Merkur-Spiel-Arena, Duesseldorf, Germany 1st July 2025
Linkin Park - “From Zero World Tour” 2025 - Special Guest: Architects
“Hush child, when did you grow so big?” This gasp teenage adolescents tend to hear from their well-meaning grandparents also applies here: The career trajectory of Nu Metal icons LINKIN PARK with their new-found front woman Emily Armstrong seems to know only one direction: 90 degrees upward.
Speaking of which: The tour date fell on the hottest summer day (so far) in Düsseldorf, so the Merkur-Spiel-Arena (which is no dimly-lit gambling hall, but a full-blown soccer arena) was filled to the brim with 45,000 sweaty people, who nevertheless were super-stoked to see their idols after waiting for over eight years after their last appearance in the region.
Architects
As the first scheduled act (JPEGMAFIA) did not appear, so first up on the roster were British Metalcore pioneers ARCHITECTS. The band from Brighton, UK formed around 2004. They quickly made of name for themselves together with fellow Brits ENTER SHIKARI as pioneers of Metalcore, with their style due to its protracted complexity being called Mathcore. Their seventh album ‘All Our Gods have Abandoned us’ has been released in 2016, right before the band was hit by the tragic death of founding guitarist and songwriter Tom Searle, who passed away after a long battle against cancer, aged only 28 years.
Nevertheless, the band decided to carry on and continued touring as a tribute to Tom, and released another album, called ‘Holy Hell’ in November 2018. This was followed by ‘For Those That Wish To Exit’ (2021), and ‘The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit’ in 2022. Their latest masterpiece is the epic album ‘The Sky, the Earth & All Between’, which was released in February this year. https://www.architectsofficial.com / https://www.facebook.com/architectsuk
Music & Performance
This was an entrance to behold: A electronic, industrial sounding, and rapidly accelerating intro made communication inside the vast stadium round virtually impossible, and ARCHITECTS kicked-off their set with the melodic opener ‘when we were young’. Frontman Sam Carter, a charismatic figure with an impassioned stage presence, gave his all from the outset, his soaring vocals cutting through the thunderous instrumentals with ease. With a devilish grin, Sam introduced the band with the purpose ’We are here to warm you up’.
And boy, this is what they did. For the song ‘Doomsday’, Sam gave the crowd detailed instructions on how to circle pit, which caused quite a few swirls in the crowd. Sam also won over the hearts of the fans, as he revealed an antique German football jersey. He reminded also every one of the finiteness of life, encouraging everyone to make the best of each moment. Coming from a band leader with such history, this made quite a few people thoughtful and stirred a huge round of encouraging applause, The songs ‘Seeing Red’ and ‘Animals’ brought 45- minute appearance to an end.
Linkin Park
INKIN PARK is back in a big way with their largest-ever concerts in Germany (outside of festivals) for summer 2025. The band goes way back to 1996, and this space is certainly not enough to summarize the musical impact of the pioneers for Nu Metal. However, the fact that this band caused a huge splash when they announced their return in September 2024, and that they sold out the world-wide stadium tour in no time speaks for itself. https://www.linkinpark.com / https://www.facebook.com/linkinpark
Music & Performance
Whoever decided to leave the stadium roof partly closed for the concert certainly made sure that the heat and humidity stayed on tropical levels. But this did not damp the anticipation building up inside the large arena. A little later than scheduled, around 8:50pm a 10-minute timer occurred on the huge projection screens left and right of the stadium stage, while the DORO hymn ‘All we Are’ resounded.
When the countdown finished, a huge laser projection together with an Industrial sounding intro announced the arrival of the band to the frantic screaming and clapping of the crowd. After all musicians arrived, the band kicked off their set with the old-school hit ‘Somewhere I Belong’. Emily, wearing huge black sunglasses immediately became the gravity of the crowd’s attention. However, her interactions with the crowd felt a little mute initially, as if she was feeling the full weight of Chester Bennington’s legacy.
Further into the setlist for the new song ‘The Emptiness Machine’ Emily noticeably eased into her game, and the audience mirrored this by cheering and - yes, despite the scorching heat - spinning up circle pits all over the stadium grounds. For ‘Burn it Down’, the audience figuratively was eating out of Emily’s hand, which made for a fascinating watch. One highlight from the setlist was the song ‘Two-faced’, which the band performed with scorching speed and precision.
Even funnier was the look of Emily casually strolling up on the huge centre stage walk, rocking a LIDL training outfit, as if she just dropped by the legendary LIDL Rock Stores from the storied Rock am Ring / Rock im Park Festival (which LINKIN PARK will headline in 2026) to recreate the “Toothpaste caught in the LIDL” meme, which set the band’s reddit on fire on the next day.
But the band did not just celebrate the heavier songs of their incredible back catalogue. Also, the slower moments during ‘Lost’ or ‘Let you fade’ (during the encore) let the magic of this resurrected band unfold in a way which gave me goose bumps, which is not easy to achieve at oven temperatures.
This wasn't just a concert; it was a celebration of endurance. Not only temperature-wise this was an evening to remember, and LINKIN PARK proved why they are considered one of the greatest bands of all time. If you have the chance to catch them on tour, don't miss it. You'll be in for an unforgettable night. Or you mark your calendars for next year’s Rock am Ring / Rock im Park Festival on June 5th to June 7th 2026.
Setlist
Tape: All We Are (Doro song)
---Act I---
Tape: Inception Intro B (with elements of ‘Iridescent’)
01. Somewhere I Belong
02. Cut the Bridge
03. Crawling
04. New Divide (with Moscow intro)
05. The Emptiness Machine
---Act II---
Tape: Creation Intro B (with elements of ‘Iridescent’)
06. The Catalyst
07. Burn It Down
08. Up From the Bottom (with Joe Hahn/Colin jam intro)
09. Where’d You Go (Fort Minor cover)
10. Waiting for the End
11. Castle of Glass
12. Two Faced (Emily wearing Lidl outfit and Mike fully playing into ‘Toothpaste caught in the Lidl’ meme)
13. Joe Hahn Solo (with Colin)
Tape: Empty Spaces
14. When They Come for Me / Remember the Name (Mike solo w/Colin; extended transition with ‘Petrified’ verse 1)
15. Given Up
16. One Step Closer (Ext. Outro)
---Act III---
Tape: Break/Collapse
17. Lost (hybrid version, 1st verse/1st chorus Mike and Emily piano into full band version)
18. Good Things Go
19. What I’ve Done
---Act IV---
Tape: Kintsugi
20. Overflow (with Dr. Dre’s ‘The Next Episode’ intro)
21. Numb (with double speed ‘Numb/Encore’ intro; punk rock outro)
22. In the End
23. Faint (Ext. Outro)
---
Tape: Resolution Intro B (with elements of ‘Iridescent’)
24. Papercut
25. Let You Fade
26. Heavy Is the Crown
27. Bleed It Out (extended bridge with ‘A Place for My Head’ verse 1)
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
