linkin park china tour

• Statistics Stats
• You are here:

Linkin Park

• July 26, 2015 Setlist

Linkin Park Setlist at Workers' Stadium, Beijing, China

• Edit setlist songs
• Edit venue & date
• Edit set times
• Add to festival
• Report setlist

Tour: The Hunting Party Tour statistics Add setlist

• Papercut ( Extended intro ) Play Video
• Given Up ( Extended outro, censored ) Play Video
• Points of Authority Play Video
• One Step Closer Play Video
• A Line in the Sand ( Extended intro ) Play Video
• From the Inside Play Video
• Runaway ( Shortened, bridge transition into... ) Play Video
• Wastelands Play Video
• Castle of Glass ( Experience version, Wisdom, Justice and Love bridge, The Radiance outro ) Play Video
• Leave Out All the Rest / Shadow of the Day / Iridescent ( Ballad Medley ) Play Video
• Robot Boy ( Shortened, Instrumental ) Play Video
• Joe Hahn Solo ( w/ Wretches and Kings, Victimized Remix, Buy Myself, Cure for the Itch, Session, Plc.4.Mie Haed ) Play Video
• New Divide Play Video
• Breaking the Habit Play Video
• Darker Than Blood ( Steve Aoki  cover) ( Shortened, Intro Version ) Play Video
• Burn It Down Play Video
• Final Masquerade Play Video
• Remember the Name ( Fort Minor  cover) ( Shortened, censored ) Play Video
• Welcome ( Fort Minor  cover) ( Shortened, censored ) Play Video
• Numb ( Numb/Encore intro+outro ) Play Video
• In the End Play Video
• Faint ( Extended outro ) Play Video
• Waiting for the End ( Apaches intro w/ Until it Breaks Verse 3, Wall of Noise outro ) Play Video
• What I've Done ( Extended bridge w/ Guitar Solo ) Play Video
• Bleed It Out ( Extended intro, Extended bridge w/ audience singing, Extended outro, censored ) Play Video

Note: The band had a number of technical issues throughout the night, most noticeably at the starts of Given Up and Ballad Medley, as well as microphone issues during New Divide and Final Masquerade

Edits and Comments

7 activities (last edit by pomes27 , 27 Jul 2015, 11:04 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• One Step Closer
• Points of Authority
• Breaking the Habit
• From the Inside
• Bleed It Out
• What I've Done
• A Line in the Sand
• Final Masquerade
• Darker Than Blood by Steve Aoki
• Remember the Name by Fort Minor
• Welcome by Fort Minor
• Waiting for the End
• Burn It Down
• Castle of Glass
• Leave Out All the Rest / Shadow of the Day / Iridescent
• Joe Hahn Solo

Complete Album stats

More from this Artist

• More Setlists
• Artist Statistics
• Add setlist

Related News

Setlist History: The 20th Anniversary of Linkin Park in Las Vegas

On This Day in 2017, Linkin Park Kicked Off One More Light Tour

Linkin Park Live Debuted 8 "Meteroa" Songs On This Day in 2003

Setlist History: Linkin Park's Last Show, RIP Chester

Linkin park gig timeline.

• Jul 22 2015 HongKou Stadium Shanghai, China Add time Add time
• Jul 24 2015 Chongqing Olympic Sports Center Chongqing, China Add time Add time
• Jul 26 2015 Workers' Stadium This Setlist Beijing, China Add time Add time
• Aug 20 2015 Pukkelpop 2015 Hasselt, Belgium Add time Add time
• Aug 22 2015 FM4 Frequency Festival 2015 St. Pölten, Austria Add time Add time

3 people were there

• daliladenadie
• StargazerJW

Share or embed this setlist

Use this setlist for your event review and get all updates automatically!

<div style="text-align: center;" class="setlistImage"><a href="https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/linkin-park/2015/workers-stadium-beijing-china-1bf611a0.html" title="Linkin Park Setlist Workers&#039; Stadium, Beijing, China 2015, The Hunting Party" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.setlist.fm/widgets/setlist-image-v1?id=1bf611a0" alt="Linkin Park Setlist Workers&#039; Stadium, Beijing, China 2015, The Hunting Party" style="border: 0;" /></a> <div><a href="https://www.setlist.fm/edit?setlist=1bf611a0&amp;step=song">Edit this setlist</a> | <a href="https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/linkin-park-bd6bdae.html">More Linkin Park setlists</a></div></div>

Last.fm Event Review

[url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/linkin-park/2015/workers-stadium-beijing-china-1bf611a0.html][img]https://www.setlist.fm/widgets/setlist-image-v1?id=1bf611a0[/img][/url] [url=https://www.setlist.fm/edit?setlist=1bf611a0&amp;step=song]Edit this setlist[/url] | [url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/linkin-park-bd6bdae.html]More Linkin Park setlists[/url]

Tour Update

Marquee memories: the dandy warhols.

