro, and now also prompting drummer Colin Brittain to switch the drumming style for the "Numb / Encore" intro every night. In addition, a fringe theory has been spreading among some Linkin Park fans, suggesting that Emily has secretly been singing "toothpaste / caught in the Lidl" during performances of "Two Faced" ... Following the live debuts of "Cut the Bridge" and "Up From the Bottom", there's now the possibility that more of the band's newer songs will be brought into the live sets, including the recent single "Unshatter" and From Zero deep cuts such as "IGYEIH" - that's obviously not even mentioning Linkin Park's rich catalog of pre-From Zero songs which this new line-up hasn't attempted to play live yet. If you're going to this show, or just breathlessly waiting to watch a recording of it because you won't be there, come and let us know on our message board!
Setlist: 01. Inception Intro A 02. Somewhere I Belong 03. Points of Authority 04. Crawling 05. New Divide - Short Moscow Intro 06. The Emptiness Machine 07. Creation Intro A 08. The Catalyst - Shortened (No third chorus; no breakdown) 09. BURN IT DOWN 10. Up From the Bottom 11. Where'd You Go 12. Waiting for the End 13. CASTLE OF GLASS 14. Two Faced 15. Joe Solo - with Colin 16. Mike Solo Medley - 'When They Come for Me', 'Skin to Bone Remix' & 'Remember the Name' Mashup; With Colin 17. Casualty 18. One Step Closer - feat grandson; 2024 Intro & Outro 19. Collapse Transition 20. Lost - Hybrid Version 21. Stained - Live Debut 22. What I've Done 23. Kintsugi Transition 24. Overflow 25. Numb - Numb/Encore Intro 26. In the End 27. Faint - Extended Outro 28. Resolution Intro A 29. Papercut - Extended Intro 30. A Place for My Head 31. Heavy Is the Crown 32. Bleed It Out - Extended bridge w/ There They Go v1; Extended outro Notes: Mike rapped his verse from the RECHARGED remix of Skin to Bone Grandson came out on One Step Closer Stained was played live for the first time
Ah! Stained live, though it was the most likely one. Only one left to go Another show note, POA is also back, hadn't been played yet in this last run.
My friend and I had a great time. Being in the pit for POA and APFMH was a dream, Where'd You Go made me tear up, and I've always wanted to be at a show where they perform a song for the first time. It always surprises me how hard Burn It Down hits live. I also genuinely could not place the Skin to Bone remix verse in the moment.