Original image: amigoandco on Instagram Tonight, on March 18, 2026, Linkin Park makes their grand return to the mysterious New Zealand, capping off a very memorable AU / NZ tour leg with a stop in Auckland, by far the largest major city in the country. Linkin Park performs tonight at Auckland's Spark Arena, a 12,000-capacity arena venue (natch) which has previously hosted the band for all their New Zealand performances except one - that's three out of four shows to date. This final show of the tour follows a series of Australian shows with increasingly-wild setlist surprises, so the bar is high to make this last one special. Playing support for Linkin Park in what is sure to be a historic event for the band and the country is New Zealand's own alt-metal goth princess Vana, set to grace perhaps the biggest stage of her young career after only having recently embarked on her first headlining tour. Linkin Park's first time in New Zealand saw them perform at Auckland's historic Town Hall on May 8, 2001, at a time when Linkin Park mania had gone international since Hybrid Theory's release in late 2000. Earlier in the month, Linkin Park played their very first shows in Australia, following that up with their first shows in New Zealand and Japan. Opening the show was the Auckland-based nu-metal band Wash. A review of the show published in the NZ Herald described Linkin Park's set as "energetic and melodic", and highlighted frontman Chester Bennington in particular: The review also mentions Linkin Park performing their hit single "Crawling" in addition to Bennington's "Jane Says" cover, making those the only confirmed songs from an otherwise unknown setlist. The band didn't return to New Zealand again until 2007, playing two nights in a row in Auckland's Vector Arena, the venue which would eventually become known as Spark Arena, on October 11 and October 12. These shows, which kicked off the 2007 Australia / New Zealand leg of the Minutes to Midnight touring cycle, was one of the very first times Linkin Park performed at the same venue for two consecutive nights in a row. The October 12 date was initially the only one announced, but New Zealand's passionate fans caused that event to sell out within minutes (which was later mentioned more than once during the show itself); the October 11 event was then added to meet demand. On every date of the AU / NZ leg in 2007, Linkin Park was supported by the legendary Chris Cornell, who, with his band, performed a selection of Soundgarden and Audioslave hits in addition to his own solo material. Linkin Park went all-out with rotating setlists as they went deeper into the touring cycle, but their setlists generally contained the same set of songs in different orders, serving a perfectly-even mix of songs from the band's three albums. Highlights from both nights include "Leave Out All the Rest" being played on night 1, and frontman Mike Shinoda going deep into the crowd during "In the End" on night 2. Unfortunately, not much decent footage exists from either of these shows. For their most recent New Zealand show before tonight, Linkin Park returned to Vector Arena on February 21, 2013 to kick off the Australian / New Zealand tour, their first LIVING THINGS tour leg of 2013 and their second live event of that year. The show, where the band was supported by Stone Sour, preceded both bands being on the bill for the Australia's Soundwave festival, which would visit five major cities during the end of February and early March. Highlights of Linkin Park's setlists around this time include the Hybrid Theory fan-favourite "With You", which made a welcome return as a staple in 2012, and a new arrangement of "Waiting for the End" with an extended "UNTIL IT BREAKS" rap verse intro and a noisy, shoegaze-inspired ending. There was also, of course, a selection of songs from LIVING THINGS including "VICTIMIZED" (with elements of "QWERTY" thrown in for fun), "LIES GREED MISERY" and "CASTLE OF GLASS". Linkin Park also held the eighth LPU Summit on that date ahead of the Vector Arena show, allowing a selection of Linkin Park Underground members a backstage tour and time with the band members. The fans at this event were able to watch the band perform five songs during soundcheck, buy exclusive LPU Summit merch and experience a Q&A where Chester Bennington uttered some interesting things that NZ fans are probably still pondering to this day. For the first time ever, portions of the Summit were livestreamed to LPU members worldwide, via a platform which no longer exists, and footage from the fan club event was made into an LPUTV episode titled "Auckland Q&A". Linkin Park has gone