Three members of Linkin Park are mulling a possible 2025 tour with female vocalist

[LPLStaff]

9 hours ago, Elaine said:

What does this generally imply for the band beyond "They have a reason to need a new agent"?

 

That's really it. They are fielding show offers and there's no reason to doubt the legitimacy of that, but there isn't more to it other than they see a need to have a new show agent. Which is honestly very surprising considering they had the same guy 2000-2018 before this and Mike was with him too. So, they see some sort of need to change it up.

 

Beyond that, let's see.

[Elaine]

13 minutes ago, LPLStaff said:

 

That's really it. They are fielding show offers and there's no reason to doubt the legitimacy of that, but there isn't more to it other than they see a need to have a new show agent. Which is honestly very surprising considering they had the same guy 2000-2018 before this and Mike was with him too. So, they see some sort of need to change it up.

 

Beyond that, let's see.

Thanks! I wanted to make sure I had that right. Yeah, that's pretty momentous.

 

Personally, what says it all is: They could have saved Papercuts for the 25th anniversary next year and they didn't. Something instead made them rush it.

Edited May 1 by Elaine

[Coizu]

13 minutes ago, LPLStaff said:

they see a need to have a new show agent

Who was their previous booking agent?

[GreyFox-AFCA]

51 minutes ago, Coizu said:

Who was their previous booking agent?

AAE Music

[Soeffingnaive92]

When rumors intensify there must be something going on. 
All the rumors about HT20, M20, Papercuts were basically confirmed. 
About female singer: I’m ok with it, I get that choice would avoid comparisons with Chester. No hate at all but i strongly hope it’s not Hailey Williams. 
About Rob and Joe: I hope they’ll join the other members if the whole thing is true, but I’d be OK with someone taking their place, Rob is a really good drummer but you can replace him, same with Joe, especially live wise, as an art director he’s cool (videos visuals …) as of live shows it’s not impossible to find someone fill in for him. We’ll see 

[Chazy987]

So go (presumably) from AAE to WME? In addition to the agency, do they also change the agent (intended as the person responsible for booking)?

[mrfox]

37 minutes ago, Somebodyangry said:

About female singer: I’m ok with it, I get that choice would avoid comparisons with Chester.

 

I think exactly the same. I saw some APFMH video featuring female singer and it sounded ok, it was different but good. Absolutely ok with that.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

There's no way that they can go on tour and not play heavy songs, even Mike on his solo tour played APFMH w Jennifer.

 

Mike and the rest of the guys know that they need to play the heavy songs and a vocalist who can sing all or almost their whole catalog is needed.

 

I hope that they don't choose someone like Bonnie from Stand Atlantic, she has a nice voice but she's very limited and doesn't have the screaming ability, she just yells like Deryck.

 

Someone like the vocalist of Spiritbox or Jennifer would be great.

Edited May 1 by JZLP-NaughtyNottingham

[blackout]

I feel like it's some sort of a historic moment happening here so I need to write a post as well to mark my presence.

 

I think that the information is rather credible, considering that the news about the new booking agency and the involvement of only three members is brand new. Billboard is an esteemed brand so they probably wouldn't like to risk their reputation. Of course, we should wait for the official announcement so that the all the details are confirmed, but there must be something on the horizon. 

 

If everything mentioned in the article is true then the information that Joe is not involved in this reunion is totally unexpected for me. He has always been present with the anniversary releases, most recently with Papercuts as well. We'll see what's going to happen with this one. However, I can totally imagine Rob not being involved at all. Not having all the original members of the band will be quite weird - I would prefer all 5 members to be involved, but what I can do... I can only accept their decision.

 

First, I think that the decision to continue is correct. Chester will never be replaced, but I think it's time for a fresh start and although it will be much different than anything that the band's done in the past, I am curious what the future will bring. When it comes to a female vocalist... I've never idolised bands with women as a front. I like some female pop artists, but they have never been my favourite artists for some reason. I simply prefer male voices in music. However, I can imagine me enjoying the music that the band will create, even with a female vocalist, because I enjoy the style of production and songwriting of Mike and Brad. What I hope for most is that the reunion won't only give us a tour but also new music. I'd be hyped for the tour as well, but I'm mostly waiting for some new music from the band. I think it's likely that we'll get the first tour without new music in 2025 and then they'll release some new songs a year later. I hope it doesn't go this way and we'll get a new album first. What's more, a lot of people claim that a new singer should be able to scream, sing softly, and have all the skills that Chester had. However, I'm totally open to some new versions of LP's biggest hits and I wouldn't mind a pop vocalist joining the band. We've heard One Step Closer in its album version so many times that I think it'd be interesting to hear a new more electronic/experimental version. I think that playing live new versions of their old songs would be a great mark of the beginning of a new era. 