• The Dandy Warhols
• Apr 19, 2024
• Apr 18, 2024
• Apr 17, 2024
• Apr 16, 2024
• Apr 15, 2024
• Apr 14, 2024
• FAQ | Help | About
• Terms of Service
• Ad Choices | Privacy Policy
• Feature requests
• Songtexte.com

Please Change Your Browser

Internet Explorer is no longer supported. It is recommended to use other browsers.

• Media Coverage

DJI Partners with Linkin Park to Capture Their Record-breaking China Tour

News 2016-02-02

In the summer of 2015, world-renowned rock band, LINKIN PARK returned to China after six years with their The Hunting Party World Tour, and became the first western rock band to play a five stadium tour in China.  

To capture this moment in history, DJI was given the opportunity to film the full intensity of the performance and provide exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage using the latest in handheld and aerial imaging technology. The result is a special DJI Story dedicated to Linkin Park, and a behind the scenes tour diary, showing a side of Linkin Park that’s never been seen before.

In the diary, the band shared their thoughts on touring China to meet a new, billion strong audience and a market that is for most Western artists still an uncharted territory, and their experience of visiting Shanghai, with its cosmopolitan architecture and it's rapidly growing art scene.

At every tour stop, our skilled cinematographers were by the band's side to record their journey using the DJI Ronin and Ronin-M handheld gimbal systems paired with a RED EPIC camera and the smaller, more lightweight Panasonic GH4 camera. In Shenzhen, they also used aerial platforms including the S1000, Inspire 1 and Phantom 3 Professional to make a permanent record of the show.

We had a great time travelling and working with Linkin Park and hope you enjoyed this story. Stay tuned for more DJI Stories!  

Recent News

Double Your Aerial Imaging Skills With DJI’s New Air 3 Drone

News 2023-07-25

DJI Records More Than 1,000 People Rescued By Drones Globally

News 2023-07-11

DJI’s New Matrice 350 RTK Redefines the Ultimate Tool for the Commercial Drone Industry

News 2023-05-18

SUBSCRIBE TO DJI

Be the first to get updates and new offers.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Linkin Park-The Hunting Party CHINA TOUR (ShangHai) 2015.7.2

更适合中国大学生体质的论文辅助工具！

【林肯公园】演唱会还原录音室合辑09 [The Soldier 09] - Linkin Park

【林肯公园】The Catalyst (2017 Studio Version) - Linkin Park

【林肯公园】A Line In The Sand最佳现场：Live In Beijing 2015

【林肯公园】Lying From You (Extended Intro / Outro Studio) - Linkin Park

十年前学校里吼林肯公园 Linkin Park - Enth E Nd Remix 被切了三次的黑历史 以及ITE、And One、RTN、POA、IBG串烧

周杰伦杭州演唱会外场，《不能说的秘密》燃爆，全场大合唱！！！

伴原唱学原曲：Somewhere I Belong - Linkin Park歌词发音标注 容我之处

【翻唱】🎵林肯公园经典歌曲《过去的我》🎤 What I've Done - Linkin Park【Evil Neuro/中英字幕】

Linkin Park Faint live KROQ AAC 2007 超强现场

【林肯公园】Lost in the Echo (2021 Ext intro Studo Version) - Linkin Park

Bruce Wayne | The Batman

【林肯公园】QWERTY官方动画MV

【林肯公园】Chester主神永恒：cc现场高光时刻（祝cc生日快乐！

【林肯公园】Heavy / Papercut (From Ashes to New Mashup) - Linkin Park

如果林肯公园的《In The End》是Alan Walker编曲的话。。。

神仙打架！历史上最伟大的30个摇滚前奏（上集）

【全专试听】霉霉Taylor Swift新专辑《The Tortured Poets Department》

AI查斯特·贝宁顿-ヤキモチ(《起风了》日语原版)

中字【Reaction Taylor Swift】泰勒斯威夫特《The Tortured Poets Department》TTPD苦魂诗人阁专辑反应合集6

《邓紫棋佛山世纪莲体育中心演唱会场外也疯狂》2024.4.19

• Help Center
• Order Status
• Sightseeing

Linkin Park

Programme provided by the event organizer and is subject to change.

You may pay in cash, or with a local Union Pay Card (with your pin number), Alipay or WeChat Pay. Unfortunately we are unable to accept foreign credit cards at the moment.

