Linkin Park: From Zero World Tour
BOK Center
Tulsa, oklahoma
April 28, 2025
Written and Photographed by Eduardo Martinez
Last year, fans everywhere lost their minds when they opened their phones and saw that Linkin Park had quietly dropped a new song. No warning. No rollout. Just… there. And honestly? It was shocking. Chester Bennington is irreplaceable — period. So when news broke that Linkin Park had added a new member, not replacing Chester but starting a new chapter, people had feelings.
Enter Emily Armstrong.
She made her debut on “The Emptiness Machine,” and yeah… it hit hard. Like, really hard. Linkin Park doesn’t miss. Chester will always be missed, always be part of the band’s soul — but this wasn’t replacement energy. This was simply the next step. And Emily? She was built for the pressure.
A few months later they teased a small run of shows, then BOOM — From Zero World Tour gets announced, following their 2024 album From Zero. And yep, Tulsa was on the list.
Let’s rewind. April 28, 2025. Linkin Park takes over the BOK Center. It had been 15 years since they last played Tulsa. Fifteen. The lights go down. The room loses it. “Somewhere I Belong” starts playing. You know it’s coming. Joe Hahn hits that iconic scratch, the song drops, and suddenly it’s like… damn. They’re really here. Holy shit.
Everyone — and I mean everyone — is screaming along:
“When this began, I had nothing to say…”
You already know the rest.
Mike Shinoda’s presence is unreal. The flow, the confidence, the way he commands the stage — it’s wild hearing the voice you grew up with, live, right in front of you. And when Emily comes in on the chorus? Powerful. Emotional as hell. I’m not afraid to say I got a little teary-eyed. From there, it was nonstop. Hit after hit.
“Crawling.”
“Points of Authority.”
“New Divide.”
Then the new stuff — “The Emptiness Machine,” “Two Faced,” and one of my favorites, “Overflow” which hits so hard live due to its production elements. They covered everything.
“What I’ve Done.”
“Castle of Glass.”
“One Step Closer.”
“Numb.”
“Faint.”
The list just kept going. But the real left-field moment? “Lost.”
If you’re a die-hard fan, you already know why that one hurts. For everyone else — it was supposed to be on Meteora, fully recorded but never made the cut. Years after Chester’s passing, the band released it with his vocals still intact. And man… hearing it live hit different. The song is basically Chester telling us how he was feeling the whole time. Not just lyrics — that was him. The song starts quietly. Piano. Emily singing softly the words that Chester left behind. Then the band comes in, and the entire arena is yelling “I’M LOST!” at the top of their lungs. The energy, the emotion — you could feel it everywhere. That was the moment of the night for me. No question.
The encore was perfect.
“Papercut.”
“Heavy Is The Crown.”
And of course, “Bleed It Out.”
Total chaos. Fast raps, everyone jumping, yelling, just pure release. The perfect closer. Overall? Linkin Park is back. This new era feels real, honest, and respectful of everything that came before it. Fans get to reconnect with the music that’s been part of their lives for years — and yeah, myself included.
What a night.
