Eagles of Death Metal determined to finish terror-devastated Paris gig
US rockers want to be first band to reopen Bataclan, site of the deadliest of the November 13 attacks
California rockers Eagles of Death Metal want to be the first band to play the Bataclan theater when the Paris venue reopens after the November attacks targeted their gig.
“I don’t want to spend my life trying to appease assholes. I want to spend my life smiling with my friends and entertaining them,” Jesse Hughes, the band’s vocalist, told Vice in an interview.
“I cannot wait to come back to Paris. I cannot wait to play. I want to come back. I want to be the first band to play in the Bataclan when it opens back up,” he said.
“I was there when it went silent for a minute. Our friends went there and died. I’m gonna go back there and live.”
Gunmen attacked nearly simultaneously targets across Paris on November 13, killing 130 people, 89 of them at the Bataclan.
On Instagram, band member Julain Dorio, wrote that he was looking forward to finishing the concert.
“I am forever changed but hold fast to the love around us,” he wrote. “I’m counting down the days until I get to finish that concert.”
The band sat down for a full interview with Vice.com in Los Angeles after returning to America following the carnage.
They each detailed the instant decisions they took to save their lives, and the horrors they saw as the gunmen emptied round after round indiscriminately into the crowd.
The band had been due to perform across Europe until December 10, but has put on hold all further concerts. A number of French fans have appealed on them online to return to play.
“We don’t really have a chance. We have to finish the tour,” said Josh Homme, a Death Metal co-founder who was not in Paris.
The band played in Israel last July, despite attempts by anti-Israel activists to pressure it to avoid the Jewish state.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.