Delivery Area

SmartTicket charges a delivery fee of 15rmb for paper ticket orders. We deliver to hotels, offices and private residences, even on weekends and in the evening. You can pick the delivery date/time during the booking process. If you have any further enquiries, please contact us here .

You can contact SmartTicket via our Contact Us page or by phone at 400 887 0075, select extension 1. Our operating hours are from Mon-Thu, 10am-6pm, and Friday, 10am-4pm. (Lunch break between 1pm-2pm)

Our Partners

Linkin Park “New Divide” Shanghai 2009 Nu metal supergroup Linkin Park returns to Shanghai for their second China tour. What to expect? THE HITS. This one is happening at the Shanghai Stadium and tickets are divided into floor (1600rmb; 1000rmb; 800rmb) and stadium seating (500rmb; 300rmb). The show starts at 8pm. Rock on, man. Rock on!

Can I choose a specific seat?

Unfortunately, no. Ticketing systems in China vary from venue to venue, and many are not advanced enough to offer specific seat selection. The event promoters and venues that we work with currently have no systems in place that allow third party ticketing agents to access their respective floors plans. However, whenever you buy a ticket from us, you will automatically receive the best available seats within the category you've selected. Sometime the tickets price categories' name won't be matched on the actually physical tickets. But the value will be the same you choose.

How do I pay for my tickets?

We have a couple of payment options available; 1. Online Payment : We now support WeChat and Alipay for online purchases. Simply scan the QR the payment page directs you to. 2. Cash/Card on Delivery : You can also pay our delivery staff directly either in cash, or with a local UnionPay card. Overseas clients can also pay via bank transfer, however, you’ll need to send us an email so we can sort out bank info and e-invoice. If you need a fapiao for your purchase, then please email us the relevant details (company title, tax number and your order number) .

What happens if the show gets cancelled? Will I get my money back?

Yes, SmartTickets always refunds ticket purchases if a show gets cancelled. This guarantee is one of the reasons that people choose to purchase through SmartTickets instead of less reliable sources. Please note, though, that we only refund the face value of the tickets.

I live outside Shanghai, how can I get my tickets?

We can deliver the tickets to you through Shunfeng Express if you are located outside Shanghai. For this option, purchase the tickets online using Alipay or WeChat. Please fill in the booking information with your address in Chinese to avoid confusion in the delivery process. Please note: We can only accept cash for deliveries within certain Shanghai area (for details, see the "cash on delivery" area map). Overseas customers may also choose the bank transfer option by emailing us. We will then send you an invoice with the bank transfer info after you’ve placed the order. However, the delivery address must be in Shanghai , for example, to a hotel. For more details, please contact us .

Oops! I missed the online payment QR code the first time!

If you missed your payment QR code, you can find it again on the Order Status page. Enter your booking code and email address, then click the big green "Pending Payment" button. Please note: online payment orders will automatically be canceled if the payment is not completed within 30 mins.

Can I pay online with a credit card?

Unfortunately, no. We've been working to implement an online payment system, which should be available soon! The nature of risk management and licensing issues with online payments made within China makes it a particularly delicate process.

If I lose my ticket, can I get a replacement?

Unfortunately, all physical tickets are not replaceable. The concert venues have fixed seat numbers, and to avoid conflicts caused by duplicate tickets with the same seats, ticketing agencies and promoters are not permitted to print tickets twice. If you've lost your e-ticket, you can login to the order status page and resend the e-ticket to your email.

You Might Also Like:

Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More

Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More is an award-winning theatrical experience that tells Shake...

ERA2 - Spirit Of Shanghai

The second season of multimedia spectacular "Era – Intersection of Time" will have a pr...

Jinmao Tower Sky Walk

You can walk around the outside of the Jinmao Tower 340m above the streets below. Locat...

Venues We Work With

• 1862Theater
• Ampire Building
• Bandai Namco Hall
• Cadillac Shanghai Concert Hall
• Daning Theatre
• Hyatt on the Bund
• Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall
• Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai
• MAO Livehouse
• Poly Grand Theatre
• Shanghai Children's Art Theatre
• Shanghai Culture Square
• Shanghai Grand Theatre
• Shanghai International Dance Center
• Shanghai Oriental Art Center
• X Show (X Land of Fantasy Hangzhou)
• Yuyintang Park (Zhongshan Park)

Promoters We Work With=====

• HAZE Sounds
• Live Nation
• Refund Policy
• Delivery Information
• Contact and FAQ
• Sell Your Tickets

Privacy Policy | SmartTicket 2009 - 2024 | 沪ICP备08111777号-7

Signing up is free and unlocks more features, such as simplified order tracking.

An e-mail will be sent to you with further instructions.

