Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Los Angeles Sunday night (August 6) to celebrate the life of late LINKIN PARK frontman Chester Bennington. Bands played LINKIN PARK songs in Bennington's memory at the fan-organized event, which took place more than a week a week after a private service was held for the singer. Two separate video reports — from KABC and CBS Los Angeles — can be seen below. Chester's friends told Rolling Stone in a new report on the musician's final days that he fell off the wagon for three days in August 2016 and drank until he blacked out, adding that he had been consuming alcohol again as recently as last October. Bennington's longtime friend Ryan Shuck, who played with the singer in DEAD BY SUNRISE, thinks Bennington may have had "a couple of drinks" before hanging himself on July 20. Shuck explained: "We don't know how much, but it doesn't take much when you're that advanced an alcoholic and an addict and you're battling to the extent he described to me. You don't need much to lose your mind for a minute." But Bennington had also been texting with Robert DeLeo, his onetime bandmate in STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, in the days prior to his suicide. DeLeo described Bennington's messages as "loving, positive, looking-forward-to-the-future, growing-old kinds of things." Just a day before he died, Bennington emailed former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Matt Sorum, saying he'd like to perform again with their all-star covers band KINGS OF CHAOS. Bennington had been open with the press and public about his struggles with drugs and alcohol, which landed him in rehab twice around 2006. Investigators reportedly found no illegal drugs or prescription drugs while searching Bennington's home following his passing, although a partially consumed bottle of alcohol was found in the bedroom where the 41-year-old singer's body was discovered. It will not be clear until a toxicology report is released whether Bennington had any drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.
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