Eagles of Death Metal, the California band playing Paris’ Bataclan theater when terrorists stormed the venue last month, joined U2 onstage Monday at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris. The Irish rockers were performing a makeup concert for their own postponed shows originally scheduled to begin the day after the attacks.
The concert, part of the band’s iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour, streamed on the online service Periscope and was recorded for an HBO special airing the same night. Near the end of the show, U2 frontman Bono told the crowd at the 20,300-seat arena, “Now there’s nothing left except to introduce you to some people whose lives will forever be a part of the city of Paris. These are our brothers, our fellow troubadours. They were robbed of their stage three weeks ago. We would like to offer them ours tonight. . . . Eagles of Death Metal!”
The band took the stage and joined U2 in a rendition of Patti Smith’s “People Have the Power,” which legendary punk-poet Smith herself had performed with U2 at the encore of its Sunday night show at the arena.
After the song ended in a crescendo of applause and hugs, the Eagles of Death Metal singer, Jesse Hughes, told U2 and the crowd, “We love you, too, so much for giving us this opportunity. I look around and what do I see, nos amis, our friends. I . . . love you guys so hard, and I will never stop rocking and rolling.” The Monday show then ended with Eagles of Death Metal performing its song “I Love You All the Time.”
Coordinated terror attacks at multiple locations in Paris on Nov. 13 claimed 130 lives, 89 of them at the Bataclan.