Linkin Park Verified

Similar artists on tour, linkin park merch.

Live Photos of Linkin Park

Concerts and tour dates

Fan reviews.

About Linkin Park

• Remember me Not recommended on shared computers

Forgot your password?

China Tour Recap

By hahninator July 27, 2015 in Newswire

• Reply to this topic

Recommended Posts

China is already over so we'll recap the short run for you in this thread....

Going way back to the beginning, the China Tour was originally rumored in December 2014 and finally was confirmed and announced in May, only two months before the tour.

This was Linkin Park's first visit to China since 2009. They made history in 2007 by being the first large international rock band to play China, and really opened the door for rock music to play the country. Metallica and Muse followed, all the way to present day. The show was such a big success that LP was invited back in 2008 for three stadium shows but had to cancel due to an injury to Chester. A return to Shanghai was penciled in for 2009 and that show was another big success.

Sadly, the band was banned from China in 2011 and three planned stadium shows that September were axed, but they finally made their triumphant return this month. This was the largest international band stadium tour to ever play China. The band walked away with a reported $13 million from just these five shows alone. Anyway, on to the shows themselves....

In order, the shows were held in Nanjing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Beijing.

In Nanjing, we saw that China works a little differently for shows. There is no standing general admission part of the crowd, only seats, and the seated part of the floor holds a lot less than you'd think. Still, the stadiums were absolutely massive and were some of the biggest headlining crowds that Linkin Park had ever played to in their career. Next, we saw that social media was banned in the country, but that didn't stop @Linkin_Soul from providing us setup pictures of the shows to live updates during the shows to post-show photos. Not bad!

And we all noticed the new production. The band outfitted the stage with huge video screens, adding their best production they've ever had as a band. We'll admit that we're pretty jealous of those screens and lights, especially after the North American festivals recently. Linkin Park's crew did a great job transforming the band's normal show into a huge production fit for stadiums.

As far as the setlists went, it was no surprise that LP played the same set at all five shows. The setlist they chose was the one they debuted in Mexico in June, with Fort Minor's Welcome in it and with Points Of Authority surprisingly replacing Rebellion. However, Crawling, which opened the encore in Mexico, was dropped from the Nanjing set and wasn't played at all in China. Sadly, LP decided to not replace it with anything else (A Place For My Head, Rebellion, etc). And to top it off, the government made the band censor all of the songs....which is a first for Linkin Park.

Another first for the tour is that the LPU didn't hold their Meet & Greets for the first actual tour ever, which seemed odd. Something was up with Mercedes Benz, though,, because they had Meet & Greets with fans before the shows. Lorenzo made up for this by holding two LPU Meetup events in Shenzhen and Chongqing, where some LPU'ers were selected to meet up with each other and were "surprised" with Linkin Park showing up to shake hands and to take a group picture. To top it off, Joe DJ'ed in Shanghai and Beijing, but apparently only super rich fans could attend those. Anyway, it was a different atmosphere for the LPU in China and it's unlikely that anywhere else in the world will have any issues with M&Gs.

Next, there are recordings from four of the five shows, which is very surprising to us. We'll admit...some of us thought we'd have a very hard time even finding out what was played in China because of the social media ban, but China ended up being one of the best tours ever for information coming in from the shows. There are fan recordings from Shenzhen , Shanghai (video coming soon), and and Chongqing (torrent coming soon) and of course, the webcast from Beijing. Check it all out if you want to see some huge production.

By making such a big impact on the Chinese music scene and amongst the Chinese fans, it wouldn't surprise us at all if Linkin Park returned in 2016 or 2017, especially since it is a rare place in the world where LP can play stadiums by themselves. We saw München in 2008, Poland in 2014, and upcoming shows in Poland and Berlin this tour be booked at stadiums (probably missing a few), but it is pretty rare for a non-festival show to be at a stadium for Linkin Park.

That's all of the positives from the tour... the only negative would probably be that the rumored Keys To The Kingdom (on the list of songs to get approved by the Chinese government) didn't get debuted live. Don't Stay did EXTREMELY well in a fan vote for the tour, for songs the Chinese wanted to see performed live. Maybe the band noticed it, maybe they didn't....only future tours will tell. The song hasn't been played live since August 2008 on Projekt Revolution.

Linkin Park's next tour, their FINAL for The Hunting Party, starts in about three weeks in Europe. It's a mix of festivals and headlining shows, as usual, and LP will visit Belarus, a place they haven't been to before. Ten shows are lined up, with an additional two Fort Minor shows in the mix as well. Stay tuned for the full coverage of that tour. And as always, check the 2015 page for all of the setlists, show notes and more from the shows this year.

