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A Monday night is never necessarily ideal for a concert. In fact, it might be the worst night of the week to schedule a show. That being said, nu-metal icons Linkin Park returned to Milwaukee on Monday night, and brought a show with them that was so energetic and mesmerizing that you could walk out of it and have forgotten what day it was altogether.
Monday night’s show was the 13th stop on the second American leg of the “From Zero” world tour, named for the 2024 album that marked the band’s return from hiatus with new lead singer Emily Armstrong. The band has been on the road nearly constantly since their return, and while you would expect some wear and tear, there were no signs of it on Monday, with a set that ran north of two hours and didn’t let up at any point.
With a ten-minute countdown and the “Laverne And Shirley” theme song bringing them on stage, there was continual anticipation building with each second leading to zero. Rather than jumping into a song right on zero, a laser beam shot to the center of the stage, which took up the majority of the arena floor, while two video cubes above the stage gave the show a cinematic opening. The band walked through a tunnel of fans to the center of the arena, and proceeded to launch into “Somewhere I Belong,” igniting what would be a marathon of strobes, lasers, and steam cannons for just about every song in the setlist.
In total, the night would consist of 26 songs, but the opening part of the set was very much a showcase for Anderson to take her rightful place as frontwoman of Linkin Park. The opening portion of the show would feature “Hybrid Theory” staples “Points of Authority” and “Crawling,” and while the late Chester Bennington was always menacing in his screams and stage presence, she stepped right into some of the biggest shoes to fill, and sounded right at home in those fan favorites. Throughout the night, she would push her vocals to the absolute limit, just as Bennington was known to do. There was no questioning that she was a more than capable replacement for Bennington at any point in the night.
Seven songs off of “From Zero” would make the cut into Monday’s show, but in the grand scheme of things, the career-spanning setlist would make the newest material feel like small moments of the night. This was, however, about a band that was refocused and re-energized, with a new face at the helm alongside Mike Shinoda. The staples of Linkin Park live shows were still ever-present, with Joe Hahn getting ample time to scratch, assisted by new drummer Colin Brittain and bassist Dave Farrell. Shinoda would also find time to touch on tracks from side projects Fort Minor and his feature on X-ecutioners 2002 hit “It’s Goin’ Down.” All the while, they appeared to be enjoying one another thoroughly while playing. Aside from Brittain on drums, everyone had ample space to move on stage, and they each utilized it, making the most of playing in the round and getting out to the edges of every side of the stage.
While the band made the most of their real estate, the production utilized the entire arena as a creative space, with an outer ring of lights and steam cannons hanging over the seating bowl. Everything was syncopated down to the slightest drum beat, and it was almost sensory overload between Linkin Park pouring everything they had into their set and the spastic lights that filled Fiserv Forum. With seven years away from their fans, there was certainly a sense of looking to make up for lost time, and they more than did that with a dizzying spectacle throughout the night.
While the middle of the show featured material from 2012’s “Living Things” onward, that portion of the show would finish with two of the most vocally demanding early Linkin Park songs for Armstrong. Transformative single “One Step Closer” would have her screaming at full capacity, while “Given Up” would feature a trademark Chester Bennington scream that would tire out even the most gifted of vocalists. Armstrong, like always, was up to the challenge, and the band would dip down below the stage after the pair of songs to let the production crew rotate every instrument to essentially flip the band 180 degrees to the crowd.
The main set would finish with three LP classics and one “From Zero” cut, culminating with a trio of “Numb,” “In The End” and “Faint.” Before “Numb,” though, the band would play a game where a pair of fans had to pick a number between one and three to determine what style of intro they would do. They would miraculously both pick option two, which Joe Hahn determined was ska. Did it sound weird? Yes. Were they able to pull it off? Yes, all the while seeming like it was a game more for the band onstage than the band themselves. “Faint” may have received the largest overall reaction of the night, but there was still more on the way from the band before they would make their pre-encore exit.
Once again, the laser beam would shoot down to the center of the stage floor, almost as if the encore was an unlocked level of Linkin Park. More lasers from the side would simulate cutting the overhead video cubes open, and the band would return to cap off the night. A four-song encore consisted of “Papercut,” “A Place For My Head” (which received an audible “ooohhh” from the Fiserv Forum crowd), recent single “Heavy Is The Crown,” and “Bleed It Out.” For the final song of the night, the band would all try to fit under a triangle of lasers in the center of the stage, before rushing to their spots on stage to get into the song. In a night where everything is synced together to the tightest degree, the encore was the chance for them to let loose. It felt like an earnest way to end the night.
When every touring act in the world has to do something to stand out, Linkin Park made sure to do so with an over-the-top production and energetic live show that would feel like giving back to Milwaukee on Monday night. Two hours and ten minutes seemed to breeze by, with no letting up from the band onstage. It will hopefully not be ten years before they return to the city, but when they do so, they’ve left a high bar for only themselves to top.
