Chester Bennington's wife Talinda paid an emotional tribute to her husband during a memorial show by Linkin Park in his honour.
The star-studded rock celebration took place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Friday (27Oct17), and featured performances from blink-182, System Of A Down and Korn‘s Jonathan Davis.
Bennington, 41, took his own life in July (17), after battling depression.
Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda thanked fans for their support after their frontman's tragic passing, and encouraged them to sing Bennington's vocals in an emotional rendition of the band's 2001 hit In The End.
“Our special guest on this one is our favourite special guest of the whole night,” he said. “And that’s f**ked-up to say because of all these great people that have come out tonight, and if I say that, then that makes them look bad!
“But I do mean our favourite guests - it’s you guys,” Shinoda added, as the band launched into In The End.
After the spine-tingling tribute from the band and their fans, Bennington's wife Talinda gave a speech remembering her late husband and praising his life and career.
"What an incredible show this has been. Chester and I always loved bringing people together and he was filled with joy when our house was full of family, friends, kids, dogs, cats, birds, turtles, the more the merrier," she said. "And he would have loved all of this tonight."
"And to you Linkin Park’s fans, thank you. Chester always said Linkin Park fans were the best, and you know what, he was absolutely f**king right. In the past fourteen weeks, you have lifted each other up. You have lifted me up. You have lifted our children up," Talinda added.
She finished her emotional speech by asking the audience to help tackle mental health, and make Bennington's legacy live on. "He was incredibly proud of the music done through relief, he knew it saved lives. And saving lives is exactly what we plan to do in Chester’s memory," she explained.
Talinda concluded: "It is time that we recognise that mental health is as important as our physical health. It is my mission to make it easier, to have access to mental health resources."
All proceeds from Friday's show will benefit Music for Relief’s ‘One More Light Fund’ in memory of Bennington.
