Linkin Park remembers Chester Bennington with concert

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Linkin Park announced on Monday they would be performing a tribute concert in remembrance of their bandmate, Chester Bennington, following his suicide as they released a touching video showing him in a sea of light.

The concert will take place on October 27 at the Hollywood Bowl in the band's base of Los Angeles.

Warner Bros. says individual band members intend to contribute their fees from the show to Music For Relief, a fund started by Linkin Park after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 to help disaster victims.

The evening will mark the first Linkin Park concert since Bennington hanged himself on July 20 – and perhaps the band's last as surviving members have voiced doubts about its future.

US rock band Linkin Park performs during its "Hunting Party" tour concert at the Worker's Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, July 26, 2015. / Xinhua Photo

Linkin Park, in a message to fans, said the group will be accompanied by a variety of other artists "to honor the man who touched the lives of so many around the world."

The band on Monday also released a video for "One More Light," the title track of its last album, which has taken on new meaning after Bennington's suicide.

Originally written about a music business friend who died, the song is more subdued than much of Linkin Park's hard rock, with Bennington reflecting on death over an understated electric guitar.

"Who cares if one more light goes out? Well, I do," Bennington sings.

The video intersperses joyful scenes of the band together with footage of Bennington in concert, pressing his body into an adoring crowd in an arena that is darkened except for fans' handheld lights.

Bennington – whose raw metal voice dueled with guitarist Mike Shinoda's hip-hop to create Linkin Park's "nu metal" sound – had struggled throughout his life with drugs and alcohol as well as the trauma of sexual abuse.

A man lays red roses in memory of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington in front of the US embassy in central Moscow on July 22, 2017. /AFP Photo

Since the 41-year-old's death, fans have organized dozens of events around the world to mourn him with the band promising a more formal public memorial.

The band also enjoys huge fandom in China. Linkin Park opened an official account on China's Twitter-like platform, Weibo as early as 2012 which has attracted more than 1.21 million followers.

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Source(s): AP ,AFP