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Showing posts with label bataclan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bataclan. Show all posts
Thursday, 13 November 2025
Tuesday, 13 November 2018
Marking the Bataclan anniversary.
It's worth marking the anniversary of the atrocity at the Bataclan in Paris.
It may be only the third anniversary, not particularly a significant one by those who measure years in blocks of five, ten or 25. Nor is it particularly a recent event, not the year's anniversary or an event marking the re-opening of the venue.
And there have been other atrocities since. But this was an atrocity that targeted us.
Most of us were not there that night, but anyone who enjoys seeing a band was a target. Anyone who finds music the life-affirming thing that it is, anyone who dances, is passionate about music or who cares about it deeply were assessed by lunatics who found them unworthy of life.
Ninety people died at the Bataclan, 130 in total were killed across the city that night. An event has been held in Paris to commemorate them, but the real commemoration comes without fanfare or media coverage, without the need for occasion involving the great and the good. The commemoration comes every time someone enjoys a gig, a café, bar or restaurant in Paris. Because every single time this happens, it is a reminder that those who tried to destroy us ultimately failed.
Society did not fall to its knees. It rose to its feet against the intolerance that bred such hatred. France - and beyond - was united in the face of those who tried to divide us.
And they were defeated.
The Bataclan re-opened, and people go to gigs there. The cafés and restaurants of Paris are open and are still the lifeblood of the city. The stadium continues to host sporting celebrations.
History tells us that there will be atrocities to come, and while the atrocity at the Bataclan was one of the darkest moments in recent years in Paris, the city of lights remains as defiant and as bright as ever.
It may be only the third anniversary, not particularly a significant one by those who measure years in blocks of five, ten or 25. Nor is it particularly a recent event, not the year's anniversary or an event marking the re-opening of the venue.
And there have been other atrocities since. But this was an atrocity that targeted us.
Most of us were not there that night, but anyone who enjoys seeing a band was a target. Anyone who finds music the life-affirming thing that it is, anyone who dances, is passionate about music or who cares about it deeply were assessed by lunatics who found them unworthy of life.
Ninety people died at the Bataclan, 130 in total were killed across the city that night. An event has been held in Paris to commemorate them, but the real commemoration comes without fanfare or media coverage, without the need for occasion involving the great and the good. The commemoration comes every time someone enjoys a gig, a café, bar or restaurant in Paris. Because every single time this happens, it is a reminder that those who tried to destroy us ultimately failed.
Society did not fall to its knees. It rose to its feet against the intolerance that bred such hatred. France - and beyond - was united in the face of those who tried to divide us.
And they were defeated.
The Bataclan re-opened, and people go to gigs there. The cafés and restaurants of Paris are open and are still the lifeblood of the city. The stadium continues to host sporting celebrations.
History tells us that there will be atrocities to come, and while the atrocity at the Bataclan was one of the darkest moments in recent years in Paris, the city of lights remains as defiant and as bright as ever.
Monday, 13 November 2017
Bataclan anniversary
It's two years on since the Bataclan atrocity, and while coverage of the event moves quietly from music sites to a few paragraphs on news sites alongside a picture of the president as just another routine ceremonial political event, it's worth reflecting for a second on what happened.
Ninety people died at the Bataclan, in a night that saw a total of 130 people killed. It was the worst terrorist attack ever on French soil, and anyone who ever read a music blog, went to a gig or was moved by music could have been in that audience.
That it was the Eagles of Death Metal mattered not at all. Those behind the atrocity did not discriminated on musical genre, style or artistic merit. Nor did they discriminate on ethnicity, race, country or ideology.
There remains a debate as to whether or not it's appropriate for bands to have played the Bataclan following what happened. Personally, I think to have closed the venue would have seemed a victory to those who perpetrated the violence.
It's not dancing on the graves of those who died. No one could attend the Bataclan unaware of what happened there. And to go the Bataclan, to celebrate live music, art and culture, to dance, to be happy and free however briefly from the worries of everyday life remains a pretty positive act of defiance against those who would rather see us dead.
Ninety people died at the Bataclan, in a night that saw a total of 130 people killed. It was the worst terrorist attack ever on French soil, and anyone who ever read a music blog, went to a gig or was moved by music could have been in that audience.
That it was the Eagles of Death Metal mattered not at all. Those behind the atrocity did not discriminated on musical genre, style or artistic merit. Nor did they discriminate on ethnicity, race, country or ideology.
There remains a debate as to whether or not it's appropriate for bands to have played the Bataclan following what happened. Personally, I think to have closed the venue would have seemed a victory to those who perpetrated the violence.
It's not dancing on the graves of those who died. No one could attend the Bataclan unaware of what happened there. And to go the Bataclan, to celebrate live music, art and culture, to dance, to be happy and free however briefly from the worries of everyday life remains a pretty positive act of defiance against those who would rather see us dead.
