It has been 14 years since Linkin Park last performed in the Middle East, but the band is finally making their return to the region. Linkin Park was announced last month as a headliner for Soundstorm 2024, one of the biggest music festivals in the world, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The band will be performing in under 24 hours tomorrow night at 21:00 local time (UTC+3) for their first-ever appearance in Saudi Arabia. Linkin Park will be the first of the featured headliners to perform, playing on the main stage—dubbed "Big Beast"—for day one of the festival, following Arabic pop legend Abdul Majeed Abdullah. Linkin Park’s last appearances in the Middle East were during the A Thousand Suns era in 2010. The band performed at the Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on November 13, 2010, followed by a show in Tel Aviv, Israel, two days later. An LPTV episode was dedicated to the two performances and the band's travel to the region. Mike Shinoda also made a two-date stop in Tel Aviv for his solo tour in 2019, but fans in the region have had to wait a long time for the full band’s return—Linkin Park has released four studio albums since their last time there! This is a real treat for fans in Saudi Arabia, with the band's first-ever visit to the kingdom also marking their long-awaited return to the Middle East. Linkin Park is among the latest talent to be tapped for the Soundstorm festival, organized by Saudi Arabian promoter MDLBEAST, now in its fourth year. Soundstorm is the Middle East’s largest multi-genre music festival and has been drawing large crowds of hundreds of thousands year after year. Previous iterations of the festival have brought headliners such as Bruno Mars, Post Malone, and Calvin Harris to the stages in the Banban neighborhood of Riyadh. This year's festival, running from December 12–14, features a lineup with several notable Western acts like Eminem, Muse, David Guetta, and of course, Linkin Park. Several past Linkin Park collaborators are also performing, such as Busta Rhymes, Steve Aoki, and Martin Garrix, with whom Mike collaborated on "Waiting for Tomorrow." These artists are interspersed alongside several very large names in Arabic and Middle Eastern popular music, such as Abdul Majeed Abdullah, Elissa, and Majid al-Muhandis. Linkin Park's last performance was nearly a month ago in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 16th, wrapping up their run of globe-trotting arena and stadium performances. The November 16th performance was part of their two-day filmed performance at Allianz Parque (whose signage was draped over to say "Linkin Parque") for From Zero's global release. Footage recorded in São Paulo will be released as a concert film sometime in 2025. The band delivered two fiery shows to the electric Brazilian crowd, who mirrored the band's energy, with even mellower songs such as "Castle of Glass" sparking circle pits. The band has kept their set relatively stable following the September 5th comeback, though they have thrown in several surprises throughout. This has included live debuts of both "Keys to the Kingdom" and "All for Nothing" from The Hunting Party, as well as surprise debut performances of "Heavy Is the Crown" and "Casualty" prior to the official releases. The live debut of "Casualty" in Arlington, Texas, saw Mike Shinoda drumming up the crowd, calling on all the old-school fans to return to the pit for the new song's bridge. The latest single from From Zero, "Two Faced," made its debut early in the set on the first night in São Paulo, just two days after its release as a single. The song garnered great crowd reaction, channeling Linkin Park's early work, captured here by drone footage uploaded to the band's YouTube channel: Given the festival format of Soundstorm, the band will certainly be making some large changes due to time constraints. Linkin Park is scheduled for a 75-minute set, much shorter than the two-hour performances seen during their arena shows and closer to the roughly hour-long performance on September 5th. Historically, festival performances have often resulted in some mellower songs dropped from the set: "One More Light" was left out for many festivals in 2017 and "Final Masquerade" saw frequent cuts for festivals in 2015. Some of the deeper cuts, such as the acoustic rendition of "My December" that has seen much love from fans, seem like possible cuts to fit Linkin Park's timeslot. It seems likely the band will keep many of their staple hit songs, as well as some combination of the From Zero songs they have debuted so far. Their last performance on November 16th included the four From Zero singles—"The Emptiness Machine," "Heavy Is the Crown," "Over Each Other," and "Two Faced"—and the aggressive thrash-toned "Casualty," which replaced "Given Up" for the last three shows. As "Casualty" seems primed to be a mosh pit staple, we hope that it will be kept for the Soundstorm performance! This is Linkin Park's last performance for 2024, barring any more surprise announcements. Fans won't have to wait long though, as a short three-show run in Mexico is scheduled to start at the end of January, kicking off the band's massive 2025 world tour. Let us know your thoughts on Linkin Park’s return to the Middle East! Stay tuned for updates and come discuss in our forums. Setlist: 01. Somewhere I Belong 02. Crawling 03. New Divide 04. The Emptiness Machine 05. Burn It Down 06. Waiting for the End 07. Two Faced 08. Given Up 09. One Step Closer 10. Lost 11. What I've Done 12. Over Each Other 13. Numb 15. In the End 16. Faint 17. Papercut 18. Heavy Is the Crown 19. Bleed It Out
I almost forgot about this Looking forward the setlist! I could imagine the debut of a new song ... maybe Cut The Bridge? Who knows.
That would be incredibly bold but I would be all for it I don't feel like they debut a new song with a truncated setlist. But who knows, maybe they will surprise us yet again!
SIB certainly isn't the best opener, at the least. Well, it has the advantage of being well known and has a classic intro, but otherwise, it doesn't have the impact required for a starter. Bring back NMS from the abyss!