Linkin Park, courtesy.

After days of countdowns, trolling and endless speculation, Linkin Park is back, becoming the second long-absent rock act to return, after Oasis.

What began as a 100-hour countdown to nothing in particular on the band’s website turned into a livestream concert for the band’s fan club members. The biggest question going into Thursday’s reveal was who would take over as lead screamer for the late Chester Bennington. The guesses crossed the spectrum, from Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley to lesser-known rock vocalist Bobby Amaru. Some thought it would be a revolving cast of singers.

At the Thursday concert, the new singer was announced as Dead Sara’s Emily Armstrong. Linking Park also announced a new drummer in Colin Britton, a new album—From Zero, recorded with Armstrong—and a short arena tour. At the concert, the band opened with new track “The Emptiness Machine.”

While guitarist Brad Delson remains in the band, he was not present at he Thursday livestream show. Delson joins rapper-guitarist Mike Shinoda, bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell and turntablist Joe Hahn in returning. Britton co-produced From Zero.

While it may have been jarring to see Linkin Park fronted by someone other than Bennington, Armstrong quickly proved she’s got the chops. From heavier tracks like “Faint” and “Lying From You” to the melodic “What I’ve Done” and “Waiting for the End,” she pushed her voice to limit, even hitting Bennington’s screams.

“This is fun,” she said early in the set. “They told me I looked the part, I just had to learn how to sing in eight months.”

“The Emptiness Machine” is a return to rock for Linkin Park after the poppier and more introspective One More Light. It’s riff-forward, sans rapping, with a punk rock intensity. Armstrong’s and Shinoda’s voices meld particularly well on it.

Fans attending the show were given no details beyond an RSVP to “be a part of something.” They were told to gather at Universal Studios and were then bussed to a soundstage on the Warner Bros. lot where the band’s tour production was set up inside of a studio sound stage.

The band powered through the high points of its catalog, even mixing in tracks like “The Catalyst” and “Papercut.” If there were nerves, they weren’t evident, the band powered through a roughly hourlong set playing its biggest hits in the first live performance since a 2017 tribute concert for Bennington at the Hollywood Bowl. The band has also been busy, with an entire album ready to roll out on top of a world tour. The band will be opting for an ‘in the round’ format for the first time, with a stage the interacts with a large projection screen over top with laser lights shooting between the two.

While Linkin Park is expected to hit the road hard in 2025, the tour starts almost immediately with an engagement at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles set for next week. That tour will also take them to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on top of a string of international dates.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.