How Linkin Park Packs for a World Tour
The legendary rock band tells us about their favorite travel memories, touring must-haves, and how their bassist is the world’s biggest underpacker
After a seven-year hiatus, Linkin Park, one of the best-selling bands of the century, returned to the music scene last fall with a new album, From Zero, and a reunion world tour. Back on the stage are original members Mike Shinoda, Dave Farrell, Joe Hahn, and Brad Delson, along with new lead vocalist Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain.
For the last nine months, the group has ping-ponged from New York and Japan to Brazil on the From Zero World Tour—and they still have six more months to go. Along the way, they also released the deluxe edition of From Zero, featuring three new songs.
All five touring members of the rock outfit spoke with associate editor Annie Harrigan about their favorite trip memories and touring essentials—all while roasting each other’s travel quirks and habits.
Thrillist: Tell me about your favorite travel memory.
Mike Shinoda: The first few times I went to Japan, it was always on tour. But this year, I went with my wife before our show. We went to an onsen in Hako, and I've never done that before. It was an amazing experience, unlike anything else I've ever done. The whole idea of the onsen is to give you a full traditional Japanese experience, and we definitely got that. It's a little weird to be in a place where everything smells like sulfur, but you get used to it.
Dave Farrell: This would be a tough job if we hated traveling. One of the most memorable trips for me was when I got to take my family on a safari in South Africa. We spent about a week in Cape Town and then five or six days in the bush. I've got three daughters, and to be able to do that and have that kind of an experience out in Kruger Park with them, it's pretty memorable and unique.
Emily Armstrong: For me, the first thing that comes to mind is when we first went to Brazil on this tour. It was my first time there, and when we first touched down, within just the first few minutes of being there, there was this energy. It sounds very weird. But that energy, it was a very good energy. I never really experienced that before when going into another country. Most places grow on you, but right when I stepped in Brazil, it just never ended. It was unrelenting the whole time, and I just thought, “That's weird.” That's something that will always stick with me.
Joe Hahn: I've been touring for a long time, so I’ve got to dust off the hard drive of memories. The first tour we did, we wanted to hit as many territories outside of the U.S. as possible, so we pretty much did a full lap around the world in a very short amount of time, which was very fun, but also very tiring at the same time. On the tour, we did a few shows in Mexico. When we were in Mexico City, we went to the Temple of the Sun and the Moon. It was a really great experience trekking out there.
Colin Brittain: I have a nickname for Joe. I call him “Side Quest Joe” because he is always finding cool places to eat and just interesting things to do in all of the cities we go to. Some of my best memories have been from the tour this year on the days that Joe and I split off and found weird stuff to do. Sometimes I'll just follow him around. He always has a kind of agenda. I haven't been to a lot of these places that we are playing, so I’ve just enjoyed going off the beaten path with him and getting to see some new places. For example, in Hamburg, we had a day where we just wandered around the city. I'm sure you had a plan, Joe, for that day, but it just seemed to me like we were wandering around and sightseeing. We found a bunch of cool little art galleries and shops. I like to keep enough space to just daydream and wander, so that day was really fun for me.
What did you bring with you to turn the tour bus into a home?
EA: You’ve got to bring your own pillow.
DF: I can't sleep without a fan. So I usually get a good mini fan to put in the bunk.
MS: He usually just picks somebody out of the crowd.
DF: That’s really funny. Well played, well played.
MS: His wife is going to be like, “You said fucking what?”
DF: Let me amend that answer. I can't sleep without an air movement machine.
JH: Colin has this thing where he loves characters and their outfits, like anime characters. He has this whole costume thing that he does. I think they call it cosplay.
CB: Yeah, I’ll bring costumes for sure.
Do you all overpack or pack light?
EA: Dave doesn’t bring anything.
Anything?
MS: It is so crazy. Annie, you don't understand. He just has a carry-on. We could be spending a month in Europe, and this guy will just live out of a carry-on.
EA: “If I need it, I'll get it there.” That's what he says.
What's in the carry-on then? What's important enough that you do actually bring?
EA: Two pairs of underwear.
DF: More than that—three pairs of underwear. It's mostly underwear and socks. I’ll have a couple of sets of workout clothes and a pair of running shoes. Some underwear, some socks, two pairs of pants, a couple of shirts.
I don't like packing, and I don't like unpacking. I would rather, if I need something, just get it where I'm at than bring it and have to lug it around. I don't like checking bags. I don't like waiting for bags. And at this point too, I think my wife and I have just indoctrinated our kids into that [mindset]. The whole family will just fly with carry-ons. We will go to Europe for two weeks and everybody's just got a carry-on, and it's awesome. With these guys, I'll just tell them how great it is for me.
CB: The first leg we did, I for sure overpacked. I didn't realize how much stuff gets acquired on tour. So, whether it’s shopping or people bringing gifts, you wind up with a surplus of things from each city that you go to. I didn't leave any room in my bag for that for the first time. I remember coming home with extra bags meanwhile Dave just had his carry-on and a backpack. I remember thinking, “Oh man, I overdid it.” So, I'm still trying to figure out my balance of things.
EA: My neighbors think I’m moving out every time I go somewhere.
What are some of the travel essentials you all definitely need to have with you when on the road?
JH: For me, a laptop since it can pretty much do everything. The redundant iPad, because Apple has us all hooked on their stuff, and I'm a sucker for all of that. I have my camera because I love taking pictures. I try to get in the habit of doing it; years down the line, I'm always glad I took the picture.
MS: I'll bring a special little keyboard. There's a company called Teenage Engineering, which makes small stuff, and I'll throw a weird Teenage Engineering gadget in my bag. They don't take up a lot of space, they're great.
EA: I bring my iron supplements. You know us girlies.
CB: I basically bring a mobile pharmacy with me in case anybody gets sick. I usually have a whole “air kit” in my backpack that's got allergy medicine and stomach medicine—Advil, Sudafed, those kinds of things in case. When we went to Columbia, because it's very high-altitude, I had my doctor call in Diamox, which is an altitude sickness medicine, just in case somebody got it. Usually, nobody needs it.
I also bring my laptop setup. One time I brought my MPC—the time I packed too much stuff—and was like “I’m not using this.” That’ll probably change in six months when we've actually brought our gear with the intention of making music.
What is one thing you like to do in every place you travel to?
EA: I love to Google “best.” My recent thing is “best matcha near me.”
DF: I don't eat breakfast very often at home, but when I'm traveling, I always eat breakfast. With this band, breakfast on tour can go from seven in the morning to noon. We’ll just go to breakfast in the hotel, and you can just hang there as people in the band and crew arrive and leave.
MS: In Korea, I woke up early and ate breakfast alone in the hotel. Then the first wave of people—some of my bandmates and some people from the crew—came down, sat with me, and ate. Then, as they left, more people from the crew showed up. And then it happened again. I was there for three changeovers of people. A fan even came up to me and said, “You’re still here?”
What's the weirdest thing you've tried to bring with you through airport security?
MS: This is not a band story, but I just think it's funny. My wife and I have a friend who was moving, and they had one bag with all their stuff for the airplane and then a separate bag with all their power tools in it, including saws and drills. They grabbed the wrong bag and went to the airport, and the airport security took one look at it and was like, “I'm going to assume that you brought the wrong thing.” He knew immediately what had happened. [Airport security] was like, “So we're not going to call the police right now. We're just going to step to the side and figure out what is going on with this bag.” He tilted it towards her, and there was literally a table saw inside, which you're not allowed to bring as a carry-on.
JH: I’ve been to the airport with Colin, so I would say Colin is probably the weirdest thing.