LINKIN PARK Raises More Than $350K For Japan Relief Efforts

LINKIN PARK raised more than $350,000 for Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief efforts with a benefit concert for 1,100 fans on Wednesday night (August 31) at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles. Frontman Chester Bennington told MTV News, "It's especially an honor to be able to give back to the Japanese community that's been so devastated and been so great in supporting us."

Fans at the show all raised $500 or more for relief efforts in order to win a pair of tickets to the secret concert through LINKIN PARK's Music For Relief charity.

Bennington told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that LINKIN PARK originally began Music For Relief to aid with rebuilding in Southeast Asia after the 2004 tsunami. "You know, we started Music For Relief, you know, after some pretty horrible natural disasters occurred and we felt that we were in a position where we could actually do something," he said. "I think that it's important to raise awareness."

Bennington explained why fundraising efforts this time involved a LINKIN PARK show, saying, "Unfortunately, there are natural disasters affecting so many places all over the earth that we're always asking our fans for money. We wanted to do something that was exciting for our fans and gave them something to look forward to, a goal that was beyond anything they'd done before."

The original goal was $250,000, which was exceeded by more than $100,000. Bennington said that the top fundraiser brought in more than $13,000.

LINKIN PARK will head to Japan and Singapore later this month and continues to work on a follow-up to last year's "A Thousand Suns" album.

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the online fundraising campaign will benefit Music For Relief's support of Save the Children in Japan to provide services, care and assistance to children affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.