 

Let's see what the future holds. I am really hyped to be part of it!

 

 

 

[Elaine]

3 minutes ago, blackout said:

If everything mentioned in the article is true then the information that Joe is not involved in this reunion is totally unexpected for me. He has always been present with the anniversary releases, most recently with Papercuts as well. We'll see what's going to happen with this one. However, I can totally imagine Rob not being involved at all. Not having all the original members of the band will be quite weird - I would prefer all 5 members to be involved, but what I can do... I can only accept their decision.

I think we would do well to not conflate "bot mentioned" with "not involved". It's an easy trap to fall in, but we really have nothing to go on right now, and the wording is terminally vague.

[blackout]

10 minutes ago, Elaine said:

I think we would do well to not conflate "bot mentioned" with "not involved". It's an easy trap to fall in, but we really have nothing to go on right now, and the wording is terminally vague.

 

The article suggests that only 3 members are involved. BTW, I said "IF everything mentioned in the article is true...". I was only speculating basing on what Billboard provided.

[LPLStaff]

1 hour ago, Chazy987 said:

So go (presumably) from AAE to WME? In addition to the agency, do they also change the agent (intended as the person responsible for booking)?

 

Their former agent was with AGI. Arfin was who did LP and isn't with them any longer. This claim by Billboard is out of left field for the public, but is verifiable, which lends to more credibility in their article. They are sticking by their writer Dave on this and his sources.

What happens next will give more context to this article. If there is a big LP announcement on the horizon, this could have even been leaked by a PR machine at the label or band to control the narrative that is in the press and to drum up 2025 offers. Who really knows - not us, at least yet. Ha. 

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

New single coming soon

 

Linkin Park ft Jay Gordon - ''Wasn't Me''

[martinez]

Any chances they can go with "Linkin Park with 'New singer name'" as name? Just like "Stone Temple Pilots with Chester".

[Elaine]

14 minutes ago, blackout said:

 

The article suggests that only 3 members are involved. BTW, I said "IF everything mentioned in the article is true...". I was only speculating basing on what Billboard provided.

 

It might suggest it, but there's a fine line between suggesting and stating-- that they never stated it means that the specific phrasing or mentioned members could have come up the way it/they did for a whole host of reasons.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

13 minutes ago, martinez said:

Any chances they can go with "Linkin Park with 'New singer name'" as name? Just like "Stone Temple Pilots with Chester".

Most of the bands that do that its because there are some legal issues with some band members I dont think thats the case here, Talinda has approved everything that has happened w LP.

[Stranger]

1 hour ago, LPLStaff said:

 

Their former agent was with AGI. Arfin was who did LP and isn't with them any longer. This claim by Billboard is out of left field for the public, but is verifiable, which lends to more credibility in their article. They are sticking by their writer Dave on this and his sources.

What happens next will give more context to this article. If there is a big LP announcement on the horizon, this could have even been leaked by a PR machine at the label or band to control the narrative that is in the press and to drum up 2025 offers. Who really knows - not us, at least yet. Ha. 

 

What if, this Billboard thing, a part of their marketing strategy..? at this point, i believe LP camp totally aware about this and hasnt say anything. so, 2025 will be the year of LINKIN PARK comeback!!!!

[leftshoe18]

I can't stop thinking about this. lol

 

Looking forward to whatever comes from this. I hope they get a vocalist that they can play the heavy songs with, but I also trust Mike to rework those songs into something else (like the way he performed Papercut for instance).

[YRQRM0]

I'm really looking forward to the chance to see them in any shape or form, even if there are no heavy songs or any kind of bias they lean into sonically, I'll just be happy to see it come to life in any form. 