Very last, but not least....some of the crew had a small incident on the way back on their plane, which had huge turbulence and sustained some pretty serious damage. It turned around about 45 minutes into the flight from Beijing to the USA, and everyone is ok. You can see a picture here . Thanks to the crew for all that they do to make these shows happen worldwide, and please be safe in your travels.

Link to comment

Share on other sites.

Excited to see what the setlist in Europe will be like. I'm hoping on the return of GATS and Lost in the echo

I think LP will mix that China setlist a little bit and add some of THP songs which were already played.

It could be a festival setlist ~90minutes and the full setlist ~100minutes.

But 2008 in München they did not play in a stadium. It was horse racecourse ^^ Düsseldorf 2008 is the same stadium which they will play this year.

They really need to play Rebellion in Europe, those fans love that song. Surely they'll change something. A Place For My Head would be great, too.

Ah, I must have misunderstood, I thought like it was an Olympic stadium for the racing or something.

Rebellion and A Place For My Head in Rome would be perfect

UltraLinkinPark

The crowd was shit !

For fuck's sake man...

felipeintheend

Didn't know about the social media ban. LOL

It is a stadium (it's also in the name), but more in the classical sense, not a football/soccer stadium. Stadium has a very broad definition, it can be anything from a flat field to a massive complex, as long as there's sports happening. We kind of had this discussion before somewhere with Stadium vs. Arena.

By the way the Munich venue from 2008 was banned from holding concerts since 2012 because the location is not secure enough.

Secure as in not safe for the shows to be there due to the venue? Or secure as in like, it's a bad part of town and there are security problems?

The seating areas are in dangerous shape and the public transportation in the area can't handle the masses, people were crossing the train tracks etc.

• 2 months later...

http://www.dji.com/cn/showcase/17621

The full shenzhen show was recorded by dji.

Maybe that is the first linkin park show recorded officially by UAV.

http://www.dji.com/cn/showcase/17621 The full shenzhen show was recorded by dji. Maybe that is the first linkin park show recorded officially by UAV.

Another proshot source from China tour?

Any details of when and where it's avaiable?

Another proshot source from China tour? Any details of when and where it's avaiable?

Ans sometimes the screen will show imagines from the air.

Also check out that link.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

×   Pasted as rich text.    Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.    Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.    Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

• Insert image from URL
• Submit Reply
• Existing user? Sign In

Mike Shinoda

• 2000 and Earlier

Related Acts

• Chester Bennington
• Other Members
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Dead By Sunrise
• Kings Of Chaos
• Bucket Of Weenies
• LPLive Archive
• Contributors
• Contact & Submit
• Linkinpedia
• Create New...

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

• Backchannel
• Newsletters
• WIRED Insider
• WIRED Consulting

Noelle Mateer

Linkin Park T-Shirts Are All the Rage in China

A March 2017 post on r/Shanghai, a subreddit for Shanghai residents, is tagged HELP. “I've been in Shanghai for about a month,” it reads, “And I’ve seen at least like ten guys wearing the same Linkin Park shirt. Minutes to Midnight . Can you help me solve this mystery?”

Other commenters had been wondering the same thing. “Oh man, I totally noticed them too. I'd see maybe one a day,” wrote one. “Funnily enough I’ve seen some fakes recently where they don't even spell Linkin correctly,” writes another. A third confirms the misspellings: “The bootleg ones that say KNKIN PARK are the best.”

A year later, on a different subreddit, another user asked: “Why are so many people wearing Linkin Park shirts? Last weekend I saw dozens of Minutes to Midnight shirts, with huge Linkin Park letters underneath it, in the city.” And then again, on a different subreddit, two years later: “I have been dying for an explanation. Linkin Park hasn't been a big deal in 15 years and Minutes to Midnight is their third most popular album (faaaaaaaar behind the top 2). Why the fuck have I seen so many of these t shirts in China over the last two years?”

I have had these thoughts myself. In 2014, I moved to Beijing for an internship that turned into a job that turned into six formative years of my twenties, working as a magazine editor and then a freelance journalist. I remember when I saw my first Linkin Park T-shirt. It was summer 2015, and I was walking to my job on a wide boulevard flanked by crowded seafood restaurants. I passed a man wearing one, and then another just two minutes later. It made an impression, and not just because I saw the same shirt in quick succession; Linkin Park hadn’t been cool for years.

