Linkin Park made their long-awaited return to Milwaukee on Monday night, and the Fiserv Forum crowd was more than ready to welcome them back with open arms and louder-than-life voices. The From Zero World Tour has been a victory lap of sorts for the band, not just celebrating their legacy but proving that they are very much rocking and thriving in 2025.
With their new album From Zero fueling the setlist and Emily Armstrong stepping confidently into her role as the band’s vocalist, this wasn’t just a nostalgia trip. It was a reminder that Linkin Park can still shake the walls and hearts of an arena as if no time had passed. In fact, after nearly a decade since their last Milwaukee appearance, at Summerfest 2015, you could say fans were crawling in their skin waiting for this night.
From the moment the band launched into “Somewhere I Belong,” the energy inside Fiserv Forum was electric. Fans erupted as if the song had been bottled up inside them for years, finally able to be unleashed in one euphoric scream. The production pulled no punches either. An immersive stage at the center of the arena with 360 degrees of fans on the GA floor and throughout all levels of the arena made for a great night. Milwaukee got the full Linkin Park experience, complete with moments that felt like thunderclaps one second and hushed confessions the next. The group leaned into their act-based structure that has been a consistent thread throughout the tour, giving the night a cinematic flow, almost like flipping through the chapters of a diary.
Emily Armstrong continues to be the standout story of this era. In city after city, she has shown that she doesn’t need to mimic or replace what can never be replaced. Chester Bennington’s absence will always be felt, but instead of trying to fill his shoes, Armstrong honors the spirit he left behind while bringing her own grit, range, and stage presence to these songs.
During “Numb” and “In the End,” Armstrong often let the audience carry the weight, creating one of those goosebump-inducing moments when thousands of voices blended into one. Then she’d turn right around and ignite new songs like “The Emptiness Machine” and “Heavy Is the Crown,” pouring so much fire into them that you could feel the arena collectively buying in to Linkin Park’s next chapter.
Of course, Mike Shinoda remains the heartbeat of the show. His raps on “Papercut” and “Remember the Name” (from his hip-hop side project, Fort Minor) hit with machine-like precision, and his voice on tracks like “Waiting for the End” gave the night a spiritual quality.
The setlist was built to please everybody, from the diehard Hybrid Theory fans who have had these songs tattooed on their souls since 2000, to the fans embracing the shiny new material. Old favorites like “Crawling,” “Faint,” and “One Step Closer” hit as hard as they ever did, proving the band hasn’t lost a single ounce of its ferocity. Then came the new songs from From Zero, which flowed seamlessly into the night instead of feeling like an intermission. “Cut the Bridge” and “Overflow” showed off the band’s modern muscle, while “Lost” acted as the emotional centerpiece, silencing the room before turning it into a chorus of catharsis.
By the encore, everyone knew what was coming, but that didn’t make it any less explosive. The band returned with “Heavy Is the Crown,” giving one last punch of new material, before unleashing “Bleed It Out.” As Shinoda commanded the crowd to chant along, the noise grew so deafening that it felt like the entire Deer District could hear it. Fans jumped, shouted, and emptied their lungs on that finale, leaving the arena buzzing long after the last note. If the Bucks ever need a new pump-up anthem, they might want to consider putting this closer in their pregame playlist.
By the end of the night, Milwaukee had witnessed something bigger than just a rock concert. Linkin Park turned Fiserv Forum into a time machine, a therapy session, and a celebration all at once. They honored the past while embracing the future, and they did it with enough energy to power the city’s skyline. For longtime fans, it was validation that the wait was worth it, and for new ones, it was proof that this band is still one of the most important in rock. Linkin Park didn’t just bring the house down in Milwaukee. They built it back up again, stronger than ever, from zero.
The Early Registration 