Linkin Park Proves They’re Only Going up at Van Andel Arena

Linkin Park with special guest Grandson dominated the stage on May 1 at Van Andel Arena, proving that this new ideation of the band is just getting started.

 

GRANDSON

 

On the warm-up team was Grandson, who we’ve captured once before in Detroit. He gives his performance 110% with energy, and even shared an emotion with the crowd about how he was so excited to be opening for Linkin Park on some dates this tour. He kicked off the set with a new song called “Bury You,” followed by “Oh No!!!” and another new track, “Self-Immolation.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandson also covered “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan, included another new track called “Brainrot” and of course, who could forget the banger “Blood /// Water.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

LINKIN PARK

 

With that intro, combined with the “Polka Face” medley by Weird Al Yankovic, Linkin Park finally hit the stage. Breaking out the big guns by going old school, they started their set with “Somewhere I Belong” off of 2003’s acclaimed album ‘Meteora.’

 

The next on the list, which shocked me personally, was “Cut The Bridge” from their new album with new vocalist Emily Armstrong, ‘From Zero,’ which seems to be a sleeper of a hype track without getting into the best bangers of the album.

 

Rounding out the first 3, which is when the photographers are allowed to capture the event, was “Crawling” off of ‘Hybrid Theory,’ which was the song that broke the band into superstardom in the year 2000. Hearing “Crawling” live is bittersweet, as many Linkin Park fans miss Chester Bennington, who passed in 2017, but at the same time, it was a full circle moment to hear their new vocalist at the helm honor him by performing his words.

 

The stage was set up with these two screens with lights underneath, and that description does not do it justice in terms of how cool it was. The screens were also connected to a camera that Joe Han, Linkin Park’s DJ and Creative Director, was able to control via a camera that was wired to project his captures when he wasn’t performing. He picked up the camera to capture some stage views for the audience, at one point even sticking the camera into Emily’s face while she screamed. The visuals were also fed through designed filters at times, so it elevated what the fans could see if they weren’t close enough to the stage.

 

Mike Shinoda is always viewed as what people would consider Linkin Park’s leader, especially after Bennington’s departure, but he has balanced that viewpoint by letting Emily shine with her interpretation and delivery of the vocals. When first announced, there were of course going to be opinions on how this band moved forward with a new singer, but as a fan of Linkin Park since the moment they dropped “Crawling,” and watching the responses from the battlefield of the internet, I have to wonder if “Heavy Is The Crown” somehow is alluding to Emily moving into this role. She wears that crown gracefully, with her grit still intact, and if there was anyone in the audience who doubted her commitment, they had to have grasped that she deserves the role with her stellar performance of this vault of songs.

 

Along with the stage set up, we have to give a nod to the lighting design of this concert. At one point, a laser looked to be chiseling the screens above, and the light show added a high production value to the overall show. Even during moments where the fans seemed more chill than over-exuberant, they had more than just the performance to watch, with everything going on with the creativity of the lighting and shadow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other high points during the show included both tracks that were from ‘Transformers’ soundtracks: “New Divide” and “What I’ve Done,” which had the crowd screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs, and probably cutting TikToks with “Directed by Michael Bay” on them later. “Numb” also gave us the throwback to ‘Collison Course’ with Shinoda calling reference to the intro Jay-Z added to the mix for their joint release.

 

They ended their set with a 4-song encore with “Papercut,” “From The Inside,” “Heavy is the Crown,” and “Bleed It Out,” all of which had fans holding their phones in the air, and screaming to their lungs were sore.

 

We walked out of this show considering it one of the best arena shows we’ve seen in a long time, as well as the best show we’ve seen this year. We truly feel that as time progresses, this new version of Linkin Park will continue to dominate with fans and Alternative Rock radio for years to come.

 

Linkin Park will be doing a brief stint in Florida at Welcome To Rockville on May 17, before going overseas for a bit, and then will be back in the U.S. for another round of dates, including Detroit on August 14. Get your tickets at  linkinpark.com/tour.