Linkin Park is the world’s most famous rap-rock band—a genre that hit its mainstream peak in the late '90s and early '00s. The group is famous for melodramatic songs that are high on octane and low on subtlety. Even if you’re not familiar with the band, you’d recognize the chorus of “In The End,” sung by frontman Chester Bennington: I tried so hard / and got so far / but in the end / it doesn’t even matter . Critics were not kind. “Those who prefer their industrial-edged, hip hop–inspired rock uninspired and squeaky-clean need look no further than Linkin Park,” a reviewer of the band’s debut album noted in 2001 in Melbourne’s The Herald Sun . More than 15 years later, The Ringer wrote that the group’s seventh album, One More Light , “purrs like an old and sickly house cat.”

And yet, in China, the name Linkin Park, at least on T-shirts, persists. After that on-the-street twofer, I continued to see them everywhere. My roommate had one. My Taobao account featured one on its recommended products page. (Redditors backed me up: When a commenter noted that the shirt is “all over Taobao,” another responded: “All over Taobao is an understatement. It IS Taobao.”) I went on a two-day hike in the Chinese Himalayas, and the first human I encountered at the end sold me a Coke while wearing one.

Emily Mullin

Joel Khalili

C. Brandon Ogbunu

Over time, my delight in spotting the T-shirt morphed into cold-blooded journalistic obsession. The shirts weren’t just a reminder of home, but a confusing one, out of place and seemingly accidental. I made an account on Linkin Park Underground, a stan message board where people with usernames like intheend and linkinlover123 debate the merits of underrated tracks. “Anyone else here noticed the Linkin Park T-shirts all over China?” I asked, dropping links to some Reddit discussions.

Another curiosity about the shirts was that they were all the same design: a dark purple background with LINKIN PARK written in a slanted, blocky font, the “N” in LINKIN slicing through “PARK” like a dagger, the “R” in PARK jutting below. “MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT” appears in thin white letters above the band name. This was perhaps the strangest part. The album is Linkin Park’s third and far from its most popular. Still, given its rabid popularity on the world’s largest internet marketplace, the Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight logo may very well be one of most popular T-shirt designs in the world.

I didn’t have to go far into the massive Luosiwan International Trade City, a wholesale clothing market outside of Kunming, before I saw it. On a floor-to-ceiling billboard: four photos of one man, in aviator sunglasses, each time wearing the same shirt in a different shade. The shirts all read, Knkin Park Minutes to Midnight.

Places like Luosiwan are the closest approximations to Taobao the physical world has: sprawling, seemingly endless, chaotic. The building resembles an aircraft hangar, or maybe more like 10 aircraft hangars, stacked on top of one another like some cheaply built '80s conception of a dystopian future.

I wandered through the place for hours without seeing the same shop twice, and that was only on the first floor, labeled “fashionwear.” Snack carts dotted the place, and stand-alone boxes in the halls that resembled port-a-potties served as changing rooms. I spotted several workers zipping around on hover boards, dragging boxes of shirts and jeans on carts behind them. Racks of shirts and shoes spilled out of stores.

I walked into the store with the Knkin Park shirts depicted on its outer wall, and the owner introduced herself with a name card reading “Beautiful Clothes at Stall F1-166.” I inquired about the shirts, and she said she was out.

“How many do you need? I can have them made for you in Guangzhou,” she said, referring to the city that’s China hub for clothing factories. Most of her customers are retailers looking to stock their stores. She was disappointed when I said I was a journalist. When I asked her if she knew of the band whose shirts she was printing, she said she did not. “But I can get them in any color you want,” she added. “High quality.”

I asked the owners of a shop named Everlasting Feeling, who stocked a correctly spelled version of the Minutes to Midnight shirt, if they had any other Linkin Park shirts (no) or even just shirts with other bands’ names on them (also no). Everlasting Feeling’s manager was not aware that the logo referred to a band in the first place.

Dissatisfied, I headed home, where I logged on to Taobao and messaged with shop owners via its built-in messaging portal. None of them were aware that the logo referred to a band. It was just one product out of hundreds they sold.

I messaged a few manufacturers through Made-in-china.com, a platform with such stellar reviews as “businesses contacting you through this website are bunch of thieves” and “biggest scam I’ve ever come across.” Through the site, I asked a man selling the shirts whose profile picture was of NBA star Luka Doncic if he was a fan of the band. He sent me a GIF of a baby shaking his head no. I began to receive several emails per day about deals on bulk T-shirts. It was getting ridiculous.

I figured I’d tackle this from the other direction: Linkin Park.

