Linkin Park guitarist and vocalist Mike Shinoda recently backed new vocalist Emily Armstrong in a series of posts on Discord. On September 5, Linkin Park announced their comeback through a live stream event where they introduced Emily Armstrong as their new vocalist replacing Chester Bennington, who passed away in 2017.
During the live stream event, the band performed several hits including ‘Lost.’ This is their re-discovered single from their Meteora 20th anniversary set last year and it saw its live debut, with Armstrong leading a piano version of the top 40 hit.
Mike Shinoda defends Emily Armstrong
Emily Armstrong’s addition to the band has garnered mixed reactions from longtime Linkin Park fans. Mike Shinoda, who broke his silence over fan backlash yesterday, once again took to Discord to defend Armstrong. He wrote:
“Lost was the highlight of that show, for sure. If you heard Emily sing “Lost and you didn’t go “wow, she’s great” then you don’t have ears.”
Following an intro that included bits of “Castle of Glass” and “The Requiem,” Linkin Park performed “The Emptiness Machine,” which is the lead single on the album From Zero. They performed the song live for the first time with Armstrong, a blistering rocker that goes back to the sound of 2014’s The Hunting Party. Armstrong appeared onstage midway through the song to deliver her second verse, as a reveal of who would be joining Mike Shinoda as the band’s other lead vocalist.
Linkin Park performed a mix of their biggest hits “In the End,” “Numb,” “Crawling” and fan favorites “Lying From You,” “Waiting for the End”.
Linkin Park’s new album From Zero will drop on November 15. The band will kick off its six-date arena tour on Wednesday, September 11 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Other stops include New York, Germany, London, South Korea and Colombia.
