For Indian fans of Linkin Park, hope has always arrived late, usually via YouTube grain, bootleg live videos, and the aching knowledge that this band toured everywhere except here. For over 20 years, India has been the ghost in Linkin Park’s touring map. And now, finally, the wait is over.
Linkin Park opened their India debut with their show in Bengaluru on January 23 at Brigade Innovation Gardens. The venue was close to full by early evening, with long entry lines and a large crowd. The Bengaluru setlist focused heavily on older songs like Numb, In the End and Crawling which received the biggest response of the night. The Bengaluru concert served as a no-frills opening to Linkin Park’s long-awaited India debut, with the audience clearly more interested in hearing familiar tracks live.
The band started in late 1990s with the original line-up including vocalists Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Joe Hahn, Rob Bourdon, and Dave Farrell. Their albums, HybridTheory and Meteora were genre defining for nu metal. But with Chester’s death in 2017, the idea of seeing Linkin Park live anywhere felt impossible. The band regrouped with new vocalist Emily Armstrong and then the comeback was careful, deliberate, and brave. With new music, a new touring chapter. Which is what makes this India debut hit harder.
This isn’t a nostalgia cash-grab or a rushed box to tick. It’s arriving at a moment when Indian live music culture has finally grown into its appetite—bigger crowds, sharper production, deeper listening.
The Mumbai Lollapalooza set on Jan 25 at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse will be scale and spectacle. They will also have other bands performing at the Lollapalooza festival include Green Day and Imagine Dragons, making it one of India’s biggest music events ever.
Some bands soundtrack youth and others soundtrack healing. Linkin Park, improbably, did both. And now, at last, they’re doing it live—right here.
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