Sting in sell-out show for reopening of Bataclan hall
FRANCE: Sting promised to celebrate life and music as he took to the stage to reopen the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, almost one year to the day after an Islamist suicide squad killed 90 people inside the venue.
Sting, 65, said he wanted to show respect at the scene of so many deaths and would start the emotionally charged set with his song Fragile.
‘‘You need to get a normal life back, and anyway where are we completely safe?’’ he said in an interview with Le Parisien, the capital’s daily paper.
Yesterday’s anniversary of the attacks by Isis Islamists was marked by the unveiling of plaques with the names of victims at the six venues that were targeted a year ago.
Sting played at the famed Parisian venue in 1979 as lead singer of the Police. A heavy police guard was in place as the Bataclan’s security staff tested new doors, locks and surveillance systems in the refurbished buildings.
A bomb squad was due to sweep the hall, which dates from 1865, before the doors opened. In a gesture that life must go on, the management decided not to install metal detectors.
The co-director, Jules Frutos, said: ‘‘We can’t let the Bataclan become a mausoleum.’’
Survivors and their families were invited to the show on Saturday night, local time, and all proceeds will go to two charities helping victims of the November 13, 2015 attacks.
All 1000 tickets sold out in less than half an hour.
The Bataclan massacre was part of a co-ordinated terrorist strike that also targeted popular cafes and France’s national stadium, killing 130 people and leaving hundreds injured.
A minute’s silence was observed at the Stade de France on Friday before the France football team took on Sweden. ‘‘If we are strong, if we are together, then we will defeat terrorism,’’ said President Francois Hollande.
The government says nine victims of last year’s attacks are still in hospital and many more are either permanently injured or paralysed, while some 600 are receiving psychological help.
Paris was hit hard by the November 2015 atrocities, which followed the murders of journalists and police officers in an attack on Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine, and other targets.
Tourist numbers and hotel bookings fell, while army patrols have become a familiar site on the boulevards and the overstretched police have taken to staging demonstrations demanding better pay and resources. - Sunday Times