The 10 Best Moments From Linkin Park's Triumphant NYC Performance

In front of a Barclays Center crowd wearing various LP shirts from different eras and tours, Fugazi's “Waiting Room” ended, the house lights dimmed, a laser beamed from the ceiling onto the stage, and the band walked out two by two through an extended corridor that cut through the crowd, with Shinoda and Armstrong arriving together last. Watching the co-singers walk through an ecstatic audience felt like an exhalation – after many years, a Linkin Park concert in New York was finally about to begin. When the band sank into the riff of their first song, “Somewhere I Belong,” the Barclays Center bounced along with the six members, their ecstatic energy palpable from the first blast.

Armstrong took exactly two songs, “Somewhere I Belong” and “Crawling,” to locate the ferocity of her scream. These opening tracks were well-received warm-ups, but by the third song in the set, the favourite Meteora rap-rock anthem 'Lying From You', she burned every note. The rest of the band seemed to notice her screams reached a new level and Shinoda slammed forward during the breakdown as his new co-singer raised hell.

“Thank you guys so much for supporting our new music,” Shinoda told the crowd on the same day the band's new single, “The Emptiness Machine,” debuted at No. 21 on the Hot 100 chart, becoming the highest-charting hit in 15 years. “Because of your support, this song went to the top of Spotify and Apple and all that… I'm amazed at how supportive you've been, so thank you guys so much.” And with that, Linkin Park ripped through “The Emptiness Machine,” with everyone in the arena belting out every word of the 10-day track.

One of the biggest moments of the band's live stream on September 5 was “Waiting for the End,” the A thousand suns stand out means a lot personally to Armstrong, who choked up during the song, and Shinoda, who has previously described the single as his favorite Linkin Park song. In a setlist block that included some of the band's mid-period highlights (“The Catalyst,” “Burn It Down,” “Castle of Glass”), “Waiting for the End” sounded impressive, with Armstrong and Shinoda to harmonize with each other. their balancing act of soaring vocals and springy rhymes.

At last week's Los Angeles show, Shinoda unveiled a mash-up of “When They Come for Me” and “Remember the Name” — songs released under different artist banners (the former on Linkin Park's A thousand sunsthe latter on his lone Fort Minor album The Rising Tied) that nevertheless went well together as a showcase of his stacking ability. The tribal drums of “When They Come for Me” carry over into “That's ten percent luck!/ Twenty percent skill!” on the chest of “Remember the Name”? That's some high-octane motivation right there.

The only discrepancy between the Los Angeles and Brooklyn set lists came midway through the concert, when Living Things The electro-rap opener “Lost in the Echo” was traded for Hybrid Theory body-smasher “A Place for My Head” — and with that tweak, Linkin Park inadvertently created one of the most exciting hard-rock songs of the night, with “Given Up” and “One Step Closer” following right behind . The pit opened during “A Place for My Head,” widened during its scorching bridge (“You! Try to get the best of me! GO AWAY!” Armstrong proclaimed to thousands of spectators), then continued to rage through the sustained scream of “Given Up” and the metallic riff of “One Step Closer.” The ears rang. sweat dripping smiling faces.

“Lost,” the revamped song from the Meteora The era that became a surprise top 40 hit last year has been shortened once again and presented as a piano ballad. A few songs later, “My December” was played in full as a haunting crown. In both cases, Armstrong's powerful voice softened and showed a grace that could be hard to detect when he was presented as a ball of rage throughout the performance. Both songs demanded a fragility as devastating as the night's loudest screams, and Armstrong delivered. You don't expect to leave a Linkin Park show wishing there were more ballads on the set list, but these two moments did.

Linkin Park went through the hits before the encore — “Numb” to “In the End” to “Faint” — with the latter sounding like a bruise-fest, particularly during a lingering conclusion that allowed the band to savor what had. just achieved. “Numb” (complete with a “Numb/Encore” intro and a Brooklyn shout from Shinoda) was launched as the band's signature song, and “In the End” was a crazy song, but the coiled rap-rock H intensity of “Faint” was unforgettable as the band bid a momentary farewell.

During the encore, Shinoda referenced the greatest hits collection, Paper cutterswho released Linkin Park earlier this year: “When we put it out, there was a bunch of people who said, 'Shit, guys — what about The Hunting PartyWhile none of the band's thrash-metal albums of 2014 were the best full-lengths, they entered album opener 'Keys to the Kingdom' in the encore, between 'Papercut' and 'Bleed It Out'… and damn if it didn't sound more vital of the two most famous hits at the Barclays Center. Armstrong wreaked havoc on the screams, Shinoda rapped at the end of the big night, and even unfamiliar audience members rolled their bodies in time with the riffs in an unexpected toast to a fan-favorite album that turned 10 this year.

After the Barclays Center show ended, countless videos from outside the Brooklyn arena were shared on social media, with fans gathering in groups to watch “Crawling,” “Numb” and other hits they'd just heard. The footage seemed cathartic – these fans had been waiting years to sing their favorite Linkin Park songs together and weren't ready to call it a night after the band left the stage. The communal atmosphere of the Barclays Center show spilled out into the streets as midnight approached and is sure to repeat itself as the reformed group continues to play shows and say hello to old friends.