Linkin Park’s Bennington reacts to hostile Hellfest crowd

Linkin Park
Linkin Park

Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has responded after some hostility was directed towards him and the band at last weekend’s Hellfest.

They’ve come under fire from some sections of their fan base due to their change of direction on new album One More Light. And during their set at the festival in Clisson, France, on Sunday, a member of the crowd threw a jug at the singer.

But rather than react angrily, Bennington has praised the French fans saying they are “awesome.”

Bennington says on Twitter: “Hellfest was fun. Had a blast watching people mosh to In The End and then flip me off when we played Heavy. I blew them kisses.

“After I blew kisses to the guys flipping me off, they smiled and gave me ‘heart hands’ back. I welcomed the huge crowd of condemned souls to Hellfest in my metal voice – then we played Invisible. The look of shock on people’s faces!”

“All kidding aside, the crowd was great and handled our set pretty well. Our French fans are awesome.”

Bennington adds: “Does anyone else find it funny that the same people calling us sellouts are suggesting that we change our set to conform to Hellfest?”

Last month, the vocalist took a step back from comments he made about some of the band’s fans after they made their displeasure about the US outfit’s new music known online.

Linkin Park will continue their European tour on June 22 with a set a Spain’s Download Festival in Madrid.

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Linkin Park 2017 tour dates

Jun 22: Madrid Download Festival, Spain
Jun 23: Scheessel Hurricane Festival, Germany
Jun 27: Sopron Telekom Volt Festival, Hungary
Jun 28: Norrkoping Bravalla Festival, Sweden
Jul 01: Werchter Rock Werchter, Belgium
Jul 03: London The O2, UK
Jul 06: Birmingham Barclaycard Arena, UK
Jul 07: Manchester Arena, UK

Watch Linkin Park play at New York’s Grand Central Terminal

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Scott Munro
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Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.