Mike Shinoda is the tall, handsome man who raps the “It doesn’t even matter how hard I try” lyrics on “In The End.” He has toured China three times with the Linkin Park, the first time in 2007, and once as a solo artist. Still, he did not know about the Minutes to Midnight shirts until I told him. He didn’t have an answer to the mystery of their popularity, but at least he had a theory: “We’ve had a strong fanbase in China for many years. It’s one of the stronger Linkin Park fanbases in the world. I can’t think of another market where we’ve found ‘Knkin Park’ or ‘Bnkin Park’ tees, but it makes sense why they exist there. While I obviously don’t condone the knock-off shirts, I do appreciate how much they love the band.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell Shinoda that not everyone in a Linkin Park (or Knkin Park) tee is a fan. Frank Maddocks, Vice President of Creative Services at Warner Records, is credited with the Minutes to Midnight album’s art direction. He declined to comment further than “I don’t even know what to say” and “Huh.” Tokyo artist Usugrow helped with the Minutes to Midnight artwork. He was connected through his friend, Linkin Park resident DJ Joe Hahn. I got in touch. “I checked Reddit. KNKIN PARK is hilarious!” he told me. “The fact that the logo goes beyond its context and is loved by many people means that the logo is great.” He then mused on the general aesthetic. “Why China? It's very interesting. Chinese love the futuristic mood, technology.”

“Futuristic mood” and “technology” sound like vague reasons for a mass consumer trend, but they’re the closest I’ve heard to an explanation. I haven’t gotten a more concrete answer for the shirts’ popularity other than they look modern and cool and that people like to copy things.

Copying is a practiced art form in Guangdong’s factories. Many counterfeit products are the result of “third-shift piracy,” in which the manufacturer commissioned by a client claims to be working two shifts in a day, but then tacks on a third to make extra product, without the client knowing. Now this manufacturer can sell its extra product in unregulated marketplaces within China without giving any share of its profits to the original client—all with a patina of legality because the manufacturer is the licensed contractor.

Even Western artists with no plans to visit China produce merch in its manufacturing hubs, which are some of the largest and most efficient in the world. But artists heading to China on tour are especially motivated to make merch in-country so it’s not subjected to a hefty import tax.

Alex Taggart, the head of international at Outdustry, a company that manages artists’ China music rights, says the Linkin Park phenomenon is likely due to “a simple design, a massive accidental surplus, and third-shift piracy.” He added: “When I saw the English on the shirts start to deteriorate, I assumed the designs had been ‘reinterpreted’ as they found their way to factories further and further from the factory that was originally intended to make them, and further and further from your typical Linkin Park fan.”

Chen “Shark” Qi, founder of Mogu, a Chinese fashion app, told me that the competitiveness of Guangdong factories feeds on itself. “If something sells well, everyone notices, and they begin to follow very quickly.” Sometimes, he says, their reason for selling well is simply that “the English words look fashionable and international.”

In years past, these shirts mostly wound up in wholesale markets alongside fake Chanel bags, faulty iPhones, and bottles of stale perfumes. But now manufacturers can easily dump excess product onto Taobao, where they sell directly to consumers at ultralow prices. “Anyone can set up a Taobao store, and the barriers to entry are low,” says Franklin Chu, US managing director for Azoya International, a group that helps companies break into Chinese ecommerce.

Alibaba, the Chinese giant that owns Taobao, was among several companies suspended from the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition in 2016. The move came after several high-profile members quit the coalition in protest of Alibaba’s inclusion, claiming Alibaba failed to prevent the widespread sale of counterfeit goods on platforms like Taobao. Even when it did make efforts to clean up fakes, in 2017, new rules were easy to get around. That’s how you could end up with all sorts of unlicensed T-shirts with logos for Marvel movies, Japanese cartoons, and misspelled Italian fashion brands. But in recent years the company has worked harder to crack down on counterfeit goods. Alibaba told WIRED it is committed to purging its platforms of counterfeit goods. The IACC now says that Alibaba has made great strides and is now the anti-counterfeiting ecommerce "gold standard." (An Alibaba spokesperson added that Linkin Park has never reached out to Alibaba about violations of its intellectual property).

Tiffany Ap, Asia correspondent for Women’s Wear Daily , says the Linkin Park T-shirts remind her of something else: the Playboy brand. “It’s pretty much on life support in the US,” she tells me. “But in China, they have licensed the Playboy logo out to so many products that have nothing to do with the original premise of the sexy Playboy bunny. It’s on socks, and there are Playboy cafés in tier-3 and -4 cities, and it’s turned cutesy.” (Can confirm: There is a “Playboy Café” near my house in Kunming.)

Playboy, like Linkin Park, is an example of “how brands can take on different meanings in new markets sometimes completely divorced from the original core product,” Ap says. American hegemony means our culture is everywhere—seeing it reflected back at us through another culture’s lens sometimes feels like staring into a funhouse mirror.

