A mosh pit opens somewhere, a crowd surfer fails to make it to the front, not a phone in sight, we’re two thousand people squished together by the stage, swaying and jumping like a big slithery organism – and we are barely 2 songs in.

The emotion was palpable from the moment I joined the early queue. You go to most rock gigs and people will have an assortment of band T-shirts. Not here. Every other person I lay eyes on had this band’s name printed on bootleg, homemade and official shirts.
It’s been 7 years since Linkin Park last played together.

The opening was Grandson, a hard rock rapper and long-time collaborator with Mike Shinoda. Starting with the chorus line of Running from my Shadow (off of Mike’s Post Traumatic album), Grandson warmed up a slowly-filling O2 with his unique voice and immense stage presence. Not one to shy away from an anti-capitalist message in one of the many hearts of capitalist London, his breakout single Blood//Water brought the house down and got the crowd up and ready to dance.

Not that it needed much incentive. The second the light show started and the band members of this new iteration of Linkin Park stepped on stage, the pit, the stalls, and the whole place were way beside themselves. That unmistakable intro, the confident voice of Mike Shinoda and off we went to Somewhere I Belong. It took several songs before I could hear the band singing again – everyone around me was screaming, yelling, crying, life stories trickling out, someone’s first time hearing these songs live, 12 years of my own life flashing by since I’d seen them in Bucharest, my first big concert, the only gig I ever asked my parents to drive me 6h out of town for.

Song by song, you went back in time: who you were and where you were when you first heard “Forfeit the game before somebody else takes you out of the frame” (Points of Authority), who you wanted to yell at to “Shut up when I’m talking to you” (One Step Closer). And song by song, you were hungrily in the present moment, under a fantastic laser show, with the real Mr. Hahn turntabling right in front of you, Dave killing it on bass, Alex shredding the odd solo while still hitting all those iconic riffs, knowing you made it to hear this music again.

To everybody’s delight, Mike Shinoda had a short solo moment, performing When They Come For Me and a remixed Remember the Name (remember how it was in every motivational video of the 2010s?), also featuring a face-melting drum solo from new member, Colin Brittain, before the full band returned to the stage. Side B of the show kicked off with some impeccable screaming from Dead Sara frontwoman and now LP co-vocalist Emily Armstrong to Keys to the Kingdom, but soon turned to the several ballads that have long accompanied us through life changes, losses and joys.

There is always drama whenever a band reunites and re-enters the public eye after a long hiatus, but while online conversations may lead you to believe Linkin Park returning serves nobody, the overwhelming feeling in that crowd was one of gratitude – that we could be together again as this one entity, loving the music and the people making it, and having the chance to show up for them. Music is alive, it changes as we change: the kids who once found in Numb the words they were looking for are now the adults working jobs and wondering how they can “leave behind some reasons to be missed”.

But far from wallowing in melancholy, the energy was kicked right back up during the encore with the forever-favorite Papercut and their latest single (released earlier that day), Heavy is the Crown, which had Emily testing her lung capacity on one insane sustained scream. It’s not easy keeping a show this intense going for almost two hours and it’s wonderful to see professionals at work, looking after their crowds and delivering the best show they can.

Least cynically, this concert was for the fans. Whatever comes next, we got to see the band once again owning the stage, like they have for over two decades.