Fans embrace Linkin Park’s Emily Armstrong at triumphant and defiant London O2 show

25 September, 2024

Linkin Park played a highly emotive, explosive show at London’s O2 last night (Tuesday September 24). Check out photos, footage, the setlist and more below.

Having announced their comeback earlier this month with a livestream event where they revealed the addition of Emily Armstrong (formerly of Dead Sara) as their new co-vocalist, the band’s appointment of the late Chester Bennington‘s replacement has continued to prove controversial.

The initially warm reception to their return, which also saw drummer Colin Brittain join the new line-up, quickly became divisive after it emerged that Armstrong seemingly had ties to Scientology and convicted rapist Danny Masterson.

She has since issued a statement to “to clear the air”, and Mike Shinoda has continually insisted their reunion tour is “not about erasing the past“.

Last night’s show first time in seven years the band have played in London, but it there was the sense of Armstrong having a point to prove.

Linkin Park
Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda performs during the ‘From Zero World Tour’ at The O2 Arena on September 24, 2024 in London, England. CREDIT: Jim Dyson/Getty Images

Fans flocked to merch queues and most were already jockeying for a good standing position by the time openers Grandson came out.

The first of many emotional moments came when frontman Jordan Benjamin played ‘Heather’, a mediation on grief and loss: “I wouldn’t bе here without you/ Why am I here without you?”, he sang, with the crowd swaying along their mobile phone lights as they, on his instruction, remembered the people that couldn’t be here today.

The band made their ring walk through the erupting crowd to the stage in the round in the centre of The O2, before launching straight into ‘Somewhere I Belong’. The seated sections rose to their feet and most stayed there for the remainder of the night.

Armstrong used the entirety of the stage, weaving between Shinoda and co. to get a glimpse of the audience from all sides, often stopping to stoop over and see the expanse of the crowd. A huge reaction was saved for the band’s comeback single ‘Emptiness Machine’, which landed like an old favourite as the audience jumped in unison.

Shinoda and Joe Hahn went on to play a solo, and the former acting as the voice of the band when he thanked the crowd. There’s very little dialogue between songs, and although Armstrong interacted with him briefly, she seemed to settle on letting her vocals do the talking throughout the night. Any hint of controversy was left unaddressed, but Shinoda thanked fans who have been “in our corner from the beginning”.

While nodding to the enthusiasm of the fans, Shinoda shoutED out the Linkin Park Live fan account, who have been speculating all day which version of the set they’d play.

“The hardcore fans that [run] sites like LP Live were wondering what Set B was gonna be,” he said. The news that “tonight is a Set B” was met with a collective gasp. “So, I guess Em, you show them what Set B means.”

She replied, assuredly: “I’ll fucking show you.”

It proved the prevailing sentiment for the rest of the night, as the nu-metal iconed stormed through tracks like ‘Keys To The Kingdom’ and ‘My December’, which got the gentle acoustic treatment to make the lyrics increasingly poignant. Armstrong got visibly emotional during ‘Waiting For The End’ singing “The hardest part of endin’ is startin’ again” – and was uplifted by the crowd chanting her name.

Likewise, when ‘Heavy Is The Crown’, the new single from their upcoming album ‘From Zero’ is played, Armstrong does her most compelling scream of the night. Knowingly, she sings: “This is what you asked for,” an unsubtle way of addressing the fans who were unconvinced she could match Bennington’s vocals.

Armstrong joined the crowd during the band’s seminal single ‘In The End’, with fans flocking to her to throw up heart signs with their hands.

Linkin Park’s return to London left people crying and moshing in equal turn, and it marked the beginning of their new era with intention. As the show started to close out on fan favourites (‘Numb’, ‘In The End’, ‘Faint’), Shinoda addressed that head on.

“How many of you are here for your first Linkin Park show tonight?” he asked, beaming. It seemed like a night of firsts, for the band and the crowd, who got to experience the new line-up tonight while celebrating the legacy of Bennington.

Linkin Park’s London O2 setlist was:

‘Somewhere I Belong’
‘Crawling’
‘Lying From You’
‘Points of Authority’
‘New Divide’
‘The Emptiness Machine’
‘The Catalyst’
‘Burn It Down’
‘Waiting for the End’
‘Castle of Glass’
Joe Hahn solo (with Colin on drums)
Mike Shinoda solo ‘When They Come for Me’ / ‘Remember the Name’
‘Keys to the Kingdom’
‘Given Up’
‘One Step Closer’
‘Lost’ (shortened with Mike and Emily duet piano version)
‘Breaking the Habit’
‘What I’ve Done’
‘Leave Out All the Rest’
‘My December’ (acoustic)
‘Friendly Fire’
‘Numb’
‘In the End’
‘Faint’

Encore:
‘Papercut’
‘Heavy Is the Crown’
‘Bleed It Out’

On the heels of the release of ‘Heavy Is The Crown’ yesterday (September 24), the band have announced three additional stadium shows for 2024, including stops in Paris, Dallas, and São Paulo.

Bennington’s mother recently made headlines when she spoke out to say that she “felt betrayed” by the band relaunching with a new singer, echoing his son Jaime’s sentiments – who added that fans had been “aggressive” to him following his criticism.

Chester’s widow Talinda, however, took online to share her approval of Armstrong joining the band.

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