“This is not the end, this is not the beginning”: Linkin Park look to the future with new faces

It’s been six years, ten months and nine days since Linkin Park last graced a stage. In the wake of Chester Bennington’s tragic suicide, their final performance – a star-studded 2017 tribute concert in his memory – left the band, their peers, and millions of fans with an outpouring of love and grief. But there was no clear path into the future – no promises that Linkin Park would ever perform again under that banner.

After months of rumours of varying credibility and a 100-hour countdown that bewildered fans by counting back up, on September 5 the band raised a curtain that unveiled everything at once. Through a coordinated fan club show, music video release, and Billboard cover story, we finally know that Linkin Park’s new co-lead vocalist is Emily Armstrong of Los Angeles hard-rock veterans Dead Sara. Replacing original drummer Rob Bourdon is Colin Brittain, producer and collaborator for the likes of All Time Low and A Day to Remember; while just for their debut performance, Alex Feder subs in for the band’s absent guitarist Brad Delson.

Out today, too, is ‘The Emptiness Machine’, the lead single from their eighth studio album ‘From Zero’, due November 15, ahead of a run of international arena shows and a 2025 world tour. Coming live from a studio backlot in Hollywood, in front of several hundred diehard LP Underground fan club members, Linkin Park’s ‘From Zero’ livestream is a celebration and a revival – and perhaps an effort to instantly end speculation about whether the band’s new singer will be able to pull it off.

All eyes are, without question, now on Armstrong, who has gone from fronting a bluesy power trio to joining one of the biggest bands in the world. She has enormous shoes to fill. Many bands have had to replace iconic singers, but there’s no precedent for an act as high-profile as Linkin Park doing so with a vocalist of another gender. It’s a stroke of genius: acknowledging and embracing the fact that Bennington’s successor was never going to sound the same. There’s no attempt to recreate the tone of his piercing, fragile tenor, but Armstrong’s rougher alto, just maybe, channels some of the same spirit.

Across the livestream’s 14 songs, she delivers a powerhouse performance that’s also human and imperfect. She holds nothing back on ‘The Emptiness Machine’, Linkin Park’s heaviest song in a decade. She’s completely at home within the intense angst of ‘Crawling’ and ‘One Step Closer’, singing with the familiarity of someone who grew up on ‘Hybrid Theory’. Her high belts and screams, absolutely chilling on ‘Faint’ and ‘Lying from You’, bring an almost metalcore sound to those songs’ harsh vocals. But it’s on the ballads where she’s most disarming – she soars on ‘What I’ve Done’, and the band’s first performance of ‘Lost’, a ‘Meteora’ outtake that became an unexpected hit in 2023.

It’s not always polished. In moments, Armstrong’s visibly overcome with emotion. In several songs, she pushes her screams too hard to sustain comfortably – but to be fair, Bennington didn’t sound perfect every night either. These are emotionally and physically demanding songs; anything less than her all isn’t an option. She’s yet to completely find her comfort zone onstage, but who wouldn’t be a little intimidated debuting – with Linkin Park – in front of the whole world?

“It has never been Linkin Park’s philosophy to take the path of least resistance”

If there’s any doubt that the band have committed to their new vocalist, they’ve lifted the keys of most of their older songs to match her vocal range. As Mike Shinoda told Billboard, it’s a “mindfuck” having to relearn the muscle memory of guitar, keyboard and backing vocal parts he’s been performing, in some cases, for a quarter of a century. But Shinoda’s never been one to hide his emotions, and more than anyone else onstage, he looks thrilled, standing side by side with Armstrong as they harmonise on the last choruses of ‘Papercut’. It’s truly surreal – what’s old is new again.

Judging by the immediate social media reactions, Armstrong hasn’t, and won’t, be embraced by everyone. But the truth is, since 2007’s ‘Minutes to Midnight’, every new Linkin Park album has gained them new fans while alienating some old ones. For the more nostalgic fans, the original recordings aren’t going anywhere, nor are tribute bands like Portugal’s Hybrid Theory – exceptionally talented soundalikes who’ve played arenas around the globe.

And Linkin Park’s upcoming world tour – which currently comprises six arena dates in in LA, New York, Hamburg, London, Seoul and Bogotá – will no doubt be incredibly lucrative. But as the band explained to Billboard, their collaboration with Armstrong and Colin Brittain emerged organically over years of sessions working on new music, long before anyone decided that it was material for Linkin Park. It was about chasing the new – not recreating the old. It has never been Linkin Park’s philosophy to take the path of least resistance. They’re not moving on, but moving forward.

While introducing the band’s new members, Shinoda tells the audience lovingly, “In the role of Chester Bennington tonight is all of you.” How each fan chooses to honour that is up to them. Meanwhile, the new Linkin Park will continue, rewriting an unthinkable tragedy into a once-unimaginable future.

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