Linkin Park‘s mysterious countdown clock finally reached zero tonight – only to begin counting up again.
Earlier this week, the band teased some kind of activity by sharing a mysterious countdown on their social media accounts.
The ‘Numb’ hitmakers took to their official X/Twitter to share a video counting down 100 hours and 59 minutes. The caption of the post was a link to the official Linkin Park website, which led to a live countdown along with an email subscription box and a link to a My Community phone chat.
Eager fans tuned in today (August 28) to watch the countdown finally hit zero, only to see it immediately begin counting up again. The band then re-shared the countdown alongside the caption: “It’s only a matter of time…”
Fans shared their surprise on Twitter/X, with one asking “What does it mean?!” and another saying: “Have we been trolled?”
The clock then glitched nine hours and five minutes in, leading to fan speculation that music will be released on September 5.
It’s only a matter of time…https://t.co/81TjG5c0Lr pic.twitter.com/glDm7n95Mr
— LINKIN PARK (@linkinpark) August 28, 2024
Waited all day for the Linkin Park announcement, just for the countdown to start going back up! Have we been trolled? 😂 #LinkinPark pic.twitter.com/fl1lH55HHi
— ᴊᴇꜱꜱ ʜᴀᴡᴛʜᴏʀɴ. (@jesshawthorn) August 28, 2024
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What does it mean?! 😭🙃 #LinkinPark @linkinpark pic.twitter.com/SEr94VYCSG
— VC 🔮🧞♀️💫 (@vernacarina) August 28, 2024
Did you catch that?
The timer just glitched to 9:05.
9/5 is September 5th. Next Thursday.
— Linkin Park Live (@LPLive) August 28, 2024
Earlier this year, it was reported that the ‘Numb’ hitmakers were planning a 2025 tour and potentially looking to recruit a female vocalist to succeed late frontman Chester Bennington.
The band have been on hiatus ever since the death of Bennington in 2017, who took his own life aged 41.
Fans initially speculated that Sum 41‘s Deryck Whibley would be announced as the new frontman, after the Canadian band also teased an announcement earlier this week.
However, Whibley set the record straight yesterday (August 27), telling fans on Instagram that he’s “not joining Oasis…. or Linkin Park. or any other band for that matter.”
He went on to say that he has his own “tour and book” announcement that he will now be moving to the end of the week, adding: “I do look forward to seeing whatever both these amazing bands do in the future.”
According to reports from Billboard, Linkin Park’s booking agency WME are now taking offers for concerts and festivals featuring Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Dave Farrell. Though it’s unclear who will succeed Bennington, a source has apparently told Billboard that the band are looking for a female vocalist for their reunion.
Speaking to NME last year, Shinoda opened up about any potential plans for some Linkin Park reissues. “Nothing planned right now. I always just tell people like when there’s news I’ll give you the news. We’ve been doing it for a while and I think our expectation for what’s a proper reissue is kind of high,” he told us.
He continued: “I don’t love putting out Greatest Hits stuff or putting out re-masters of things we’ve done, [so] if we were to do a re-reissue of one of our Linkin Park albums, we want it to be a big deal. If we can’t make it that quality then we won’t do it. If it’s not great then I don’t think we should do it.”
Since that interview, Linkin Park have released the previously unheard ‘Friendly Fire’ with Bennington on vocals, which was originally recorded for the band’s 2017 sessions for ‘One More Light’. They also went on to release ‘Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023)’ in April, a 20-song overview of the band’s best-selling tracks over the past two decades.