Linkin Park at Stade de France: bridging past and present in a suspended moment
- Eden Bisiot
- Jul 21
- 8 min read
On July 11, the world's greatest nu metal fans gathered at the Stade de France for an unforgettable evening: Linkin Park would once again set foot on French soil for the first time since the release of From Zero (and From Zero Deluxe). Accompanied by One Ok Rock and JPEG Mafia, the evening promised to be sensational, and it didn't disappoint!
The doors opened at 5.30pm, but many fans had already been waiting since the first rays of sunshine for the best seats. And while Linkin Park wasn't expected on stage until 9.15pm, two bands took to the stage to put us in the mood and introduce us to their worlds.
JPEG Mafia, a gentle start to the evening
photos : Estelle Oliveira / ChairYourSound
At precisely 7pm, thunder rumbled, heralding the arrival of the first act: JPEG Mafia. As soon as he arrives, the singer shows a great deal of energy, but it's hard for him to convey it. The room gradually fills up under the heavy bass of hip-hop as the rapper begins SIN MEDIO.
This was a rather electro set, with a flawless performance, but in front of an audience that couldn't get into the swing of things. The set was polished despite (in my opinion) too little interaction with the audience. I think the French scene was waiting for more Rock/Metal, and the headliner, of course.
He closes with "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm JPEG Mafia, you've been listening to hip-hop! Thank you so much!" and a final track entitled Either On Or Off The Drugs.
One Ok Rock heats up the crowd !
photos : Estelle Oliveira / ChairYourSound
After a 15-minute wait, it's time for the second support act to take to the stage. The room remains quiet, but you can still feel the anticipation for One Ok Rock.
At 7.50pm, the stage is lit up with animations as elaborate as they are visually pleasing, accompanied by a light show that leaves no one unmoved. One by one, the band members enter the Stade de France's main stage, ending with singer Takahiro Moriuchi.
The first riffs kick in, and the atmosphere that now echoes throughout the hall is incomparably energetic for an opening act. From the very first track, Puppets Can't Control You, Taka delivers an unmistakable scream to a near-capacity crowd. Before launching into the second track, he lets out a “Make some noise everybody!” that has the audience screaming from the very first notes.
The set design is well thought-out, with animations to match each track, and lighting that, despite the sun still shining, highlights the band's performance. This had a good effect on the audience, who shook their heads to the rhythm of Japanese rock.
Taka takes a short break to talk to the audience:
“How’s it going ? We are One Ok Rock from Japan. Thank you for having us ! We have a short time so we’re gonna try to make it the best as possible ! Are you ready ? I said, are you f*cking ready ?! Let’s go !”
But it's not just the singer who's having fun: all the musicians in the band are jumping up and down and enjoying the stage space, while Taka makes the stage advance his own. Once at the end of it, he beckons the crowd to raise their hands and clap along to Dystopia. He then gives an epic, hopeful speech, saying that “The world can be a bad place, but music helps”, and that he can feel the good energy in the room, emanating from the crowd.
Before starting Delusion:all, he announces "We'll tour in Europe soon!” And it’s true : the band will be embarking on the Detox European Tour at the end of the year, accompanied by Paledusk, and will be making a stop at the Accor Arena on October 10!
For the final track, entitled We Are, the band has brought Colin Brittain on stage to play it with them. A highlight that set the Stade de France alight. At the last guitar riff, Taka makes a big leap to close their performance, then waves to the audience before exiting the stage.
Linkin Park: a powerful performance befitting their legacy
photos : Anouk Marhoefer / Live Nation
30 minutes separated One Ok Rock's set from Linkin Park's. 30 minutes in which the fans had a field day with holas flying around the stadium, songs and, of course, drinks.
At 9.10pm, a 10-minute countdown appears on the screens on either side of the stage, further heightening the tension. The wait seems unbearable, and the crowd is desperate to make the time go by faster so they can finally see (again) their favorite band. With each “10”, the crowd counted down the seconds to zero, followed by an “Oooh...” of disappointment that there were still a few minutes to go. Until the last one, when the lights went out, making the crowd howl like it hadn't happened yet that night.
One by one, the members of the legendary band entered to the first notes of Somewhere I Belong. The tension is palpable, but the crowd remains calm, as if stunned by the arrival of their idols. Right up until the start of the song, which proved to be the breaking point for the crowd, who couldn't hold back any tears or lyrics, but screamed at the top of their lungs.
The set design since their comeback seems to please them, and we can't blame them! Two blocks of screens above the stage complement the lighting effects and various animations. It's a new DA that seems perfectly in tune with the world of Linkin Park, which adapts to its time, its era. As early as Up From The Bottom, lasers shoot down from the stage, adding the icing on the cake to this already impressive scenography.
Interaction with the audience continues, and Emily even lets the crowd sing along to Crawling, letting Chester Bennington sing through the audience's voice. She can also be seen making hearts and blowing kisses to thunderous applause. The audience loves her, and she loves them back. Mike tries to pick up with a “Thank you guys so much, you've been incredible”, but can't say anything more as the fans cheer them on. In the end, he manages to say one more word to announce The Emptiness Machine.
