The Fort Minor ringleader is against the idea of Linkin Park performing with a digital incarnation of the group's late vocalist as he admits to being crept out by the hologram.
- Mar 16, 2023
AceShowbiz - Mike Shinoda refuses to have Linkin Park perform with a "creepy" hologram of Chester Bennington. The "In the End" rocker is not fond of the idea of using technology to share the stage with the band's late frontman again following his tragic death aged 41 in 2017.
"Those are creepy. Even if we weren't talking about us, if we weren't talking about Chester, which is… that's a very sensitive subject, and we would have our feelings about how we would represent that. For me, that's a clear no. I'm not into that," he said when appearing on "94.5 the Buzz".
He discussed the way the likes of ABBA are using holograms for live shows despite still being alive and, while he isn't sure he'd be rushing out to "buy a ticket," he sees the appeal. He explained, "Even as a viewer of, like, just a fan of another band - like I heard ABBA, for example, they're doing a hologram show, and they're still alive."
"Then you get to have an opinion about it based on, like… 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. 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."
However, he pointed out that people are free to their opinions and he encourages people to see hologram gigs if they want to - but it won't be a Linkin Park concert. He added, "The problem with the Internet now is that everybody thinks that everything is for everybody."
"And 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. 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."
