It has just been announced that Mike Shinoda will head out on the road this summer, playing at Summer Sonic 2018. The shows take place in Tokyo and Osaka, between August 18 and 19. Mike is no stranger to the festival, in 2006 he performed with both Fort Minor and Linkin Park at two of the dates. 2009 brought Linkin Park back to the festival for another two shows. Finally in 2013, Linkin Park again performed two shows, Mike and Chester also appeared during Steve Aokis set in Chiba to debut A Light That Never Comes. How the show will play out is impossible to say at this point, but if it's similar to the Fort Minor shows in 2015, Summer Sonic is in for a hell of a show. It's also currently unknown if more shows will be announced, make sure to stay tuned to find out. Are you planning on attending this? If you don't live in Japan will you travel there for the shows? Come and discuss in our forums. Source: HybridT via Mike Shinoda Twitter
Good for him. He clearly seems to enjoy this festival considering his previous attendance record. Good event to pick as a start off. Everybody at LPA & around the world is cheering you on Mike!
I am very glad he is deciding to perform again. I think its healthy step for him to take. I hope it goes well and I wish him the best. I'm expecting a Fort Minor set with the EP songs thrown in. Dont know how long his set will be but something like (No order): Where'd You Go, Believe Me, Remeber the Name, Petrified, Welcome, Place to Start, Over Again, Watching As I Fall. Also, The Rising Tied and various other Fort Minor releases now show up under Mike Shinoda on Spotify. It looks as though he might be rebranding Fort Minor. Either that or making it simple to find everything in one place. Does anyone know if Summer Sonic is usually streamed? I'd love to be able to watch the Set.
Mike has always come off as damn resilient, but I didn't expect to see him up and running so fast. This will be good for him and he seems to have fun out there. I'm just happy to see him keeping himself productive. Would love to see him myself if over time he feels comfortable enough doing tours and stops around.
It's great to read this. I think with his EP he shows us, how music and art is his passion and a part of healing for him and the fans too. Mike was talking on twitter whether he should be going on with more songs like he did on the EP. Maybe he is already continuing this work for a couple of new songs. In my opinion, it seems, that he is in a flow at the moment and that he is enjoying this work again. This fact makes me smile. I give out all of my support for him.
I can see why you'd be sad, but for me...this news has me feeling better than I have for a while. To me, this is what Mike needs to do, and I am absolutely proud of him for taking these first steps. Mike's been handed a role I don't think he ever expected to have in his lifetime. I believe he likely always expected to be the 'backing vocalist', or the 'rap vocals' with the rare occasional lead on some songs. To suddenly become the full time lead vocalist in Linkin Park (assuming they aren't planning to find a new vocalist) probably feels the biggest weight in the world and he's going to need to do this solo stuff for a while so he can get used to having the bigger spotlight on him. I know he can do this. I feel terrible it has come to this for him, but I have faith.
Japan loves him and LP too, so it’ll be a good show. Also gives Mike a chance to connect with fans internationally over the loss of Chester.
Some might consider it a bit presumptuous of me to say but I honestly didn't doubt this for a second. Music is Mike's life. Even if there are still countless things to work out as to how LP continue, I knew Mike would still make music in whatever capacity. Heck most of us will know his idea of a "break" between LP albums was to go and make more music. I admire that passion so much. We're talking about a multi-millionaire with a family (that we know he doesn't get to see as much as he'd like to as he's written about just that), who has devoted 26 years pouring his heart out in his music, art and charity endeavours. Not to mention constantly innovating that whole time when most bands stick to a trademark sound. He could stop now, be set for life and never have to worry about LP again or subjecting himself to the inevitably more frequent reminders of the loss of his friend. He won't. As Post Traumatic showed us, he channeled his pain and raw unfiltered emotion into innovative new art, yet again. That kind of passion for a craft doesn't go away. You just keep learning and changing. I can't wait to see what he does next.
To answer my own question I was able to find out that Last year's Summer Sonic was streamed. Source: https://m.facebook.com/events/1513724975364263 So hopefully this year's Summer Sonic is streamed as well and Warner doesnt block it being webcasted. Because I would love to see this performance
Well, I guess he will release like 1 or 2 more EPs with the songs he is working on right now and have a decent set with like 7 songs and 2 or 3 FM songs since the festival is in August.
He'll probably play a ton of FM stuff like he did in 2015. Probably some LP too, and the new stuff. He's above QOTSA on the poster, he can't have a 30 minute set.