U2 cancels concert in Paris
NEW YORK—U2 has postponed its Saturday night concert in Paris in the light of the deadly attacks across the city Friday night.
Instead, the band said in a statement that it is resolved to go ahead with the concert “at an appropriate time.”
U2 members said they watched in shock and disbelief at the unfolding events and were devastated by the loss of life at the concert held by Eagles of Death Metal, one of several sites in the city that was violently attacked.
U2 members said: “We hope and pray that all of our fans in Paris are safe.”
HBO had planned to televise the band’s performance. It says it will replace the planned show with the film Jersey Boys.
Meanwhile, management for the Eagles of Death Metal, scheduled to perform Friday night at a Paris venue where at least 100 people were killed, said they are “trying to determine the safety and whereabouts” of the band and its crew.
The American rock band was supposed to perform at the Bataclan, a theater located in eastern Paris near the trendy Oberkampf area. People inside were taken hostage.
It was unclear how many were inside but French police say at least 100 people were killed. The death toll is in addition to the 35 people who died in shootings and explosions in multiple sites in the city Friday night.
“We are still currently trying to determine the safety and whereabouts of all our band and crew. Our thoughts are with all of the people involved in this tragic situation,” management for Eagles of Death Metal posted on the band’s Facebook page late Friday.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution, quoting the brother of the band’s drummer, reported Friday night that all band members escaped the concert hall unharmed. The paper identified the drummer as Atlanta native Julian Dorio.
“They saw a man with a machine gun just opening fire,” Dorio’s brother Michael Dorio told the newspaper. Michael Dorio said his brother told him band members hit the floor when they spotted the gunmen, then ran out a backstage door.
They dashed to a nearby police station, where Julian Dorio borrowed someone’s cellphone to call his family in Atlanta, Michael Dorio said.
The band, formed in 1998 in Palm Desert, California, was celebrating the October release of
Zipper Down with a European tour. It’s their first album in seven years. The band’s sound is a mix of blues rock and garage rock.