Recap: Chester with Royal Machines in Cleveland, OH

[hahninator]

In late July, we reported that Chester guested with Royal Machines, the modern day evolution of Camp Freddy, on July 21st in Cleveland, OH. Many of you will remember back from 2006 to 2012 when he joined Camp Freddy at least ten times, delivering quite memorable performances. Camp Freddy eventually disbanded and evolved into Royal Machines.

Most of the Royal Machines shows are private, invite-only performances. This is why the news of Chester guesting with them took a few days to come out. Here's a pretty solid intro video that the band did to give fans an idea of who they are and what they are about.

On July 21st, at the same time as the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, OH, Dave Navarro used the opportunity of having a day off on the Jane's Addiction U.S. Tour to perform with Royal Machines. This was a charity event for the Boulder Crest Retreat, which is a private wellness center for active duty and reserve military members and their families. It was the third time that Royal Machines were able to play a benefit show for the Boulder Crest Retreat. Chester, who is quite busy with Linkin Park and his family, has had to turn Royal Machines down in the past but finally had an opening where he could fly out and guest with them. Franky Perez, who guested at the show this summer with The Hellcat Saints, also joined the band.

Due to Royal Machines playing a private event at the Cleveland Public Auditorium to an invite-only crowd, the news that first hit the web about the show was inaccurate. Fans, including us, were quick to throw "an RNC after party" description on the event, which while it was held at the same time as the RNC, it was completely unrelated. However, later in the night, it's rumored that several members of the band were able to shake hands at another after party with several elite Republican party members (NOT Donald Trump).

Royal Machines recently posted a short recap of this show on their website, saying, "The band returned for the third time to play a benefit show for the wounded warriors of Boulder Crest Retreat. This time the show was in Cleveland, and, bringing with them Gilby Clarke, Chester Bennington, Franky Perez and Billy Gibbons, they played for 90 minutes and delivered an unexpected finale from Perez and Bennington of the Led Zeppelin classic, Whole Lotta Love, and the Guns N Roses hit, Paradise City."

SETLIST:
01. Are You Gonna Go My Way? (Lenny Kravitz cover) w/ Donovan Leitch
02. Just What I Needed (The Cars cover) w/ Donovan Leitch
03. Rebel Yell (Billy Idol cover) w/ Billy Morrison
04. Wonderwall (Oasis cover) w/ Billy Morrison
05. Panama (Van Halen cover) w/ Franky Perez
06. Highway To Hell (AC/DC cover) w/ Franky Perez
07. Tie Your Mother Down (Queen cover) w/ Gilby Clarke
08. Knocking On Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan cover) w/ Gilby Clarke
09. Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who cover) w/ Gilby Clarke
10. Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin cover) w/ Chester Bennington
11. Vasoline (Stone Temple Pilots cover) w/ Chester Bennington
12. Mountain Song (Jane's Addiction cover) w/ Chester Bennington
13. La Grange (ZZ Top cover) w/ Billy Gibbons
14. Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix cover) w/ Billy Gibbons
15. Sharp Dressed Man (ZZ Top cover) w/ Billy Gibbons

16. Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover) w/ Chester Bennington & Franky Perez
17. Paradise City (Gun N' Roses cover) w/ Chester Bennington & Franky Perez

 

We can already see that guesting on five songs out of seventeen is pretty substantial for Chester. That's the most he's done in quite a while. An interesting fact about this set is that 'Whole Lotta Love' was listed as the last song of the night, and the band members on the spot decided to play 'Paradise City', which Chester stayed on stage to sing with them. Now wouldn't we love to have video of that!

Sadly, due to it being a private event, no real videos have surfaced from it...only a couple of small clips. This is usually the case for super-exclusive shows as most in attendance don't actually realize what legendary performances they're actually witnessing.

Here's a few facts about Chester's guest spot:
- This show marks the third time that Chester performed a Stone Temple Pilots song without the rest of the band since his Grey Daze days, with the first time being his Dell World 2012.12.11 appearance with Camp Freddy ("Sex Type Thing") and the second time - his 2016.06.14 "Let It Die" party appearance with The Hellcat Saints ("Down").

- This show marks the sixth known time that Chester performed Jane's Addiction's "Mountain Song", including 4 performances with Camp Freddy and 1 performance with the same group of people (Dave Navarro, Chris Chaney and Stephen Perkins) during the Black Tooth Bash event (they just weren't billed as "Camp Freddy" for some reason).

- This show marks the eighth known time that Chester performed Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", including 6 performances with Camp Freddy and 1 performance at the above-mentioned Black Tooth Bash event.

- This show marks the seventh known time that Chester performed Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City", including 4 performances with Camp Freddy, his appearance at "Slash & Friends" gig on 2009.11.22 and his 2016.06.14 "Let It Die" party appearance with The Hellcat Saints. It's also the first time he shares the lead vocals duties on the song with a different guest - Franky Perez. Both of them also shared the vocals on "Ace Of Spades" at the above-mentioned "Let It Die" appearance.

- This show marks the third known time that Chester performed Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times", including his 2008.05.08 appearance with Camp Freddy and his appearance at "Slash & Friends" gig on 2009.11.22.

 

Now that he has finally joined Royal Machines once, it wouldn't surprise us if Chester made another appearance with the band in the future. If that does indeed happen, we'll gladly let you know and do another writeup. After zero guest appearances from 2013 to 2015, he has appeared on stage twice this year already. Linkin Park has no solid plans until 2017 so we might see him somewhere else at a show this year.

Thanks to LESTAT for helping with the writeup, gathering the pictures, and assembling the show page for the performance.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

I've been waiting for this, pretty cool I would rather see Chester performing with this band than with LP, he should be part of a real rock and roll band where he can show his true range.

 

Would be cool to know how you guys obtained all this information.

 

Thanks.

[mrfox]

I would rather see Chester performing with this band than with LP, he should be part of a real rock and roll band