August 14, 2025 - Detroit, MI: From Zero World Tour 2025

Image credit: @amigoandco​

Linkin Park’s North American leg continues this weekend as the band makes their way from Chicago, Illinois, to Detroit, Michigan. The band is set to play at Little Caesars Arena on tomorrow, marking their seventh headlining performance in Detroit proper, and the first since the A Thousand Suns World Tour in early 2011. With the band still delivering fantastic performances praised by many fans, their return to the Motor City promises to be another great stop on the From Zero World Tour.

Linkin Park has played across the greater Detroit metro area 17 times, with seven performances in Detroit itself and others in suburbs such as Pontiac, Clarkston, and Auburn Hills. This performance, however, marks their first return to the City of Detroit since 2011—as well as their first ever at the Little Caesars Arena, which was only opened in 2017.

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The band first performed in Detroit in September 2000, prior to the release of Hybrid Theory. This show was during the band's time opening for Kottonmouth Kings on the Ridin' High Tour. Few setlists from these early club shows have circulated, and Detroit is no exception. However, it's likely Linkin Park featured the same ten-song setlist that is known for some of the Ridin' High dates: opening with a truncated "Cure for the Itch," moving through early staples like "And One" and "A Place for My Head," and closing with "One Step Closer," which at that time was their only official release as Hybrid Theory's lead single.

The band returned shortly in early November for Phoenix's first-ever show with Linkin Park, having been welcomed back several days prior to replace touring bassist Scott Koizol. This marked the start of their run opening for P.O.D. on the Kings of the Game Tour. While no setlist is known for any of that tour, some hints can be gleaned from their performance in New York a few days later. It's possible Detroit followed the same format, opening with a remix of Fiona Apple's "Love Ridden" into "A Place for My Head." It's certain that they skipped dual-guitar songs ("Pushing Me Away" and "Crawling"), as they did until early 2001, and likely left out "Cure for the Itch."

Linkin Park's full performance in New York on the Kings of the Game tour, three days after the opening night in Detroit.​

Just a few months later, in February 2001, the band returned and performed in a northern Detroit suburb, Pontiac, for their headlining Street Soldiers Tour with Taproot and Styles of Beyond. This show opened with an extended-intro "With You," and notably included "High Voltage," which was fairly new to the band's setlist at that point. The band's closing run of "A Place for My Head," "Forgotten," and "One Step Closer" brought a heavy finale to this show, with Stephen Richards of Taproot also contributing guest vocals on "A Place for My Head."

By midsummer 2001, Ozzfest had Linkin Park back in the Detroit suburbs for two days in Clarkston at the end of July. These setlists are also undocumented, but surrounding dates suggest they most likely kicked off their shows with a playback intro of Guns 'N Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" to drop straight into "With You." The setlist likely featured nearly all of Hybrid Theory both days—with the exception of "Cure for the Itch"—performed to the largest Michigan crowds of their career up to that point.

Linkin Park's Ozzfest performance in Toronto, six days before the Clarkston performances.​

The band would continue visiting Detroit suburbs: three months later, the band again returned to the Greater Detroit Area for Korn's Family Values tour, in Auburn Hills. Brad Delson was recovering from a broken foot for this show, prompting jests from his bandmates, and the band once again performed all of their debut album minus "Cure for the Itch," adding "Step Up" from their 1999 EP into the mix. Taproot also played on this tour, and Stephen Richards provided guest vocals for "One Step Closer" to finish out the set.

Audio of the band's full 2001 performance in Auburn Hills, including Step Up around 18:40. Posted by LPLive.​

Linkin Park finally made their first headlining appearance in Detroit proper on the first Projekt Revolution tour in 2002, with a 16-song setlist and expanded production. The Detroit show that year included their EP cuts "Step Up" and "And One," as well as an acoustic version of "My December." As per usual, the band closed their show with "One Step Closer," and brought out members of Cypress Hill and Mark Chavez of Adema for an extended bridge.

With the Meteora cycle, the band wasted no time getting back to Detroit in March 2003. The band's LP Underground Tour brought them to the State Theatre (now the Fillmore Detroit) for a show filmed for the MTV 2$ Bill concert series. While LPU demand was low and ticketing had to be opened to the public, the performance there was anything but tepid, and Chester Bennington fed off the crowd's energy, bantering with fans and going into the crowd during "Faint."

The 2003 Detroit performance of "Faint" at the State Theatre.​

They returned again for a summer festival in Pontiac that July, as part of Metallica's Summer Sanitarium Tour. Linkin Park packed their opener set with heavier cuts, opening with "Don't Stay" and including pit staples of that tour like "Figure.09," "With You," and "A Place for My Head."

Full audio of the band's performance at the Pontiac Silverdome on the Summer Sanitarium Tour. Uploaded by LPLive.​

In early 2004, the band then returned to Auburn Hills again. This date also lacks any confirmed information, but surrounding shows featured songs such as "It's Goin' Down," "Nobody's Listening," "Breaking the Habit," making it likely crowds there saw a similar setlist.

The band completed their return to the three Detroit suburbs with a July performance in Clarkston later that year, for Projekt Revolution 2004. This show included the "Step Up" / "Nobody's Listening" / "It's Goin' Down" mashup, a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Wish," and a guest appearance from Korn's Jonathan Davis on "One Step Closer," highlights throughout that tour that would be included on the upcoming fourth LP Underground CD in November.

