It was Oct. 27, 2017, a little over three months since the death of Chester Bennington, when the members of Linkin Park returned to the stage with a wealth of friends to pay tribute to their late singer. The band had booked the legendary Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles for what would be a an iconic emotionally charged performance that served as a catharsis for a grieving band and their extended musical family of peers and fans.
Though the concert was based in Los Angeles, this was a communal gathering of the Linkin Park fanbase with this journalist reviewing the show and speaking with fans who had flown in from New York, Houston and Indianapolis to pay their respects to the band and the singer that had brought them so much.
Bennington died by suicide on July 20, 2017. The band members, who were in the midst of a tour at the time, would call off remaining dates, take time to mourn and eventually put together this fitting tribute to the beloved singer. It would be their final performance for some time, though speculation over this past week has been that they are about to return (perhaps with Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley) with an announcement set to be made on Wednesday (Aug. 28).
READ MORE: Loudwire’s Review of the 2017 Chester Bennington Tribute Concert
So how did Linkin Park pay their respects to an outstanding career with Chester Bennington? Check out the setlist below. The band also posted video about a month after the concert had taken place and you can revisit the set as well.
Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington Tribute Concert – Oct. 27, 2017 Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California
1. “Robot Boy” intro
2. “Iridescent” / “The Messenger” Mash-Up – Jon Green (co-writer ‘Nobody Can Save Me’ and ‘Battle Symphony’) Guests
3. “Roads Untraveled” – with Jon Green
4. “Numb” (audience sings vocals)
5. “Shadow of the Day” / Portion of U2’s “With Or Without You” – with Yellowcard’s Ryan Key
6. “Leave Out All the Rest” – with Bush’s Gavin Rossdale and a string quartet
7. “Somewhere I Belong” – with One OK Rock’s Taka Moriuchi and a string quartet
8. “Castle of Glass” – with No Doubt’s Tony Dumont, Adrian Young, Tony Kanal and Alanis Morissette and a string quartet
9. “Rest” – original Alanis Morissette song debuted with special guest Mike Farrell
10. “Nobody Can Save Me” – with Civil Twilight’s Steven McKellar and Jon Green
11. “Battle Symphony” – with Jon Green
12. “Sharp Edges” – with co-writer Ilsey Juber
13. “Talking to Myself” / Portion of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” – with Ilsey Juber
14. “Heavy” – with Kiiara and songwriter Julia Michaels
15. “One More Light”
16. “Looking for an Answer” (a ew Mike Shinoda penned tribute song)
17. “Waiting for the End” – with Echosmith’s Sydney Sierota and Civil Twilight’s Steven McKellar
18. “Crawling” – with Bring Me the Horizon’s Oli Sykes & Zedd
19. “Papercut” – with Machine Gun Kelly
20. “One Step Closer” – with Korn’s Jonathan Davis and Julien-K’s Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh
21. “A Place for My Head” – with A Day to Remember’s Jeremy McKinnon
22. “Rebellion” – with System of a Down’s Daron Malakian & Shavo Odadjian and Sum 41’s Frank Zummo
23. “The Catalyst” – with Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley and Frank Zummo
24. “I Miss You” – with Blink-182
25. “What I’ve Done” – Blink 182 with Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn
26. “In The End” – crowd sings Chester’s part
Encore:
27. “New Divide” – with video of Chester singing from previous Hollywood Bowl show as the band plays.
28. “A Light That Never Comes” – with Steve Aoki, Bebe Rexha and Frank Zummo
29. “Burn It Down” – with Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows
30. “Faint” – with Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows and Synyster Gates
31. “Bleed It Out” / “The Messenger” – with everyone joining in
Watch Linkin Park’s Full Chester Bennington Tribute Concert
What We Know About Linkin Park’s Announcement
In April, Orgy frontman Jay Gordon revealed during an interview that Linkin Park were going to reunite and hire a female lead singer, although he later attempted to walk back those comments: “Don’t quote me on that. I’m not sure who the singer is gonna be, but I heard it was gonna be female. They might just try to move on like that. That ought to be interesting.”
Later that same month, Evanescence’s Amy Lee responded to rumors that she was going to be Linkin Park’s new vocalist by calling it “an incredible compliment,” but also denying the story. “No, I have not been contacted [by Linkin Park] or anything like that. But [I’m a] huge fan [and] feel like our worlds, our fanbases are a lot of the same people.”
In May, Billboard reported that Linkin Park was considering a 2025 reunion tour, again mentioning a female lead singer and teasing the involvement of three classic-era members: vocalist / guitarist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist / keyboardist Brad Delson and bassist Dave Farrell.
Fast forward to this past weekend when Linkin Park shared a countdown clock on their website and social media leading to an expected announcement on Wednesday. In addition to Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, Joe Hahn also shared the countdown on his social media. That has led many to speculate that now four of the five members are on board for an anticipated reunion. Drummer Rob Bourdon has remained off social media over the years, so his status concerning the potential reunion is uncertain.
Then, late Monday (Aug. 26), Sum 41’s socials teased a “Deryck Whibley Announcement” coming Wednesday morning. With Linkin Park’s countdown clock also set to expire Wednesday morning, fans speculation about Whibley being the new Linkin Park singer has ramped up.
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Gallery Credit: Chad Childers, Loudwire