Linkin Park’s revival continues with gusto today (Sept. 24) thanks to the release of another new song, “Heavy Is the Crown,” and the announcement of three additional stadium shows before the end of the year.
“Heavy Is the Crown” will serve as the 2024 League of Legends World Championship Anthem, as the top 20 worldwide teams prepare to compete in the game’s biggest competitive event of the year starting tomorrow. It follows the recent release of “The Emptiness Machine,” which has dominated U.S. rock radio and presages the Nov. 15 arrival of Linkin Park’s new album, From Zero.
The group, which now features Emily Kennedy handling lead vocals originally sung by the late Chester Bennington, returned to live duty on Sept. 5 at a private launch event in Los Angeles and has since played arena shows in L.A., Brooklyn, Hamburg, and London. Newly added to the itinerary is an arena show on Nov. 3 in Paris and stadium gigs on Nov. 8 in Dallas and Nov. 15 in São Paulo, Brazil.
In recent years following Bennington’s 2017 death, group members Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell and Joe Hahn started hanging out again and reconnected with the creativity and camaraderie that drove Linkin Park in the first place. Once that was established, the quartet invited friends and colleagues to their studio, which helped them forge connections with Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain. Ultimately, the pair was asked to join the band, which the surviving members consider a new beginning rather than picking up where they left off.