Monday, 5 June 2017
Manchester and London
A weekend of events that again juxtaposes terrorism and music in a way that sees, once again, those who would bring us to our knees only succeed in making us rise up onto our feet.
Our thoughts are again with the victims of these atrocities. After the Bataclan we could only hope nothing like that would ever happen again.
The memorial concert in Manchester, remembering the victims of the horrific suicide bombing was a triumphant, joyous and colourful commemoration and celebration. It acknowledged the tragedy of what had happened, reflected on it respectfully and with humanity, but it was also true to the youthful and colourful heart of pop music.
It was a difficult balancing act, but one that the event organisers managed with style.
Of course, Sunday's show unfolded in the aftermath of another horrific event in London. Saturday night revellers targeted with brutality and death on the streets of the UK's capital.
London and Manchester are great cities, and two of the musical capitals of the world. Bright and bold places in a world that others would like to see slide into fear and darkness. However hard they try, they will fail, and fail again.
Bands are playing the Bataclan again. Manchester and London can take it. The terrorists can be assured that whatever cause they fight for will be long forgotten before the victims are.
Daesh want us to live in fear, but their failure can be heard in the sound of our children singing along to Ariane Grande.
Our thoughts are again with the victims of these atrocities. After the Bataclan we could only hope nothing like that would ever happen again.
The memorial concert in Manchester, remembering the victims of the horrific suicide bombing was a triumphant, joyous and colourful commemoration and celebration. It acknowledged the tragedy of what had happened, reflected on it respectfully and with humanity, but it was also true to the youthful and colourful heart of pop music.
It was a difficult balancing act, but one that the event organisers managed with style.
Of course, Sunday's show unfolded in the aftermath of another horrific event in London. Saturday night revellers targeted with brutality and death on the streets of the UK's capital.
London and Manchester are great cities, and two of the musical capitals of the world. Bright and bold places in a world that others would like to see slide into fear and darkness. However hard they try, they will fail, and fail again.
Bands are playing the Bataclan again. Manchester and London can take it. The terrorists can be assured that whatever cause they fight for will be long forgotten before the victims are.
Daesh want us to live in fear, but their failure can be heard in the sound of our children singing along to Ariane Grande.
Monday, 14 November 2016
Sting at the Bataclan
The weekend saw both the anniversary of the Bataclan attack, and the first performance there since the atrocity last November.
While I had reservations about Sting being the first show at the hall, it was an appropriate choice.
He's an intelligent and articulate artist, the song Fragile an inspired song to open the venue.
Despite his global superstar status, he - like many British and US artists - played the venue in 1979, as an artist hoping to establish their reputation in France.
Despite a newly released album, he's not trying to squeeze some cheap publicity from someone else's tragedy.
It's a difficult balance to get right, marking a commemoration at a venue previously associated with celebration.
At the end of the day, the Sting gig really wasn't about him. More about a remembrance of those who died and our collective refusal to be silenced by the bullets of terrorists.
While I had reservations about Sting being the first show at the hall, it was an appropriate choice.
He's an intelligent and articulate artist, the song Fragile an inspired song to open the venue.
Despite his global superstar status, he - like many British and US artists - played the venue in 1979, as an artist hoping to establish their reputation in France.
Despite a newly released album, he's not trying to squeeze some cheap publicity from someone else's tragedy.
It's a difficult balance to get right, marking a commemoration at a venue previously associated with celebration.
At the end of the day, the Sting gig really wasn't about him. More about a remembrance of those who died and our collective refusal to be silenced by the bullets of terrorists.
Friday, 4 November 2016
Sting reopens the Bataclan
I don't quite know how I feel about Sting being the act to re-open the Bataclan just before the first anniversary of the atrocity that took place there.
Firstly, it's beyond a doubt right that the club should re-open. To do anything else would give those who sympathised with the killers a victory they don't deserve.
I thought that the club re-opening after the anniversary was the best idea, a low-key return to business as usual.
But opening with Sting just seems a bit odd. An act like Sting normally wouldn't be playing a venue like that, he's more a figure from international celebrity culture than from the world of music these days.
Maybe it's just that I've never been a big fan of Sting. Maybe it should be a French artist instead.
But maybe it's just that someone has to be the first act to play there, and they'll be scrutinised and criticised whoever they are.
Sting says: "In re-opening the Bataclan, we have two important tasks to reconcile. First, to remember and honour those who lost their lives in the attack a year ago, and second to celebrate the life and the music that this historic theatre represents.
"In doing so we hope to respect the memory as well as the life affirming spirit of those who fell. We shall not forget them."
The concert will raise money for charity. Maybe his heart's in the right place.