While footage of Clarkston in 2004 isn't circulated, Linkin Park's full performance in Camden a week later had the same setlist, giving an idea of what it was like in Clarkston! ​

After Linkin Park's break from touring across 2005 and 2006, they came right back to Clarkston for Projekt Revolution in August 2007. "One Step Closer" had finally made its shift to opener at this point, with its extended "Gunshot" intro, and the band did not let up for nine songs. They immediately followed with "Lying from You," then played "Somewhere I Belong," "No More Sorrow," "Papercut," and "Points of Authority." The band gave crowds a slight break with "Wake" to lead back into the high energy with "Given Up," immediately followed by "Don't Stay" and "From the Inside," finally slowing their pace with "Leave Out All the Rest." Quite the opening run!

Full footage from a webcast of the 2007 Clarkston show.​

The next year brought the band back to Detroit proper once again for Projekt Revolution 2008. Though it was performed for nearly all other dates of that tour, "My December" was dropped in Detroit. Still, the band brought out many great performances: Mike opened "Points of Authority" with a verse of "Dolla" from Fort Minor's We Major mixtape, and the band closed out with an extended "Bleed It Out" that included a Rob Bourdon drum solo and crowd singalong.

A fan recording of "Wake" and "Given Up" from Detroit on Projekt Revolution 2008.​

The A Thousand Suns world tour brought Linkin Park to Detroit proper one last time in January 2011. This set, as usual for that tour cycle, emphasized the atmospheric transitions and interconnected live arrangements that defined that album’s live experience: "The Requiem" opening into "The Radiance," "Fallout" segueing into "The Catalyst," and other transitions taken straight from the album such as "Wisdom, Justice, and Love" into "Iridescent." Mike rapped the first verse of "A Place for My Head" during "Bleed It Out," and the band also moved "Papercut" into the encore for the first time.

Linkin Park performs "Numb" with its piano outro in Detroit, featuring the recording of Robert J. Oppenheimer used on the album version of "The Radiance."​

In August 2012, Auburn Hills hosted the Honda Civic Tour, with the band traveling back to eastern Michigan with their openers Incubus and MUTEMATH. "With You" had returned to its historical opening spot, complete with a new live intro featuring Ramin Djawadi's Game of Thrones theme, and the show included many highlights and mashups from the LIVING THINGS touring era: "VICTIMIZED" with "QWERTY," "Waiting for the End" with the "UNTIL IT BREAKS" intro, and full songs from the band's newest album such as "IN MY REMAINS" and "LOST IN THE ECHO."

A fan recording of the 2012 "VICTIMIZED" and "QWERTY" mashup performed in Auburn Hills.​

Clarkston hosted the band for one last Detroit-area performance in August 2014 for the Carnivores Tour. After opening with "Guilty All the Same," the band moved their way through the series of breakneck mashups and shortened songs that defined this era's packed setlists, including "Runaway" transitioning into "Wastelands," as well as the first verse of "With You" over an extended drum loop intro to "Until It's Gone."

"Given Up," live from Clarkston in 2014, captured by the one and only Erynn Halvorson.​

Now, in 2025 just 16 days shy of a full 11 years since their last visit to the Detroit area, Linkin Park will be making their return to Detroit in this new era. The band has been tearing across the U.S. eastern seaboard, Canada, and most recently Chicago, delivering widely-praised performances each time. Emily Armstrong brought out the full 16-second scream for "Heavy Is the Crown" at both Montréal dates, and the recent return of "LIES GREED MISERY" has solidified, rotating with "CASTLE OF GLASS" between dates.

"Heavy Is the Crown" from Montréal night one, complete with the full scream by Emily.​

The most recent show in Chicago brought out the band's "B" setlist structure, with "Cut the Bridge," "Given Up," "Good Things Go," and "A Place for My Head" rotating in. The band also brought a surprise for mutual fans of Chicago punk band Rise Against, as vocalist Tim McIlrath came out to feature on "One Step Closer."

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against performs "One Step Closer" with Linkin Park in Chicago.​

This North American leg has been fairly consistent in structure, with mostly smaller twists defining the setlists. The encore closers continue to swap with the main set closers, and the band now has several rotating spots on the setlist to keep things different between dates. Mike also finally performed a new verse during his solo mashup set, bringing out his first verse from the X-Ecutioners collaboration "It's Goin' Down" in Chicago. We've previously speculated on some other staples mashup verses he's used in the past that haven't come to be, such as "High Voltage" or "Hands Held High"—could this be a signal that these may finally pop up at some point? Whether or not Detroit gets a true curveball, the city's history suggests this will be another great performance from Linkin Park, as they continue to make their way through their longest tour leg of the From Zero World Tour.

Full footage of the band's last performance in Chicago. At about 35:46 Mike decides to perform the first verse of "It's Goin' Down."​

With livestreaming becoming more accessible than ever, fans at home have been able to watch shows on social media via YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram livestreams from attendees. While we are not asking our readers to livestream the show, if anyone reading this finds a stream or is streaming it themselves, let us know so we can watch along with you!

Are you attending the Detroit show at Little Caesars Arena? Head over to our official LPA Meetup Thread to let us know if so! As always, share your photos and videos with us on Instagram or X @LPAssociation, and come discuss with us on our forums!

Upcoming Shows:
Aug. 16, 2025: Philadelphia, PA
Aug. 19, 2025: Pittsburgh, PA
Aug. 21, 2025: Nashville, TN
Aug. 23, 2025: St. Louis, MO
Aug. 25, 2025: Milwaukee, WI
Aug. 27, 2025: Minneapolis, MN