Linkin Park Make Chester Bennington Proud With Heartfelt And Powerful Tribute
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HOLLYWOOD, CA - OCTOBER 27: Musicians from Linkin Park; Brad Delson, Mike Shinoda, Joe Hahn and Dave Farrell perform during the 'Linkin Park And Friends Celebrate Life In Honor Of Chester Bennington' event at the Hollywood Bowl on October 27, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images)
Early in the three-hour tribute Linkin Park paid to late lead singer Chester Bennington, Friday night, October 27 at the Hollywood Bowl, the band showed a video clip that made the rounds recently. Part of the group’s effort to showcase the lighter, fun side of Bennington, the clip saw him singing a song called “Lollipops And Unicorns,” an absurd, if catchy little ditty.
After the clip LP producer/emcee Mike Shinoda quipped, “Did you really just sing along to a You Tube clip? If that’s the case you don’t even need us here tonight.” Yes, they did sing along to the clip, as they did to everything during the epic show. And the 18,000 fans needed the band there as much the band needed the fans there.
Back in 2004, I received a call from a publicist explaining that Linkin Park were on the road in support of their second album, Meteora, and they had been traveling with a great rock photographer Greg Watermann. It was near the end of the tour that they realized they might have a coffee table book, but they needed someone to write the copy to go with the photos. Would I be interested?
Other than the fact the band’s debut, Hybrid Theory, had been a monster success I really did not know much about them. But they were, at the time, the biggest-selling rock band in the world and to be asked was a tremendous honor. So I said I was interested, I got the gig to my surprise, and two days later I was on a plane to somewhere in Florida to meet them for the end of the tour.
Because they wanted to tell the true story of the band and in particular Meteora, the album that followed Hybrid Theory, I was given unparalleled access, including even sleeping on their tour bus.
One of the things I was also given was a bag of fan art and letters. This was intended to show me the relationship between the band, who did meet and greets after every show, and their diehard fans. Thirteen years later, Shinoda mentioned that connection numerous times at the Hollywood Bowl, saying that in the trying times since Bennington’s shocking suicide this past July the fans had lifted them up time and again.
That connection is deep and profound. Reading through the art and letters at the time I saw fans who said time and again LP had saved their lives or helped them through dark times. After the massive commercial breakthrough of Hybrid Theory, a rap/rock record, I had numerous music industry friends ask me if I really liked Linkin Park. The answer was yes and I cited the relationship they had with their fans as proof the band was much more than the novelty of rap/rock detractors wanted to label them.
So this Hollywood Bowl tribute to Chester Bennington was necessary for both fans and band. The fans needed the chance to celebrate a musical hero and the band needed to see if they could get back on stage as a five-piece and to say goodbye through music.
The night promised to be intense and emotional, which it was. At one point Shinoda called it a roller coaster of emotions and added no one was sure what would come next. It proved true throughout the incredibly powerful 31-song set.
When a mike was placed under the spotlight during the front of “Numb” at the beginning of the show and the 18,000 strong sang the entire song it was spine-tingling, moving and heartbreaking, words that came up again and again.
I considered Bennington a friend and as such I was dreading this show for the emotional toll. I spoke to another friend after the show who had also worked with LP and she used the words, “Angry, sad and joyous.” We both concurred that during the epic singalong of “In The End,” which Shinoda introduced by saying, “You are our favorite guests,” to the crowd, it was impossible to get through singing the song without sobbing.
In spite of the tremendous heaviness of the occasion, Linkin Park accomplished wondrous things in making this an often joyous celebration. The presence of artists like Blink-182, Alanis Morissette, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale, Machine Gun Kelly, Steve Aoki, Avenged Sevenfold, members of System Of A Down and more, as well as video tributes from Paul McCartney and Metallica, among others, added an incredible amount of star power and lifted the crowd every time.
But Shinoda was not wrong in calling the crowd their favorite guests. This show was about the bond between Linkin Park and their fans, all of whom were mourning the loss of someone they considered a family member, whether they knew him or not.
After Bennington’s death I read countless comments from people who said they’d never felt this way over the death of a celebrity. I read those comments in part to help me understand my grief. I knew Bennington, when we saw each other we were friends, we would talk, catch up, point out how good it was to see each other. But he wasn’t an everyday presence in my life so I wasn’t sure why the pain was so strong.
I’m still not, but I do know this show was something I needed as both a fan and a friend. And it was something that was necessary for the LP community. At the end of the night Bennington’s widow Talinda came out and spoke about how happy Chester would have been to see everybody brought together like this and lifting each other up.
She referenced, as Shinoda did numerous times as well, the hashtag that had emerged, “Make Chester Proud.” And that this night would have done so. Both Linkin Park and their fans have every right to be proud of what they did tonight. It wasn’t about a night of great music, though there were countless highlights and memorable moments, especially a devastating new song, “Looking For An Answer,” Shinoda played.
They billed this night as a celebration of Bennington’s life. But it was clearly as much about figuring out how to go on in the face of tragedy and coming to grips with the fact there will never be answers. Tonight, more than 18,000 people who loved Chester Bennington gathered to celebrate his life and legacy. It wasn’t a perfect night. One song the band flubbed the beginning and Shinoda said, “F**k that, we’re starting over. Chester wouldn’t take that s**t.” But it was a night of beauty, of power, of love, of incredible sorrow and of joy. So yeah, Linkin Park definitely made both Chester and their fans proud.
