Pop star Madonna, who delivered an emotional paean to Paris last month during a Stockholm concert held a day after the French city’s terror attacks, paid tribute again with an impromptu performance Wednesday night on Paris’ Place de la République.
Accompanied by longtime guitarist Monte Pittman, currently appearing on her Rebel Heart tour, and her 10-year-old son, David, she sang “Like a Prayer” and “Ghosttown” as well as John Lennon’s “Imagine,” reported the wire service Agence France-Presse. Mother and son, dressed in hooded winter jackets in a video clip posted online, sang together on the historic square, where crowds had gathered after terrorist attacks in January and again in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 attacks.
“Everybody knows why we’re here. . . . We just want to sing a few songs about peace, just to spread love and joy, and to pay our honor and respect to the people who died almost four weeks ago,” Madonna told onlookers, AFP reported. “And to spread light . . . we all need it.”
“She wanted to pay tribute; she loves this city,” Pittman, 40, told the news service. “It is magical. I will never forget this.”
Madonna, 57, was in Paris for two sold-out shows Wednesday and Thursday at the AccorHotels Arena in the city’s Bercy neighborhood. “Im singing some songs in place de la republique. Meet me there now #Paris . #rightnow #aftershow [heart emoji] #rebelheartour,” she had tweeted after Wednesday’s concert, where she had wrapped the French flag around her and had sung the country’s national anthem.
“We will not bend down to fear,” she told the concert audience, according to BBC News. “I think of what happened almost four weeks ago now. The heart of Paris and the heart of France beats in the heart of each city. I came here when I was 20 and it was here, in Paris, that I decided to make music. Thank you Paris for planting that seed in my heart.”
Sometime after the street performance, the multiple Grammy winner tweeted a photo of herself and David. “Singing For Peace at Place de La Republique,” she wrote. “Proud Mama.”
