Mike Shinoda thinks Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington memorial concert will be "super super hard".
The late frontman of the ‘Crawling’ rockers tragically took his own life at the age of 41 in July this year, and it was recently announced his band mates will come together on stage for the first time since his passing to play a gig at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on October 27, 2017.
However, singer Mike has revealed he was unsure about the concert until legendary producer Rick Rubin told him their fans would want to be a part of that "cathartic experience".
Mike revealed on Los Angeles radio station KROQ: "I had gone to Rick Rubin as a source of guidance. He said, ‘I think you guys need to get onstage.’ I think that’ll be the thing that’ll feel good. It’ll be super, super hard. We haven’t gone out together in public, we haven’t played.
"[He said] ‘The fans want to see you. Not because they want to see a show, there’s a cathartic experience that needs to happen and it’ll inform what you guys are doing.’"
But Mike, 40, does hope the show manages to shed light on how positive Chester’s outlook was whenever they played shows together, and wants to use the gig to "celebrate life".
He added: "When he’d walk in the room, there was such a positive, funny, upbeat energy, and that’s what we wanna get out of this show … I know it’s gonna be a roller coaster of emotion. But when we talk about this and when we’re focusing on the show, it’s really about, like we say, celebrating life."
Money raised from the concert will go to Music for Relief’s One More Light Fund in memory of the late singer.
Tickets will go on sale for the concert at 10am PDT on Friday, September 22.
Mike Shinoda: Chester Bennington’s tribute gig will be ‘hard’
