LIVE REVIEW: LINKIN PARK + POLARIS @ THE BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE 05/03/26
Words by Cecilia Pattison-LeviMike Shinoda, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, Joe Hahn, Emily Armstrong, Colin Brittain and Alex Feder (Linkin Park) returned to Brisbane after a 13-year absence. The Brisbane Entertainment Centre (BEC) was the venue to see them perform the ‘From Zero World Tour’. They also brought along Sydney based band Polaris and it became a big night for heavy and loud rock ‘n’ roll.
It was great to see Linkin Park back in Australia after a long break. The band has seen changes especially with the untimely death of Chester Bennington. The band has gathered themselves, overcome grief and seen a new way forward in a new band member, Emily Armstrong from Dead Sara, enlisted as their main vocalist. They released a new album, ‘From Zero’, and announced the tour. Linkin Park sold out the BEC over two nights with 30,000 people rejoicing in seeing the band renewed and back to where they should be: changed but relevant to modern heavy rock music.
It was a very hot and wet night as thousands of fans poured into the BEC to experience Linkin Park and Polaris live in concert. The band’s ‘From Zero World Tour’ has been one of the most highly anticipated tours in recent memory, and two days in Brisbane proved exactly why. It was a communal moment of reflection, healing, and explosive energy: delivered by two powerful bands.
The evening started with the most amazing backdrop and lighting as Polaris came to the stage. The Sydney based rock band lit up the venue and pumped up the crowd for an amazing 40-minute set. It was heavy from the start as the bassline and drums pounded the rhythm as the beat dominated the venue. From the moment ‘Nightmare’ commenced, the crowd responded quickly. Jamie Hails (singer) prowled the stage, and demanded involvement, as he yelled, “Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!” And the crowd did!
Metalcore favourites Polaris (Jamie Hails, Daniel Furnari, Rick Schneider, Jake Steinhauser, with Jesse Crofts) had the crowd engaged. There were walls of death, circle pits, and industrial scale headbanging. By track two, when ‘Dissipate’ was delivered: sweat was flying. Polaris had been given the job of warming up a packed arena and they did just that. ‘The Remedy’, ‘Hypermania’ and ‘Masochist’ had the crowd especially those on the floor in a mosh lather. Jake Steinhauser’s clean vocals were great but his bassline riffage drilled through the venue and the enormous rhythm could be felt in your chest. It was heavy!
Polaris got the crowd clapping, doing singalongs as ‘All Of This Is Fleeting’ and ‘Lucid’ were performed. The band closed out their truly amazing set with ‘Inhumane’. At the end of the set, they thanked the crowd, threw signed drumsticks and made the setlists into paper planes and flew them into the crowd. Jamie Hails plane went backwards – quite a feat – just as well he is a vocalist! Polaris delivered a fantastic quality supporting set!
The stage was stripped back, the drumkit was removed and the front of the stage, and risers were put into place. The crowd waited as the anticipation grew. The young kid behind me kept asking every 2 minutes when Linkin Park would be coming on.
For many in the crowd, it had been more than 13 years since they last saw the band on Australian soil when Linkin Park performed at that fabulous festival Soundwave 2013. Suddenly, a clock lit up the BEC. A ten-minute countdown (maybe the longest 10 minutes ever), demonstrated the scale of the production. The visuals were nothing short of spectacular with pulsing laser lights, massive screens, spotlights on instruments and band members, sweeping lighting rigs that cut across the venue with a futuristic aesthetic. The CO2 cannons and the confetti cannons in white, red and pink with glitter were used to absolute effect throughout the night. It was a spectacular!
When the house lights finally went dark and the countdown clock hit all zeros, the original members Mike Shinoda, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, and Joe Hahn arrived on stage first in spotlights to Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’. Then, new recruits Emily Armstrong, Alex Feder (replacing Brad Delson), and Colin Brittain emerged to a wall of cheers. The stage design was sleek, futuristic, with visuals that shifted from glitchy static to sweeping landscapes, all in perfect time with the music.
The band wasted no time, kicking things off with Act 1: ‘Somewhere I Belong’ and the singing from the crowd started immediately. The energy was immediate as Mike Shinoda’s spitting razor-sharp verses and Alex Feder’s guitar snarled across the BEC. Linkin Park grabbed the crowd’s collective throats with ‘Crawling’, ‘Up From The Bottom’, ‘New Divide’ and ‘The Emptiness Machine’. The sound mix was pristine, with every layer of instrumentation from the heavy basslines to atmospheric synths, perfectly balanced.
Act Two started with ‘The Catalyst’ then the setlist followed a carefully curated journey through their career. ‘Burn It Down’, ‘Cut The Bridge’, ‘Where'd You Go’ and ‘Waiting For The End’ were performed and had the crowd swaying, bathed in light from their phone screens. Mike Shinoda proved himself not just as the backbone of the band but as a charismatic front man who knew exactly how to work the crowd.
Linkin Park got stuck into delivering their songs now like ‘Lies Greed Misery’, ‘Two Faced’, the medley of ‘When They Come For Me / Remember The Name’ followed by ‘Unshatter’. It was a strange middle section for a set that flowed with a strange energy shift between new and older songs.
The stage lights went red and the guitar riff commenced for ‘One Step Closer’. The set changed at this point from a very rock approach to nu-metal sounds as the floor mosh responded. Then, the band had a short break and then Act Three started with ‘Lost’ that showcased Emily Armstrong’s vocal range and voice. Then, oddly, the rock ballad ‘Over Each Other’ was delivered. Then, the crowd went nuts as the song from the movie ‘Transformers’, ‘What I’ve Done’ pumped the crowd back into dance mode.
Act Four started and it was all about the crowd singalongs with ‘Overflow’, ‘Numb’ and ‘Stained’ hitting hard. Then, the huge, ‘In The End’ where the crowd almost blew the roof off the BEC as 15,000 people sang louder than the band was astonishing. It was at this point that Linkin Park really won the whole crowd.
Mike Shinoda demanded that everyone “stand up and help Mr. Hahn with this next bit”. The whole venue stood for the beautiful and chilling synth intro of ‘Faint’. And, then no one sat down again until the band left the stage. The whole venue was moving and dancing. The band had made the gig a real celebration and the new Linkin Park had gone through its birthing pains and here they are now. It was an important moment for the band as you could feel the past being cut and left behind, and it was an amazing feeling.
I was stunned as people started to leave. Why? The best was yet to come as Linkin Park performed an amazing encore of ‘Papercut’ and ‘Heavy Is The Crown’. Then, the closing song ‘Bleed It Out’ that spotlighted Emily Armstrong, her strong vocals and scream, and an amazing jump off the drumkit. It was spectacular and stated: here is Linkin Park’s future. The encore sealed the night with a pure shot of adrenaline. It was a terrific finale to a career-spanning set that covered Linkin Park’s back catalogue and showed where the band are heading with confidence and a new lease of life.
