Linkin Park Kick Off Comeback Tour with Sold-Out Arena Show: Photos + Setlist

The post Linkin Park Kick Off Comeback Tour with Sold-Out Arena Show: Photos + Setlist appeared first on Consequence .

The fans who gathered at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on Wednesday night (September 11th) came for a Linkin Park show. And despite the fact that the band that took the stage looked very different from Linkin Park’s heyday, the crowd embraced the revamped lineup. In fact, they stayed on their feet for a solid two-hour, 27-song setlist of both classic favorites (mostly stacked towards the end of the show) as well as new single “The Emptiness Machine” and a handful of tracks that have rarely or never been played live.

Following last week’s announcement of a new album and tour , as well as a livestream performance, the introduction of Emily Armstrong as the band’s new lead singer to the Forum crowd was handled in a matter-of-fact way after a few songs, with co-vocalist Mike Shinoda offering a wry and casual, “Los Angeles! Thank you. Have you met our friend Emily yet? That’s Emily.” Wearing layered tops and baggy pants that invoked the height of 2000s skater chic, Armstrong kept moving around the large central stage, her focus always on winning over the General Admission fans standing up close.

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There was no mention of the controversy surrounding Armstrong , who is essentially filling the shoes of the late Chester Bennington. That said, Shinoda — like he insisted during last week’s invite-only livestream concert — once again stated that it’s the fans taking on the role of Bennington. “I know a lot of you saw the livestream, yeah?” Shinoda asked the crowd, to cheers. “You already know that you guys are singing for Chester tonight, right? You already know that.”

The crowd cheered for that. The crowd cheered for everything , with their whole hearts. It’s rare to see such a strong connection between band and audience, with said audience experiencing no confusion over what band they’d come to see play: There were at least four, maybe five organic “Linkin Park!” chants that rang out through the arena over the course of the evening. And while they never caught on with the entire audience, there were also multiple attempts to start an “Emily! Emily!” chant from different pockets of the arena.

Armstrong is not the only new face in the revamped Linkin Park. Drummer Rob Bourdon chose not to participate in the comeback and has been replaced by Cole Brittain. Meanwhile, guitarist Brad Delson is still a member of the band, but has opted not to tour with the group. Alex Feder has taken his place in the touring lineup.

Despite the changes, the band’s chemistry during the actual songs was top-notch, with no indication that these musicians had only been playing together (in secret!) for a year or so. However, there was an awkward newness to some of the stage banter, such as an exchange where Armstrong, after dropping some expletives, got admonished by Shinoda for swearing.

“Shoot,” she said, sounding genuinely chagrined. “Is this an all-ages show?” Shinoda quickly explained that he was joking; while the exchange was never tense, it still reflected the fact that this isn’t just a new era for the band, this is a new group of people still getting to know each other.

Shinoda also accidentally ran into Armstrong’s mic stand at one point, during a particularly exuberant performance. He brought it up later, amused by his own clumsiness.

Later in the show, Shinoda polled the crowd as to how many people had already seen a Linkin Park concert — the roars in response were nearly deafening. Then he asked “How many of you have not seen the band before?” and while the response was slightly lower in volume, a pretty significant amount of noise was made.

“That’s incredible,” Shinoda said. “I mean, that’s part of why we’re back out here — because I know some of you didn’t get a chance to see us before.”

One of the night’s last songs came after Shinoda mentioned some criticism of the recent compilation album Papercuts : “There were all these fans that were like, ‘Hey, there’s something fucking missing guys. What about The Hunting Party ?'”

“Justice for the fucking Hunting Party !” Armstrong yelled into the mike.

“Should we give some justice to The Hunting Party ?” Shinoda said. “I think this is the first time this song has ever been done live.” The band then launched into “Keys to the Kingdom,” followed by “Bleed It Out” to close out the night. (There was no true encore, though the crowd did want more, cookin’ raw with the— Well, you know the rest .)

Before the end of the show, Shinoda once again spoke to the crowd, heartfelt. “We are thrilled to be back out here. It is not about erasing the past, it is about starting this new chapter into the future,” he said. “We’re coming out here for each of you and one of you. We love playing for you guys. We love writing this music. We’re very fucking excited about the new record. So thank you guys very much. We had an incredible night with you.”

“And,” he added, “hopefully we’ll see you soon.”

Linkin Park’s “From Zero World Tour” continues with five more select shows this year, including gigs in Brooklyn, New York; Hamburg, Germany, London, England; Seoul, South Korea, and Bogota, Colombia, with the band planning an extensive outing in 2025. Pick up tickets here , and see a photo gallery and the setlist of the Kia Forum show below.

Setlist:
Somewhere I Belong
Crawling
Lying From You
Points of Authority
New Divide (with “Moscow Intro”)
The Emptiness Machine
Creation
The Catalyst
Burn It Down
Waiting for the End
Castle of Glass
Joe Hahn Solo
When They Come for Me / Remember the Name (Mike Shinoda solo)
Lost in the Echo
Given Up (first time live since 2015)
One Step Closer
Break/Collapse
Lost (shortened; Mike and Emily duet piano version)
Breaking the Habit
What I’ve Done
Kintsugi
Leave Out All the Rest
My December (first time live since 2008)
Friendly Fire (live debut)
Numb (with “Numb/Encore” intro)
In the End
Faint (extended outro)
Resolution (with elements of “The Requiem” and “Castle of Glass”)
Papercut
Keys to the Kingdom (live debut)
Bleed It Out (with Fort Minor’s “There They Go” snippet in the bridge)

Linkin Park Kick Off Comeback Tour with Sold-Out Arena Show: Photos + Setlist
Liz Shannon Miller