Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda Says Band Refuses to Perform with 'Creepy' Chester Bennington Hologram
Paul Archuleta/Getty Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda
Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park has no interest in performing with a hologram of the band's late vocalist Chester Bennington, who died by suicide in 2017.
In a new interview with 94.5 The Buzz, Shinoda said the band refuses to perform alongside a virtual version of Bennington, despite one of the radio hosts telling him she'd pay "good money" to see it.
"I feel like those are creepy. Even if we weren't talking about us, if we weren't talking about Chester, which is a very sensitive subject, and we would have our feelings about how we would represent that," said the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. "For me, that's a clear no. I'm not into that."
Shinoda then spoke about ABBA's popular hologram show in London, noted that he's a fan of the "Mamma Mia" performers and explained why that's different than depicting a deceased band member onstage.
"They're all still here, and yet they wanna do it this way because they wanna transport you back to that moment in time where those songs were new and it was whatever era it was," he explained. "I get that. I see that. I'm not positive, even under those circumstances, I'm not positive I personally would buy a ticket to the show. But [other people] would. That's fine."
The musician also discussed how he feels a Linkin Park hologram concert would be received by fans, noting that "the problem with the internet now is that everybody thinks that everything is for everybody."
"What I mean is everyone feels like they need to chime in, like, 'Well, here's my opinion. This is what I have to say. And if it's not for me, like if I don't like it, then nobody should like it.' That's not the way the world works," said Shinoda. "If you like a thing and I don't like the thing, then you go see the thing, you go buy the thing. So please go see your thing. The only problem with that is, we're not going to do a hologram show."
Last month, Shinoda gave an interview to The Howard Stern Show and recalled feeling unsure about the future of his own music career following Bennington's death.
"For me, it just felt like too much," he told host Howard Stern. "To get back on it and try to do some version of music and also be seen through the lens of what had happened … it was like being a member of a club that I didn't want to join."
TF-Images/Getty Linkin Park
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Linkin Park recently dropped a previously unreleased single that included the voice of Bennington titled "Lost." The track also honored the 20th anniversary of the band's 2003 album Meteora.
"It's like an old photo," he said of the song during the Howard Stern Show interview. "It can be bittersweet but to have forgotten that it existed and then to hear it and be teleported back there, that's a gift."
Since then, they also announced a 20th anniversary of the album, which is set for release in April.
The band has mostly been on hiatus since October 2017's Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington tribute concert.
