Linkin Park has been teasing an announcement about the future of the band for some weeks now, and the most popular theory was that a female vocalist would be replacing the late Chester Bennington for the band’s reunion, seven years after Chester’s death.
Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened at the Linkin Park show last night, where the band went live with new singer Emily Armstrong from the group Dead Sara, putting on a 14-song set where she absolutely crushed:
This is what we doing!?!? OKAY!!!#LinkinPark
Linkin park 🫡🫡 pic.twitter.com/NLu7ZCq8rS— Daryl (@Daryl_31) September 5, 2024
New Linkin Park singer Emily Armstrong sounds great imo
#LinkinPark #music #metal pic.twitter.com/yyamAqqBtU
— heehoo (@heehoo244) September 5, 2024
Numb. pic.twitter.com/DRHNJjjta4
— LINKIN PARK (@linkinpark) September 5, 2024
Now obviously no one can replace or replicate Chester Bennington’s iconic vocals, and Linkin Park sounds a lot different with Emily Armstrong singing the tunes in his place. But maybe that’s what they’re going for by recruiting a female singer in the first place? Something different? After all, you don’t want to bring in another male singer who would be more readily and unfairly compared to Chester Bennington, and probably accused of trying too hard to do a Chester Bennington impression.
With Emily Armstrong, it’s a whole new flavour that you can’t really compare to Chester Bennington and that’s probably for the best. Still, her gnarly screams are totally evocative of Chester and it’s not difficult to see why the band chose her.
okay I need everyone to stop what they are doing and process this with me.
Linkin park has revealed their new vocalist, Emily Armstrong..
AND SHE IS FUCKEN PHENOMENAL. MY GOD. pic.twitter.com/MZQEgk2Eue
— Lex 🔜 Twitchcon San Diego 🌴 (@alittlebitlexis) September 5, 2024
Reaction online does seem to be mixed, but then people do always pile on to the new singer and expect them to be like the old one. The reality is there will never be another Chester Bennington and the best they can do is find someone to do the old songs justice and help the band move forward, and they’ve done that pretty well IMO.
The band also released their new single following the live show, which has already racked up over 1M views in 7 hours:
It’s going to take some getting used to for sure, but the good news is that the band has also announced some new tour dates, so hit those up if you’re in LA, London, New York, Hamburg, Seoul and Bogota and want to see Linkin Park live.
JUST ANNOUNCED: LINKIN PARK live in Los Angeles, New York, Hamburg, London, Seoul and Bogota on the From Zero World Tour. Find ticket info & watch the global livestream now: https://t.co/4WLTFLbKgO pic.twitter.com/jxHnP5AZGm
— Live Nation (@LiveNation) September 5, 2024
Never forget:
For the woman who used Linkin Park lyrics to stop a suicide man jumping off a ledge, click HERE. Legend.
