Linkin Park will perform their single “Heavy Is The Crown” during the opening ceremony of the 2024 League of Legends World Championship finals. In addition to the band, Ashnikko , Mars Atlas Of Forts , and Tiffany Aris will also perform during the event.
The ceremony is scheduled for November 2nd at 11 AM at the O2 Arena in London, and will be streamed live and free of charge on Riot Games' official channels.
“Heavy Is The Crown”, released in September as the theme song for this year's World Cup, has become the most streamed song in the tournament's history. On YouTube alone, the music video has surpassed 57 million views, while the audio streams have exceeded 200 million plays.
Linkin Park and the collaboration with Riot Games
In a press release from September of this year, the band's leader, Mike Shinoda, commented on the partnership with the company:
“It has been an incredible experience working with Riot to bring this musical theme to the global League of Legends community. The music is a major milestone in this new era, carrying our signature sound and adding a new energy. We are very excited for players and fans to enjoy it!”, he said.
The musician already has a relationship with Riot. In 2021, he was invited by the company to participate in the launch of the first season of "Arcane," an animated series inspired by the game.
League of Legends and rock bands
This isn't the first time a rock band has partnered with Riot Games. In 2014, Imagine Dragons released the song "Warriors" as the theme for that year's world championship. Three years later, in 2017, the event's theme was the band Against The Current with the song "Legends Never Die".
In Brazil, it's no different. The Brazilian League of Legends Championship, CBLOL, has also involved big names in rock. This year, the theme song for the championship final, "Novos Horizontes" (New Horizons), was the result of a partnership between the former vocalist of Angra , Edu Falaschi , the band AXTY , and the YouTuber and musician, Lucas Inutilismo . In 2019, the theme for the final was the responsibility of the band Far From Alaska , who released the single "How Bad Do You Want It" for the event.
CBLOL has also hosted international musicians. Norwegian Jorn Lande , vocalist for the band Pentakill — a fictional metal group formed by characters from the game — performed during the opening ceremonies of the championship finals in 2015 and 2017. In those performances, the musician was accompanied by two big names in Brazilian metal, Nando Fernandes , in the first instance, and Alírio Netto , in the second.
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