JULY: CHESTER BENNINGTON
Chester Bennington: another icon lost
Our world suffered another heart-wrenching loss when Chester Bennington took his own life on July 20. He was 41. In the days after his death, a shrine rose from the kerb outside the Linkin Park singer’s Southern California home, as fans left personal notes, drawings and flickering candles. Their grief found a similar outlet three months later, in handwritten messages on a wall outside the Hollywood Bowl, as the surviving members of Linkin Park reconvened to pay tribute to their raging, soulful frontman.
Fans flew in from around the world for the sold-out concert on October 27. Some brought national flags from as far as Ireland and Peru. “It was like a death in the family,” said Jeff Eckhart, 32, a software manager from San Francisco. His wife, Alisha, 27, remembered how the band’s cathartic music “got me through my best friend’s suicide when I was 13. It got me through high school. It took us through some dark times”.
Linkin Park last played the legendary Bowl on a scorching night in 2014. Now Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell and Joe Hahn were back to mourn and celebrate their late singer, for 17,000 people and a streaming online audience of millions. For three hours, the band performed a set spanning their early nu metal hits to the pop-leaning songs of this year’s One More Light, with the help of a string quartet and famous guest singers and players, including members of A7X, System Of A Down, Bring Me The Horizon and No Doubt.
Korn’s Jonathan Davis roared through One Step Closer, Oli Sykes took on Crawling, and M. Shadows lit up Burn It Down and Faint. Most moving was Mike Shinoda, the band’s studio mastermind, describing his shock over Chester’s death, before performing a song he wrote eight days later, Looking For An Answer. He called it a rough draft, but promised to share its progress over time. The implication was that he’d continue making music, and his comrades would be there too.
The concert raised money for Music For Relief’s One More Light Fund, to send solar electricity kits to remote health clinics without electricity, and increase awareness of mental health issues. Chester’s widow, Talinda Bennington, thanked many friends for their support, and spoke of his personal struggles, declaring, “Fuck depression!”
Chester was Linkin Park’s exposed nerve and most passionate voice. Some of the night’s guests capably stepped in to approximate his messages of searching intensity. But just any shouter won’t do. His connection to fans was deep and heartfelt, recalled Kimberly Croft, 26, who flew in from Vancouver and had met the singer at special fan events. “Every time you meet him, you just feel so loved,” she said, still talking of him in the present tense. Jared Rossman, 17, who arrived from New Jersey with the LP logo freshly shaved onto the side of his head, hopes the band will continue, but said, “I’d feel better if they didn’t replace him, and if they just went on how they
are.” Some things just aren’t replaceable.