Linkin Park Adjusts Tour Plans: Cheaper Tickets, Smaller Venues, and a New Era
You don’t usually picture Linkin Park having trouble filling seats, but 2025 isn’t shaping up like any old tour. After opening ticket sales for their North American run, the iconic band has thrown out the playbook: slashing ticket prices, shifting their biggest show to a much smaller venue, and making significant changes in who appears on stage.
The headline shocker came when their September 13 Los Angeles concert — originally set to pack out Dodger Stadium’s 56,000 seats — was abruptly moved to the Intuit Dome, which holds only about 18,000. Fans who thought they’d be seeing the band in a vast sports arena got refund emails and a promise of first dibs on tickets at the new venue. Everyone else can take their shot when general sales kicked off on April 3.
Why the scale-down? Simply put, demand wasn’t matching expectations — and the band took notice. To put more fans in the room, they launched the “Up From The Bottom” ticket initiative, making seats across all dates available for $39.50 (plus fees, of course). Here’s the catch: these discounted tickets are scattered randomly throughout different seating areas, meaning some fans could luck out with primo spots for the price of a night at the movies. It’s a major shift from the days of $200 arena seats and late scalper panic. The move looks like a real attempt to put fans first, rather than just policing empty rows.
Not every fan got lucky. Linkin Park pulled the plug entirely on two planned stops in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre, leaving South American ticket-holders with only a refund and frustration. No official reason has dropped beyond vague “adjustments” — but it’s clear the group is recalibrating fast on the fly.
A New Chapter: Unfamiliar Faces and Fresh Voices
Among the biggest storylines is the new energy on stage. 2025 marks the debut tour for Emily Armstrong, Linkin Park’s latest vocalist, stepping up in the daunting shadow left by Chester Bennington. Expectations are sky-high, and fans are curious how Armstrong will tackle the classics while giving her own spin on songs from the just-released album From Zero.
Changes aren’t limited to the microphone. Guitarist Brad Delson is sitting out due to personal reasons, with Alex Feder filling in. The core live lineup now features Mike Shinoda, Armstrong, bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, Joe Hahn on decks, and drummer Colin Brittain. As for openers, Queens of the Stone Age are off the Los Angeles bill, but the ever-unpredictable JPEGMAFIA is still set to bring his brand of chaos to the stage beforehand.
Some fans are frustrated by the curveballs — no one likes canceled gigs or downscaled shows. But underneath the chaos, there’s an edge of reinvention at work. The smaller venues mean a more up-close-and-personal vibe, and the radical ticket pricing could get true fans in the door who would otherwise be priced out. Linkin Park has always tried to connect with its crowd on and off the album, and right now, they’re betting accessibility and intimacy might be their ticket back to the top tier of live music. It isn’t the tour they first promised, but it could turn out to be something new for both the band and their fans.