Coldplay Tribute to Linkin Park's Chester Bennington

Coldplay made it clear with a moving tribute during their concert ... Chester Bennington's death is still weighing heavily on the minds of his comrades in the music biz.

Chris Martin and co. kicked off their North American tour Tuesday night in NJ, and near the show's end ... Chris said he wanted to dedicate Linkin Park's hit, "Crawling," to anyone who was missing someone.

Chris was seated at a piano for the stripped-down acoustic version.