Image credit: @radnomadvisuals It's lights out & away we go for the 2026 From Zero World Tour dates, starting tonight in Sakhir, Bahrain! Bahrain is a small island country in the Middle East, located in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with a population of about 1.5 million people. Made up of a cluster of islands with a total land area of around 780 square kilometres, it is roughly the size of a large city. The country is famous on the world stage, among other things, for hosting the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix every year (excluding 2011) since 2004. The band will take the stage tonight at the 10,000-capacity Beyon Al Dana Amphitheatre which has recently hosted artists like Metallica, Ed Sheeran & The Smashing Pumpkins. The amphitheatre, whose construction was only finished in 2020 and can host both indoor & outdoor shows has recently received several awards acknowledging its design as well as its cultural impact in the region. As tonight marks the first-ever Linkin Park performance in Bahrain, and there is no touring history to speak of, check out a gorgeous pro-shot video of Metallica performing "One" (parts of which Linkin Park occasionally use in the live intro to "Overflow") at the amphitheater just last month below. This will be only the 5th ever performance by the band in the Middle East, and second since the reformation with Colin & Emily. The band finished their 2024 touring schedule with a performance in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There, the band played a slightly shortened 18-song set at the Soundstorm Music Festival, whose line-up that year also included the likes of Eminem, Muse & A$AP Rocky. The bands set was recorded by a fan in the audience, and you can check out the full video on YouTube below. The band's most recent performance took place in Mexico City on November 16th. The band closed the Corona Capital Festival, playing a full 2-hour set at a festival for the first time in their history. The band paid tribute to Mexico by wearing lucha libre masks at the start of the encore - check out a photo of Mike & Emily in the masks below. Once again, the full set (this time, pro-shot!) is available on YouTube and you can watch it below. The band performed their "Set B" setlist, however with a few changes, such as "Stained" and "Over Each Other" switching places and "IGYEIH" and "Points of Authority" being played instead of "Given Up" and "From the Inside". After tonight, the band heads for another show in the Middle East, this time in the UAE, where they've performed once before in 2010; before moving on to their first-ever two shows in India. Are you excited that the 2026 tour leg is getting underway? Will you see the band on the road this year? What are your expectations for the year in general - do you see new music on the horizon? Tell us in our forums! Upcoming shows: January 20, 2026: Abu Dhabi, UAE January 23, 2026: Bengaluru, India January 25, 2026: Mumbai, India
Always cool when the band plays in a country where they haven't before! Not expecting any big shifts in the setlist tbh Still same FZ worldtour. But one surprise would be great.
This pic from rehearsals caught my attention because of the guitar Emily is playing. For all the songs that she plays guitar on live (Over Each Other, Let You Fade, Up From the Bottom), she uses stratocasters, but here she's playing what looks like a PRS. Obviously she could've just played a different guitar in rehearsals, or maybe we could get a new song? Chester played guitar on It's Goin Down, Shadow of the Day, Iridescent, Nobody Can Save Me, Battle Symphony, and Sharp Edges, so could one of those be brought back or could we even get something that hasn't been played yet?
I’ve had some bad takes for someone who doesn’t think of this phase strictly as an album and touring cycle, but as a celebration. Whatever hyper-criticality carried over from enjoying assessing Chester’s live voice, I want to eat. Emily has killed it from the gate, even improving in a short time on very difficult songs, and that passion and chemistry is obviously not static at this point. The LP DNA continues to come together again, new, and it is a treat. I can’t wait for that album announcement this year.
I think Chester played on Gibson hollow bodies for the One More Light songs, no? And a Les Paul for "Iridescent". I believe he played a PRS for "Shadow of the Day" and "It's Goin' Down" - of the two I'd say the former is more likely, especially considering Colin has name-dropped it as part of his wishlist. That's my speculative prediction if that photo means anything.
Not Gibson, but D'Angelico. But yeah they look like like 335's. For SOTD he played a bunch of different guitars, both his own and ones that Mike also used. For the It's Goin Down performances he used a black TCM guitar and a red Hamer. Other than Mike and Phoenix (when be borrowed SGs from Mike to play LOATR in 2017 and 2024), no band members have used Gibson guitars in a Linkin Park show. And no Les Pauls, only SGs. Mike, Chester, and Colin have all used single cut PRS models though.
SETLIST: - ACT 1 (Inception Intro A) - 01: Somewhere I Belong 02: Points of Authority 03: Up from the Bottom 04: Crawling 05: The Emptiness Machine - with From Zero (Intro) - ACT 2 (Creation Intro A) - 06: The Catalyst - Shortened (no third chorus; no breakdown) 07: BURN IT DOWN 08: Over Each Other 09: Where'd You Go - Shortened (intro, first verse, and first chorus only) 10: Waiting for the End - 2024 intro 11: LIES GREED MISERY 12: Two Faced 13: Joe Solo - with Colin 14: Mike Solo Medley - "When They Come for Me", "Lift Off" demo verse, & "Remember the Name" mashup; with Colin 15: IGYEIH 16: One Step Closer - 2024 intro & outro - ACT 3 (Collapse Transition) - 17: Lost - Hybrid version 18: Stained 19: What I've Done - ACT 4 (Kintsugi Transition) - 20: Overflow 21: Numb - "Numb / Encore" intro 22: From the Inside 23: Heavy Is the Crown 24: Bleed It Out - Extended bridge with "A Place for My Head" verse 1; extended outro - ACT 5 - Encore (Resolution Intro A) - 25: Papercut - Extended intro 26: In the End 27: Faint - Extended outro Rotation Songs: ACT 1 Points of Authority CrawlingACT 2 Over Each Other LIES GREED MISERY IGYEIHACT 3 StainedACT 4 From the Inside
This is why I leave the live gear stuff to other people. Studio recordings are easier to decipher if you ask me. All I remembered was there were Gibson-esque guitars at one point and Chester having those big hollow-bodied ones for the OML songs. Probably just thinking of the Gibson on "Given Up". Still seems like it'd point to SotD to me but to be seen. Unless it's some other unplayed song from the LT to OML era or something. Or maybe it's just nothing and they are using a different guitar on one of the new songs!