It’s been thirteen years since I last saw Linkin Park, and crazily twenty three years since I first saw them in Australia. Now here we are all those years later with the new era of the band and Emily Armstrong out front wearing a different pair of shoes as trying to fill those of the late Chester is impossible. I’m a fan of what they’ve done, and thought ‘From Zero’ was great so I can’t wait to hear some of these new songs live and of course the Linkin Park classics.
Polaris are here to kick things off and do it in a big way. Into ‘Nightmare’ and this is huge, what a sound then ‘Dissipate’ and my god this is heavy. These guys are amazing, and this is an outstanding opener for tonight. The intensity is off the charts and I couldn’t be happier for these Aussie boys who are absolutely smashing it and will absolutely pick up some new fans tonight. The crowd sings along for ‘The Remedy’ as a very, very appreciate Polaris in their home town in their biggest ever shows are just delivering and it’s so cool to see. A circle pit opens up and the mosh is huge!! The phone lights come out for this much slower one, oh wait, nope boom and ‘Masochist’ has become my fave of their set so far. Things stay heavy and the absolute chunkiness of ‘All of this is Fleeting’ is insane. The drums ring in ‘Lucid’ and then it explodes into the best breakdown of the set so far. Closing with ‘Inhumane’ that set was something else. You could see how much this meant to them and they absolutely killed it. The talent we have in Australia in amazing and tonight we witnessed one of the best in our country doing it, these guys need to be much bigger than they are.
The crowd is ready and waiting as the 10 minute countdown starts. Then the noise as the 10 second countdown was unbelievable. As a laser shines down on the stage the band take the stage and take us into ‘Somewhere I Belong’ and what a way to start. Emily holds the mic out and the crowd are happily belting the lyrics back to the stage. Oh man, wasting no time they forfeit the game with ‘Points of Authority’ and it sounds great!! Damn the sound in here is perfect. What a way to start with a 1, 2 punch of intensity. Emily throws on a guitar for the first new one for the night with ‘Up From The Bottom’ and hearing her sing a song made for her is a treat, live she’s a powerhouse as Mike then takes centre stage and raps mid song before it kicks into full gear. Im so happy so far and now with ‘Lying From You’ seriously, this is going to be an amazing set, I love the Meteora album so this was great. Special mention to the person behind me who is absolutely loving this song and that makes me even happier.
Mike addresses the crowd with a quick thank you to everyone and taking us into the first taste we had of the new era of Linkin Park with ‘The Emptiness Machine’ and hearing it live elevates it to the next level. Wow. Lasers are doing their thing before ‘The Catalyst’ starts and this was always for me when Linkin Park really experimented and I tell ya what it is awesome live and with confetti cannons it’s even better. The crowd gets jumping for ‘Burn It Down’ and this one keeps things moving along nicely then some impromptu writing of new material on stage (jokingly) before ‘Castle of Glass’ which was a cool choice then one for the Fort Minor fans we get treated to a little bit of ‘Where’d You Go’ and that was great as I didn’t expect to hear any of this stuff so this is cool. It blends seamlessly with ‘Waiting For The End’ and this is actually one of my favourite Linkin Park songs, that chorus just hits. Mr Hahn starts off ‘Lies Greed Misery’ and things get heavier again. They stay heavy with another from the new album with ‘Two Faced’ and this is perfect for the stage and the circle pit agrees with me. That was close to the song of the night so far. Very happy they threw that one in.
Time for a little solo action with Joe and Colin, then Mike gets a go and a nice interlude of ‘When They Come For Me’ as he goes down the to front to shake some hands and have a chat and rap for us with some more Fort Minor in ‘Remember The Name’ and they lapped that up, but what came next was what a lot of people were waiting for… The one that started it all. ‘One Step Closer’ and that was loud, chunky, and Emily happily let the crowd sing along as she had a huge smile on her face as they were so loud and of course the air cannons and confetti do their thing to help make this song the beast it is. That was awesome. They leave the stage for a quick somewhat lengthy break to return with Mike on the keys and it’s quiet and peaceful as he and Emily give us this beautiful rendition of ‘Lost’ before it turns into the heaviest song of the night then they pick things back up with ‘From The Inside’ which has always been a great tune but the next one I can tell you got a whole lot of love ‘What I’ve Done’ is up and Emily nailed it, as did the crowd. Easily the biggest reaction of the night.
‘Overflow’ starts the next Act. Interesting choice from the new album but then ‘Numb’ is the perfect choice and hearing the Encore intro was really cool and then everyone singing this back to the stage is kinda magical.
The guitar starts ‘A Place for My Head’ and everyone is clapping in time before Mike gets everyone hyped and launching straight into the song. That was huge!! There are some songs you don’t always expect and this was one of them tonight. ‘Bleed it out’ takes things to the next level and what a way to finish the main set. That song has always been a perfect live song and hearing it again tonight was amazing. The band again leave the stage but this time they’re coming back for the encore… Do you want more? Yes, obviously.
The screens play some weird visuals as we await their return and then I’m happy as ‘Papercut’ has always been one of my favourite Linkin Park songs so I’m glad it gets a run tonight. That was huge, and that intro was great too! A quick chat with Joe before he hits the opening of ‘In The End’ and as you can imagine this was a big one and deafening at times as everyone shouted the chorus back to the stage. Wow. One more to go and it’s ’Faint’ that short, sharp, frantic song is the best way to end this set, and you can see the band still giving it their all, and doing it with love and the passion these songs deserve. They finish and take their well deserved cheers and you can just see how happy they are to be back.
While the band lost the power of Chester, what they have now with Emily and Colin is perfect and hearing these songs live again as well as these newer songs is just what everyone needed tonight. It’s just proof that certain bands did it right and Linkin Park are sure as hell one of them. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Essential Information
Venue: Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
Date: March 14, 2026
Presented by: Live Nation Australia
Special Guests: Polaris
Website: https://www.linkinpark.com/
Set List:
Somewhere I Belong
Points of Authority
Up From The Bottom
Lying From You
The Emptiness Machine
The Catalyst
Burn It Down
Castle of Glass
Where’d You Go
Waiting For The End
Lies Greed Misery
Two Faced
Mr Hahn solo
Mike solo (When They Come For Me / Remember The Name)
One Step Closer
Lost
From The Inside
What I’ve Done
Overflow
Numb
A Place for My Head
Bleed It Out
Papercut
In The End
Faint