through a lot even just recently to get to this point. The Australian leg which has just wrapped up was quite the rollercoaster of emotions and setlist choices, to say the very least. The most recent couple of shows in Sydney alone are jam-packed with things worth mentioning. The first of Linkin Park's two Sydney events at Qudos Bank Arena on March 14 arrived with a shroud of uncertainty hanging over it, coming right after the March 12 show in Adelaide, South Australia had to be cancelled due to illness within the band, devastating the fans there. While the band kept fairly quiet about what this cancellation would mean for the rest of the tour leg, both of Sydney's shows did indeed still happen. Support act Polaris of course kicked off affairs, these final two Australia shows acting as a sentimental homecoming and victory lap. Moshers on the floor clearly didn't need to wait for the headline act to come on to start having fun, with the circle pit action almost constant throughout their set. Linkin Park once again abbreviated the setlist, this time in advance instead of on the fly, to accommodate Emily Armstrong as she continues to recover from an illness affecting her vocal performances. The early part of the set included some old-school classics with "Points of Authority" and "Lying From You". Towards the middle, as "BURN IT DOWN" came to a finish, Mike Shinoda decided to keep the party going, holding his keyboard notes at the end of the outro and leading the rest of the band into a spontaneous jam, complete with some improvised lyrics from Armstrong. Old-school Linkin Park fans might liken the result to the short live jam version of "Pictureboard" occasionally performed in 2001. Maybe it will even be developed into something for the next album ... Linkin Park followed this up with another LIVING THINGS cut, "CASTLE OF GLASS"; a few songs later, they threw another curveball, playing "LIES GREED MISERY" as well. This marked the first time these two songs have appeared within the same setlist on this entire tour cycle, let alone the same act having previously occupied the same rotation slot. In the show's third act, Meteora highlight "From the Inside" appeared after also being played during the second Melbourne show. In Act 4, a rotation slot that would have contained a From Zero deep cut was omitted from the setlist as an adjustment for Armstrong. Instead, the band followed up "Numb" with ... the Hybrid Theory fan-favourite "A Place for My Head", starting with Shinoda hyping the crowd after the intro. Perhaps not quite being at full strength given her illness, Armstrong relied more on the crowd than usual throughout the night, with moments like the APFMH bridge illustrating this best. Unsurprisingly, "Heavy Is the Crown" was then also absent from the setlist for the second show in a row, with the band going from "A Place for My Head" straight to main set closer "Bleed It Out". Coming after two shows packed with surprises, and a redemption arc to complete, it looked pretty clear that Sydney would be in for a ride with the second Qudos Bank Arena show on Sunday, March 15. Linkin Park did not wait long to get a little wild with Set A6; after "Somewhere I Belong" and "Lying From You", the band pulled out From Zero highlight "Over Each Other" just three songs into the set, the first time it has been performed this early in a headline setlist. Both the audience in attendance and those following along from home were naturally left wondering where "Up From the Bottom" might end up, or if it would appear at all. A few songs down, after LIVING THINGS stomper "BURN IT DOWN", the From Zero bonus track was performed at a point in the show when "Over Each Other" would typically be expected. Not only were the two songs swapped around, but "Up From the Bottom" was returned to a slot which it previously occupied as a staple of the 2025 North America setlists. After delivering "Waiting for the End" without a hitch, Emily Armstrong continued to prove doubters wrong with a stone-cold performance of "From the Inside", here on a setlist for the third show in a row, before Sydney's moshers went all-out "Two Faced", giving the seated concertgoers quite a spectacle. Frontman Mike Shinoda surprised longtime LP fans with an old-school pick during his medley segment, teaching the crowd the classic call-and-response for the "Step Up" chorus, before launching into the first verse, returning to the chorus ... and, then, proceeding to run a veritable Linkin Park / Fort Minor marathon with rap verses from "It's Goin' Down", "Lift Off", "When They Come for Me" (the second verse this time) and "UNTIL IT BREAKS", all punctuated