Eagles of Death Metal join U2 on stage in Paris return
‘They were robbed of their stage three weeks ago - we would like to offer them ours tonight’
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Your support makes all the difference.Eagles of Death Metal have returned to play in Paris less than a month after the brutal attacks in the city that claimed the lives of 130 people, after U2 invited them to join the band on stage at their gig in the French capital.
It marks the first time the Californian outfit has played in public since the attacks, in which the band members and other survivors escaped the gunmen at the Bataclan theatre, where 89 people were killed.
"They were robbed of their stage three weeks ago - we would like to offer them ours tonight," Bono said during the encore, and called the band members brothers.
Taking to the stage at the AccorHotels Arena, a venue not far from the Bataclan, Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes told the crowd: “Paris we love you and we will never give up rock and roll.”
U2 is currently playing the last of four scheduled concerts in Paris as part of the of the Innocence + Experience tour. The band’s final two gigs were postponed after France was placed under a state of emergency.
Opening the show Bono said: "We're in Paris - feels like the whole world is in Paris. We are all Parisiennes tonight.
"If you believe in liberte, Paris is your home town.
"Thank you for welcoming us back and allowing us to come here and tell our story and allowing us to tell you a little something about our lives when your lives have been turned upside down."
Bono had written a new song since the attacks entitled Streets of Surrender (SOS), and earlier in the gig the band paid tribute to those who were killed on 13 November by showing a huge display of the French tricolour and the names of the dead.
The U2 concert was filmed live and will be shown on HBO.
Additional reporting by PA
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