Hannah Turek, LPFCW, Spring 2019
Last night, The Used gave an emotional and heartfelt performance in tribute to late Linkin Park vocalist, Chester Bennington, at the Back To The Beach festival.
American rock band The Used, headliners of last night's date at the Californian festival, surprised the crowd by performing a rendition of Linkin Park's Shadow Of The Day in honour of the late frontman. Perhaps more surprising was the rain that started and ended with the song, making The Used vocalist, Bert McCracken, point and smile up at the sky in awe and wonder as the crowd cheered in celebration. One fan on Instagram commented that, "it began to rain as if it were on cue. I thought it was part of the production it was so unbelievable. What an experience."
This isn't the first time that The Used have covered this particularly emotive track, as they started taking to playing it at live shows late last year, as well as doing a studio recording of the track for a special BBC Radio 1 broadcast, which can be heard here. In the past, McCracken had revealed his close friendship with Bennington during their 2004 touring cycles.
McCracken opened up in one Kerrang! interview, saying, "I was having a really rough time that summer. I was devastated, and I shared what happened with him. And he would come to my bus every day, just to chat, or smoke a joint. He was a true compassionate person; he was one of the good ones. He will be so tremendously missed. They did so many good things for so many people. I can only hope to be that type of influence on the world and I aspire to affect that kind of positive change. A lot of people tell me that he saved their life.”
The performance was strikingly similar to the one Linkin Park did in honour of Bennington at the Hollywood Bowl show in 2017, the last show that the band have performed together since Bennington’s passing. The Shadow Of The Day at the tribute show featured vocals from Yellowcard's Ryan Key and had a mashup of U2's With Or Without You in the bridge of the song, much like the rendition last night, which made for a truly moving moment in the set. After the first chorus, McCracken shouted, "I feel you!" while looking up at the sky, prompting the crowd to applaud once more. The atmosphere was electric amongst the fans, as they were celebrating a long-lasting legacy from one of rock's most iconic figures. Another fan on Twitter posted that, "Chester was for sure all around us". A video of the performance has been uploaded to Youtube and is available to watch here.
McCracken has spoken out on depression and mental health following Bennington's passing, "There’s a lot of stigma surrounding depression, we know there’s no cure. And to speak of suicide with any connotations to selfishness makes me sick and so angry that I end conversations immediately. Chester was there for me at a time where I was deadly suicidal, and he saved my life. The fact that nobody was able to be there for him in those moments is something we all should think about." He continues, "How I’ve chosen to deal with the death of Chester [is] the opposite way I dealt with death in the past and that’s not internalise anything and maybe speak about it all the time, put it out there to fans, strangers even. And in that way I kind of feel more connected to what depression might be, more a problem of humanity, a problem with American entitlement and boredom."
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised, help and resources can be found at http://www.buddy-project.org/