 

What I wonder is if the name will just be Linkin Park, or Linkin Park + X, and whether this singer/lineup will have any studio releases before then. I would expect at least a really radio-friendly EP to try and get the singer more "integrated" with the potential set, rather than just being up there as a stand-in for Chester. Then she'd have her own songs, potentially with Mike, that would fully be theirs. With how much Mike writes, I feel like that's most likely, but we'll see. 

[RentEznor]

Jay Gordon hasn't done anything else with the band besides one song in 20+ years. Why did he open his mouth now? Even with the rumors having some kind of veracity, I was very confused by his out of nowhere statement.

 

Regardless, whatever might happen next year, I'm excited.

Edited May 1 by RentEznor

[JayS]

I support it.

[LPLStaff]

48 minutes ago, RentEznor said:

Jay Gordon hasn't done anything else with the band besides one song in 20+ years. Why did he open his mouth now? Even with the rumors having some kind of veracity, I was very confused by his out of nowhere statement.

 

Watch the video interview. He is very disengaged in the interview and is like, texting on his phone, doing other stuff, not looking at the camera, etc. This is why he's trying to deny (lie) that he even mentioned it or said anything in the first place. It was super casual and he may not have even remembered it was being recorded on video, who knows. he makes a super off-the-wall comment about it when saying he loves LP but he probably thought the interviewer wasn't going to quote him on that. It wasn't ever like he was trying to break some news or something by having an inside scoop, he's just like "best wishes to them, love them, heard they are going the female singer route and hope it works out for them." It's less of "hi I am Jay and here is groundbreaking news" and more of a casual random comment when saying he likes LP and didn't mean to cause a huge ruckus with it. He seemed not super engaged in that interview at all.

[Coizu]

52 minutes ago, RentEznor said:

Why did he open his mouth now?

He talked about LP because he was asked by the podcast host to talk about them and his work on Reanimation? He was just chatting and mentioned something he didn't think had any significance I guess. Watching the video it is very obvious that he had no intention to leak something or anything like that.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

58 minutes ago, RentEznor said:

Jay Gordon hasn't done anything else with the band besides one song in 20+ years. Why did he open his mouth now? Even with the rumors having some kind of veracity, I was very confused by his out of nowhere statement.

 

Regardless, whatever might happen next year, I'm excited.

 

Jay was always right, he messed up and threw the interviewer under the bus, for sure he had a source close to the band that told him that the band is coming back w a female singer. 

 

Talking about Jay's words he said that THEY ALREADY HAVE THE SINGER which is something different from what Billboard is claiming.

 

Makes sense if they already have the vocalist, they need a lot of time to figure stuff.

[letdownagain]

I don’t have much to contribute that hasn’t been said, or will be said, about the new singer situation, but the lack of seeing Rob’s name doesn’t come as a shock to me. I really suspect this is extremely similar to Queen and John Deacon, who’s last recording with the band was a new song for a greatest hits compilation and last appearance as a live member of the band was at Freddie’s tribute concert. Sound familiar?

 

His lack of appearance outside one HT20 Q+A and Mike’s comments about his whereabouts have painted the picture of him largely retreating from public life following Chester’s death, so none of this surprises me.

 

Joe, on the other hand, is a bit of a shock given that’s he’s been involved with the promotion with the boxsets and Papercuts and even confirmed QWERTY’s release. He was also the first member of LP to join Mike at a solo (non-FM) show. No disrespect to Rob, but his contributions live seem like a stranger position to fill than a traditional drummer, so curious to see what becomes of that.

 

Provided, of course, that any of this is legit. But anyone who isn’t putting serious stock into the fact that Billboard is reporting doesn’t understand music press. It’s a lot more significant than Jay Gordon’s comments. But that said, remember that Joe Jonas got so much shit for suggesting a My Chemical Romance return and was called a liar by a band member, and then was 100% correct. Jay’s not a rando who’s completely disconnected from the LP camp; he’s on Reanimation and his ex-bandmates are Dead by Sunrise.

 

My personal opinion is that I’d prefer a “Joy Division/New Order” situation that has a new band name but performs LP songs, though I understand that’s harder to market. Either way, I do think the STP w/CB method is the template. Focus on playing the hits live so people who’ve never seen LP can get their fix and maybe do ONE new song out the gate to demonstrate what the new setup can do. Then move towards an EP (or album) over time as that progresses. Not too much new music too soon.

Edited May 1 by letdownagain