A little later, Mike settles down at the piano for The Catalyst, while Emily runs across the stage to accompany the confetti throwing. There were many emotional moments like this, particularly during the flashlights on Waiting For The End, just after a very successful cover of Fort Minor's Where'd You Go, when the concert turned into a real moment of communion, where nothing else mattered. Mike and Emily shared the vocals with flawless cohesion, bringing out the band's strong bond.
But while the emotional sequences are always much appreciated, the pit was soon back to fighting; the normal pit was the scene of numerous pogos from the start of the concert, but it was Castle Of Glass who launched the first circle pit, before total chaos during Two Faced, where even Mike and Emily initiated the Wall of Death with "Open the pit!”. Both the normal pit and the gold pit then metamorphosed into anthills, with moshpits popping up everywhere.
After a series of impressive and masterful solos, Mike took the stage to play with the audience. "Hey my friends! People on top make some noise! People down here make some noise! Everybody now!". A game that got the Stade de France crowd screaming, before he went down to offer his cap to a fan at the barriers. He then followed up with a mix of When They Come For Me and Remember The Name, which he rapped standing on the barriers with the crowd.
Linkin Park's grandiose show is far from over! As soon as he was back on stage, Mike played the first notes of One Step Closer, a track during which Taka, lead singer of One Ok Rock, came on stage to sing it with the band. A powerful moment that delighted the fans.
The track heralds the end of the show's second act. We are then treated to an interlude with a camera filming all the fans in the front row, who can be seen on the giant screens. The whole stadium is clamoring for more, waiting for their idols to return. They shout, clap their hands, call out “Linkin Park” between two rounds of applause. Once the row of fans has been filmed, the screens go dark, plunging the stage into darkness, revealing only red crackles.
Suddenly, the first piano notes of Lost ring out, as Emily and Mike reappear on stage. The song kicks off like a ballad under the flash of the phones lighting up the stadium, before the rest of the band join in to finish it off in style. We even hear a "Wouah! So happy to be here! Thank you so much!”. They then play Over Each Other, which Emily starts on guitar, before moving on to What I've Done, where Dave Farrell and Alex Feder venture onto an illuminated stage overhang, projecting beams skywards. This third act then ends on Overflow, at the end of which Emily drops onto the stage, her back against the floor, on the final notes.
While most of the interactions left a lasting impression on fans, the one that follows will be inked... literally. On a short tour near the audience, Mike stopped in his tracks to play a little game; a fan was holding a sign with two possible games, unrevealed. Mike chose the first and discovered that he had to draw the fan's tattoo, while the rest of the band jammed to Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song.
The band then moved on to what are surely Linkin Park's best-known songs, Numb, followed by In The End, during which Mike shouted “We wanna hear you scream as loud as possible!” before lifting the mic stand and holding it out to the audience, who were singing at the top of their lungs. Unnoticed, Emily finished the song with a beret on her head and a French flag with the band's logo in her hands, which amused her as much as it did her fans.
This was followed by a performance on Faint, which was incredibly mastered by both the other musicians and Emily, with screams that gave goosebumps all over the room. The band take their bows and leave the stage. But we know it's not the end, only the encores. The whole stadium knows this and plays its part to perfection, applauding, cheering, screaming and begging for the return of the headliner.
Laser beams shoot out from the stage, piercing the darkness of the room and keeping the audience in awe. An animation at the back of the stage buys time for the musicians, who take time to cool off while a sort of intro featuring elements of Castle Of Glass plays in the background.
The band returned to the stage to a cheering crowd. Emily shouts a “Thank you guys so much!”, then takes time to greet the fans and make hearts with her hands, while Mike thanks the teams in charge of this evening, insisting on the importance of the security team. He says he'd like to keep the show going all night long, to which Emily humorously replies “I can't wait for this fucking show to be over” before laughing.
For the encore, the band played four songs saluting Linkin Park's career: Papercuts, A Place For My Head, Heavy Is The Crown, followed by a grand finale on Bleed It Out. All the musicians (except the drummer, of course), come to the end of the stage to accompany the confetti thrown on the final “I bleed it out”. Colin then joins them at the end of the song.
Emily curtsies to the audience, then walks back upstage, taking time to wave to fans and blow kisses all over the stadium. The rest of the band take a little longer to join Emily, with smiles on everyone's faces, and even a French flag with the band's effigy in Mike's hands.
In short, it was a colorful and emotional evening, where pogos mingled with flashlights, where the audience sang for Chester, and where time stood still for an evening. Once again, Linkin Park delivered a smooth, unbeatable performance that will leave memories in the heads and dreams in the souls of all the fans present that evening.
Many thanks to Olivier Garnier and Replica Promotion for making our visit possible, to everyone involved in the organization of this date, to the fans for being so cheerful and receptive, and to Linkin Park for always giving their all on stage.
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