Rock band caught in Bataclan attacks show defiant spirit in surprise return to Paris
THREE weeks after they watched helplessly as dozens of the their fans died in a hail of bullets, the Californian rock band that played at the Bataclan will return to Paris for an emotional performance.
Eagles of Death Metal are to join U2 for their last song in front of a crowd of more than 16,000 at the AccorHotels Arena in eastern Paris tonight.
It promises to be a moving finale to one of the French capital’s biggest concerts since the Nov 13 massacre of 130 people and a highly symbolic act of defiance by the American band.
Paris is scarred by the coordinated assaults on several targets, responsibility for which was claimed by Isil. The worst attack brutally cut short the band’s performance at the Bataclan, where 90 people were killed.
The members of Eagles of Death Metal escaped injury and halted their European tour to return to the US. They have said they want to be the first to perform at the Bataclan when it reopens after refurbishment at the end of next year, and are expected to resume their tour in February. In an interview with Vice.com in Los Angeles, they described their horror as they watched terrorists shooting indiscriminately into the crowd, many of whom initially mistook the bursts of automatic gunfire for part of the show.
U2 helped them in the aftermath of the attacks, buying them mobile phones to replace the ones they abandoned during the chaos at the Bataclan, and offering them the use of their plane.
Members of U2 were among the first to visit the Bataclan to pay tribute to the victims as the Irish band was in Par- is preparing for two concerts that weekend, which were postponed after the attacks. They are finally playing them tonight and tomorrow.
U2 have often explored the theme of terrorism. A simulated bomb has gone off during their recent shows with the song which commemorates 1974 car bombings in Dublin. “Blood in the house, blood on the street,” Bono sings. “The worst things in the world are justified by belief.”
Jesse Hughes, the lead singer of Eagles of Death Metal, is a contradictory figure. A flamboyant rock musician and reformed drug addict, he is also an ordained priest and a Republican supporter who has boasted about how many guns he owns and his opposition to gun control. He will be joined on stage by his childhood friend and the co-founder of the band, Josh Homme, who rarely tours and was not in Paris on the night of the attacks.
There will be unprecedented security at the concerts. France remains in a state of emergency with thousands of police and soldiers guarding the streets of Paris.
A 25-year-old man named as Mohamed S was expected to be charged with involvement in a terrorist conspiracy yesterday over his alleged role in providing a safe house for the alleged ringleader of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.