Pete Doherty and Youssou N'Dour play the Bataclan in the days after the anniversary, Marianne Faithfull, Laurent Garnier and Yael Naim play in weeks to come.
That feels a lot more like a return to normality for the Batacla.
Firstly, it's beyond a doubt right that the club should re-open. To do anything else would give those who sympathised with the killers a victory they don't deserve.
I thought that the club re-opening after the anniversary was the best idea, a low-key return to business as usual.
But opening with Sting just seems a bit odd. An act like Sting normally wouldn't be playing a venue like that, he's more a figure from international celebrity culture than from the world of music these days.
Maybe it's just that I've never been a big fan of Sting. Maybe it should be a French artist instead.
But maybe it's just that someone has to be the first act to play there, and they'll be scrutinised and criticised whoever they are.
Sting says: "In re-opening the Bataclan, we have two important tasks to reconcile. First, to remember and honour those who lost their lives in the attack a year ago, and second to celebrate the life and the music that this historic theatre represents.
"In doing so we hope to respect the memory as well as the life affirming spirit of those who fell. We shall not forget them."
The concert will raise money for charity. Maybe his heart's in the right place.
Pete Doherty and Youssou N'Dour play the Bataclan in the days after the anniversary, Marianne Faithfull, Laurent Garnier and Yael Naim play in weeks to come.
That feels a lot more like a return to normality for the Batacla.
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
Editorial: The Paris atrocity
I've held off updating for a few days in light of the atrocity in Paris at the weekend. It didn't seem right to write about music following what happened.
I watched the events with horror, hundreds of miles from France. But the interconnected nature of modern society brings us all closer.
Friends were at the football match at the Stade de France, friends of friends died at the Bataclan, colleagues interviewed survivors.
I never intedned this blog to be overtly political, there are already more then enough badly-written blogs full of opinion and short of facts covering that field.
But politics and terrorism impacted not only the country I love and a city I love, but directly targeted people with whom I have so much in common.
There have rightly been tributes, and there have also been voices calling for revenge as well as idiots using events to further their agendas.
The story is still unfolding in France and how it will end I don't know. While I fear he worst, I hope for the best.
I am confident in France and its people. While some things may change, the values that underline the republic will be maintained, and the spirit of the people that constitute it will prevail.
Grand Corps Malade posted some touching words, saying that while hate and a desire for revenge had been expressed: "Above all I have seen hope, I have above all seen courage and dignity"
"Like the widower who declared to the terrorists that thet will not have his hate, nor that of his 17 month old son.
"Like the elderly woman who stated that we live with 5 million Muslims, and that we fight against 10,000 barbarians.
"Like the journalist who declared that no one coulkd take from us that which makes us what we are.
"Like the child who repeats that the flowers and the candles are to protect us"
He continued: "France is beautiful because she doesn't give in to panic. She is beautiful because she continues to shine in all her colours, her differences and her inconsistencies"
"She is beautiful because she loves to dance and make noise, sing and live at light. She is beautiful because she loves to raise her glass and look into your eyes. She is beautiful because she has a big mouth.
"She is beautiful because she is a rebel and insolent. France is beautiful because it is free and that, no none can take from her."
Vive la France.
jk
I watched the events with horror, hundreds of miles from France. But the interconnected nature of modern society brings us all closer.
Friends were at the football match at the Stade de France, friends of friends died at the Bataclan, colleagues interviewed survivors.
I never intedned this blog to be overtly political, there are already more then enough badly-written blogs full of opinion and short of facts covering that field.
But politics and terrorism impacted not only the country I love and a city I love, but directly targeted people with whom I have so much in common.
There have rightly been tributes, and there have also been voices calling for revenge as well as idiots using events to further their agendas.
The story is still unfolding in France and how it will end I don't know. While I fear he worst, I hope for the best.
I am confident in France and its people. While some things may change, the values that underline the republic will be maintained, and the spirit of the people that constitute it will prevail.
Grand Corps Malade posted some touching words, saying that while hate and a desire for revenge had been expressed: "Above all I have seen hope, I have above all seen courage and dignity"
"Like the widower who declared to the terrorists that thet will not have his hate, nor that of his 17 month old son.
"Like the elderly woman who stated that we live with 5 million Muslims, and that we fight against 10,000 barbarians.
"Like the journalist who declared that no one coulkd take from us that which makes us what we are.
"Like the child who repeats that the flowers and the candles are to protect us"
He continued: "France is beautiful because she doesn't give in to panic. She is beautiful because she continues to shine in all her colours, her differences and her inconsistencies"
"She is beautiful because she loves to dance and make noise, sing and live at light. She is beautiful because she loves to raise her glass and look into your eyes. She is beautiful because she has a big mouth.
"She is beautiful because she is a rebel and insolent. France is beautiful because it is free and that, no none can take from her."
Vive la France.
jk
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