Being at Warped Tour after a tragedy
Chester Bennington was found dead in his home on Thursday morning at the age of 41.
July 21, 2017
A day at Warped Tour should be the best day of the year. Your favorite bands, old friends, friends you haven’t met yet and memories that will last a life time seem like the recipe for a perfect day despite rain and sweltering heat.
But what happens when that day is touched by a major loss to the rock community? What is Warped Tour like the day after Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington dies?
It looks the same. Bands get on stage. Teenagers buy t-shirts. Fans sing their favorite lyrics back to their idols. But something more happens.
Nonprofit organizations on the tour raise their voices. Hope for the Day, Can You Hear Me, To Write Love On Her Arms all speak out to say that help is available and asking for it isn’t shameful. After all, if you don’t ask for help, who will?
Warped Tour, the bands and the fans, has been touched by Linkin Park. Almost every soul in the venue feels a tug in their heart like the loss was physical.
Bands express their sorrow with moments of silence led by both I Prevail and Beartooth.
Warped Tour is loud. It’s a high energy environment. When thousands of fans go so quiet you could hear a pin drop it creates a tangible weight, a way to taste our loss in the air and feel it hang on our shoulders.
I Prevail dedicates their set to Linkin Park.
Then the set proceeds as normal. The band plays. Fans cheer, jump and sing.
But something is a little different.
Emotions run even higher than usual. Tears are wiped discreetly from cheeks and hands are thrown in the air.
Our Last Night tweets their cover of “Heavy” by Linkin Park with a message of farewell.
It’s liked and retweeted. The app is closed and Warped Tour attendees get in their cars and drive home.
Bands and fans take something with them from what is simultaneously such a terrible day and the best day of their lives. Something that pushes them through their struggles. No one is perfect and life is terrible sometimes.
“If you take anything from this set. Just know you can just fall asleep and wake up tomorrow,” said Caleb Shomo of Beartooth. “You don’t have to fall asleep for good.”
Chester Bennington was 41 when he died on what would have been his friend Chris Cornell’s 53rd birthday. He touched many lives and inspired many artists. His life was cut short by something no one could see. Someone who appeared to have everything but carried a weight he could no longer carry. He is immortal is the art he has created and the life’s he has touched.
The rock community has lost a lot but it will fight on and remember.