Over the years, I’ve watched bemusedly as hallmarks of my suburban American upbringing recast themselves as Chinese chic. On behalf of the magazine I worked for, I attended a VIP preview of Beijing’s first Cheesecake Factory and a ritzy opening party for China’s first Old Navy. It is bizarre to watch influencers flock to something as seemingly mundane as, say, a new Beijing location of Red Lobster, but so it goes. Cultural icons take on new significance when they enter new cultures.

Music in particular has been bound to take on new meanings in China because, for so long, none was let in. “It’s a bit random how this stuff was introduced into China,” Shanghai-based music journalist Josh Feola says. For years, he tells me, music listeners could only get their hands on foreign tapes that were dakou —overstock that Western labels discarded in bulk to save money on storage, then sold to China as trash. Throughout the '80s and '90s, music fans had to root through banged-up tapes and CDs at black markets just to hear Western sounds. According to Feola, this led to the rise in popularity of genres that, in their home countries, were unpopular “almost by default.”

That’s all different today with streaming services. But China’s history of dakou has a lingering impact on what genres are popular and how listeners, even young ones, approach music. “I’m from the US, and when I was in high school and got into punk and hardcore, there was a clear lineage that I could go to and access,” Feola says. But he couldn’t have done the same in China, where, he notes, many fans approach Western music with “a-historicity, a lack of context.”

Linkin Park boasts a solid fan base in this environment. Minutes to Midnight was its first album to be performed in China; the Minutes to Midnight world tour played in 2007 to a crowd of 25,000 in Shanghai. The band returned in 2009 but was denied entry for another tour in 2011 after the band posed for a photo with the Dalai Lama. (Chinese authorities at various points appeared to also shun Maroon 5, Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez for similar reasons.) Foreign artists are required to apply with culture bureau authorities for every China show, and Linkin Park’s applications were routinely denied until 2015. That’s when the band held a China-wide tour—the same year I first spotted Minutes to Midnight tees— on the heels of the album The Hunting Party .

When Chester Bennington died two years later, thousands of fans wrote heartfelt dedications to him on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform, and Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda toured his solo album in China the following year.

Meanwhile, someone in Guangzhou noticed a certain T-shirt was selling well. Then someone else noticed, and copied. My years-long quest for answers has led me to warehouses and message boards but, ultimately, nowhere conclusive. I take solace in Linkin Park’s most famous lyric: I tried so hard / and got so far / but in the end / it doesn’t even matter .

• Behind bars, but still posting on TikTok
• How to make government trustworthy again
• The rocket motor of the future breathes air like a jet engine
• It's time for an end-of-life discussion about nursing homes
• Who discovered the first vaccine ?
• 👁 If done right, AI could make policing fairer . Plus: Get the latest AI news
• :iphone: Torn between the latest phones? Never fear—check out our iPhone buying guide and favorite Android phones

Rachel Lance

David Kushner

Jenna Scatena

Linkin Park Live - 2008.10.19 - Beijing, China

Other notes:.

• On October 7, 2008, the band posted the following statement on linkinpark.com: "Linkin Park has been forced to cancel their upcoming Music For Relief Concerts in Mainland China, Macau and Taipei as lead vocalist Chester Bennington has sustained a back injury and is under doctor's orders to refrain from traveling or any physical activities. Linkin Park sincerely regrets this unavoidable cancellation and apologizes to fans for any disappointment caused. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.
• The concerts were organized as fundraisers to benefit Sichuan, an area ravaged by a devastating earthquake this past May. However, thanks to generous donations from concert promoter Emma Ticketmaster and Linkin Park, funds will still be contributed to the band's nonprofit organization, Music for Relief, and matched by the World Bank. These funds will benefit post-earthquake reconstruction projects in the Sichuan Province initiated by Chinese Civil Society Organizations.
• Oct. 12 - Shanghai, China - Shanghai Stadium
• Oct. 15 - Wuhan, China - Xinhua Stadium
• Oct. 17 - Taipei, Taiwan - Taipei Soccer Stadium
• Oct. 19 - Beijing, China - Beijing Workers Stadium
• Oct. 21 - Macau, China Cotai Arena - The Venetian"
• This show was not made up.
• The opening band for this show, Mayday, was scheduled to be a "co-headliner" with a 90 minute set, the same length as Linkin Park. Mayday was also playing the Shanghai show with the band.

Linkin Park

Latest setlist, linkin park on october 27, 2017.

Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California

Note: Chester Bennington's memorial concert, professionally recorded and release via the band's Youtube channel

Popular Tracks

• AI Generator

20 Linkin Park China Tour In Nanjing Stock Photos & High-Res Pictures

Browse 20 linkin park china tour in nanjing photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images..