Linkin Park reflect on comeback tour: “The shows have been great”
When Linkin Park announced that they would be reforming with a new vocalist in place of the late Chester Bennington, they were met with plenty of mixed emotions. However, their comeback tour is well underway and has drawn in hundreds of thousands of fans, new and old.
The band’s From Zero World Tour began in late 2024 and is set to last until June 2026. The run of dates has taken them across Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, and has seemingly gone off without a hitch.
Bassist Dave ‘Phoenix’ Farrell has admitted that before the comeback shows kicked off, the band “didn’t know what to expect”. Though the band had spent plenty of time rehearsing together, “Tour is its own different animal”.
Vocalist Emily Armstrong replaced the late frontman Chester Bennington after his tragic suicide in 2017. Additionally, the band have welcomed new drummer Colin Brittain, while guitarist Alex Feder is filling in for Brad Delson at live shows in the foreseeable future.
Reflecting on this, the returning member confessed to UnDinamo, “Not only with Emily and with Colin being kind of new faces into that space, but also me, Mike, and Joe just being a bit older, we hadn’t toured for a while ourselves.”
Because of this, Farrell shared, “There’s always a ton of question marks. Thankfully at this point, a year-plus into it, it’s gone very well. Everyone has stayed relatively healthy, as healthy as you could ever ask for or hope for. And the shows have been great.”
After facing much backlash after reforming the band in light of Chester’s passing, Farrell opened up about how he perceives the decision: “I guess the risk, if you zoom out and look at it, is just feeling embarrassed or putting something out that nobody likes or doing something that everybody hates.”
Though he had many sleepless nights over the decision to take the band forwards without their central figure, Farrell reflected, “Hopefully, if I’m being myself and if I’m being — ‘courageous’ is not the right word, but if I’m being myself and I’m being kind of forthright as a musician or as an artist, the notion that somebody might not like it should never be a reason to not release something or do something new moving forward.”
The band first introduced the new lineup in September 2024. They also released a highly praised album, From Zero, on November 14th that same year.
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