Linkin Park has decided to stop performing their song “One More Light” live, citing its deep emotional connection to the late vocalist Chester Bennington. This track, the title song from their 2017 album, was the band’s final collaboration with Bennington before his tragic passing that year.
Co-founder Mike Shinoda shared this in a recent interview with The Guardian, explaining how the song evolved from a tribute to a label colleague who passed away into a symbol of Bennington’s loss for fans worldwide. “Then, after Chester passed, the world decided that it was about him. And so that’s just too sad to play,” Shinoda said. This choice reflects the band’s ongoing grief and their shift toward healing.
Shinoda revealed that “One More Light” initially honoured a woman at their label who had passed away. However, Bennington’s death transformed its perception. Fans worldwide associated the lyrics with his loss, making performances too painful for the band. This fan-driven shift highlights music’s capacity to evolve beyond the creators’ original intentions.
Shinoda’s Grief and Solo Album “Post Traumatic”
After Bennington’s death, Shinoda stepped away from Linkin Park to process his emotions. He created the solo album “Post Traumatic” as a personal diary. “I wanted to make Post Traumatic as a diary of how I felt for myself,” he explained. Touring the album provided a space for fans to connect: ‘to provide an area for fans to commune and say, ‘Oh, Mike is still here.’ We didn’t lose everybody.’”
Shinoda found the tour therapeutic at first, but exhausting later. “In the beginning, it was helpful… And then towards the end it was exhausting,” he admitted. Performing for crying crowds nightly felt like therapy sessions, draining him emotionally. He clarified moving forward: “‘Move on’ to some people means not looking back and forgetting – that’s completely not how I felt. I felt like I was coping well, and I was able to get up in the morning and not think about it, and I was evolving from the terrible stuff that had happened.”