with the "Step Up" chorus, before wrapping it up with "Remember the Name". Mike Shinoda's support set over, headline act Linkin Park took the stage again to wish turntablist Joe Hahn a happy birthday, putting on Whitney Houston's 1992 classic "I Will Always Love You" (a cover of a Dolly Parton song from 1973) and having a cake brought out. In a literal throwback to 2004's Inglewood, CA show, Hahn threw his cake out to the crowd, amidst his bandmates dancing and Armstrong giving the crowd some soothing vocals over the music - a majestic moment. As Linkin Park does, they then switched up the vibe completely, charging into "One Step Closer". The wider Linkin Park fan community is still trying to find the lucky persons who this cake landed on. Even bigger surprises were in store for Sydney later in the set. Following "Lost", Linkin Park pulled out Minutes to Midnight ballad "Leave Out All the Rest", a move which left the Linkin Park Discord chatters in absolute shambles. This was the song's very first appearance in a setlist since 2024, when it was a highlight of the From Zero world tour sets. Linkin Park brought it to the past again with a fan-selected disco intro for the "Numb / Encore" intro leading into "Numb", an interactive moment they haven't done in some time. They then went further back in time, with an impromptu jam which morphed into a a mash-up of "Numb" and Tears for Fears' 1985 hit "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", which Sydney's crowd kept going after the instruments stopped. The band later had to pause during the intro for main set closer "Faint" due to a medical emergency in the crowd, and restarted shortly after it was resolved, with Sydney's crowd still absolutely ready to go. For the encore segment, Linkin Park returned to the stage with Hybrid Theory staple "Papercut", and delivered yet another surprise with the grand return of what we asked for: "Heavy Is the Crown". After missing for two shows straight, not counting the cancelled Adelaide show, the From Zero highlight was predicted by many to not appear for Sydney's night 2 either - fans who were surely relieved to be wrong. Armstrong once again took to the barricade during the bridge, so fans there could hear her ferocious screams up-close. HITC marked the sixth From Zero song to appear in night 2's set, a step up from just four on night 1 that left some FZ fans disappointed. To put it lightly, Linkin Park will be hard-pressed to top a setlist this wild when they play the final show of the Australia / New Zealand run in Auckland tonight, but we've seen them succeed against such odds before on this very run. All bets are off in terms of what they will play tonight to cap off a very-eventful tour leg. There is one thing, however, that New Zealand fans can be confident about right now: Emily Armstrong is very much back. After performing their one and only New Zealand show on the tour, Linkin Park will be taking a two-month break from touring, before embarking on a European run, a mix of arena shows and festival slots, all kicking off on on May 29 in Stockholm, Sweden. This is much-hyped event in Auckland, given the scarcity of Linkin Park shows throughout the years, and they only have one show to wow the country with. Fans both in New Zealand and around the world cannot wait to see what happens.
SETLIST MARCH 18TH: - ACT 1 (Inception Intro B) - 01: Somewhere I Belong 02: Lying From You 03: Up from the Bottom 04: Points of Authority 05: The Emptiness Machine - ACT 2 (Creation Intro B) - 06: The Catalyst - Shortened (no third chorus; no breakdown) 07: BURN IT DOWN 08: CASTLE OF GLASS 09: Where'd You Go- Shortened (intro, first verse, and first chorus only) 10: Waiting for the End - 2024 intro 11: From the Inside 12: Two Faced 13: Joe Solo - with Colin 14: Mike Solo Medley - "When They Come for Me", "Step Up" chorus, "UNTIL IT BREAKS" verse 3, "Lift Off" demo verse, & "Remember the Name" mashup; with Colin 15: Unshatter 16: One Step Closer - 2024 intro & outro - ACT 3 (Collapse Transition) - 17: Lost - Hybrid version 18: Leave Out All the Rest 19: What I've Done - ACT 4 (Kintsugi Transition) - 20: Overflow 21: Numb - "Numb / Encore" intro 22: In the End 23: Faint - Extended outro - ACT 5 - Encore (Resolution Intro B) - 24: Papercut - Extended intro 25: Heavy Is the Crown 26: Bleed It Out - Extended bridge with "There They Go" verse 1; extended outro Rotation Songs: ACT 1 Lying From You Points of AuthorityACT 2 CASTLE OF GLASS From the Inside UnshatterACT 3 Leave Out All the Rest
Pretty cool stuff, glad to see some rarities in there! Also, From the Inside really became a staple during this last leg.