Eagles of Death Metal at the Olympia: “motherfuckers, what do I love you! ” – The world

Le Monde | 02/17/2016 at 3:57 • Updated 02/17/2016 at 11:25 | By Laurent Carpentier

and if Josh Homme and Jesse Hughes, founder of the Eagles of Death Metal, were right and if the rock’n’roll could save us? The rock band stunner – lightness West Coast, South punkoïde posture and heavy rhythm – which was playing at the Bataclan November 13, 2015 during deadly jihadist attack, had not ceased to repeat that he would finish the concert. The reopening of the hall is planned for December, they did not have the patience to wait and, Tuesday, February 16, completed the Olympia. All those who were there on Nov. 13 were invited. A little over half of them were present.

“This is the first concert of the rest of my life,” murmur Emilie (who prefers silence his name ) in his soft voice. They were three girlfriends at the Bataclan, they are all three here tonight … In the queue to pass through security checkpoints on the Boulevard des Capucines and the entrance of the room, crutches and wheelchairs mind the violence broke out there

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Laurent Lafont Battesti should not have to be at the Bataclan. A friend had given him his place and advised to get to the balcony. “ When this started shooting, we first thought of a stage play or a fool playing with firecrackers. The smell of gunpowder, that’s what made us understand … “It will succeed in hiding in an apartment above the hall. Sauvé. “ I lived after the manner of pretty lonely. When I saw the announcement of the concert, I did not hesitate. Do not go had been as missing an appointment. “

The eyes seek and flee

stories like Laurent, there are as many as there were people in the room. stories of fear, body dragging themselves to start. the mourning impossible. on the red carpet at the Olympia , looks seek and flee, full of these memories close by. Ninety-ten deaths, dozens of wounded, three months later, twelve are still in hospital.

There’s this family . they are five. At Bataclan, they were able to go very fast, father, girls, this time, the mother was not there. Today they crowd near the exit. “This is the first question that people ask us: where are the exits,” demonstrates a thirty psychiatrists and psychologists who have mobilized to support the public in Olympia on the. stairs, past the bar, J. (who wishes to remain anonymous), a headphones on, is immersed in a graphic novel Derf: Punk Rock & amp; Mobile Homes ( Publishing Here and there, 2014) . She is 26 years old. At the last moment, on 13 November, she decided not to go to the concert. “My lucky star? “ she asked sadly. Today, she bought a place not dare ask that to which she was entitled. “ I feel an intruder. Until the last moment, even on the boulevard there before, I hesitated to turn around. “

What a strange idea that this concert. Does not he come too soon? Does it risk being traumatogenic for people who have been taken hostage, as explained by the psychologist Helene Romano, author, Boris Cyrulnik, I am a victim (Philippe editions Duval, 2015)? “ When we fall from his horse, we must go back ” blew me Emilie, disbelief … There, before the concert, down beer, the public s ‘expects all, somewhere between the promise of a high mass catharsis, the reconstruction of a crime scene and group therapy. The truth is that we will be entitled to a rock concert. No more, no less.

Eagles of Death Metal is a group that works with the raw energy, no pathos or meaning. Jesse Hughes, the singer, is not Charles de Gaulle when he speaks. Aside from “ motherfuckers, what do I love you” , it hardly increases the registers. That saves us the sadness of drippings. The group has just prepared its input: a recording Dutronc singing It’s 5 am, Paris wakes up … , an accomplice face-to-face where one feels the need for both the group and the public, to absolve of guilt to be here and alive.

“naked! “

And that’s what those two-hour concert. A celebration of life. It smells firecracker, a girl shows her naked torso, a couple kiss greedily. In the attempted minute of silence that lasts twenty-three seconds, a man shouts: “ Naked! “, the eternal Breton released their flag incongruously, hipster fraternise with the alcoholic, Jack Lang is the balcony, crutches are to date. A rock concert. 100% pure rock. As a form of transcendence. And a live band that seems to have so much fun that the public who do not ask for much.

“ This is not over evil “ welcomes Didier Cremniter psychiatrist medico-psychological emergency center installed Necker came to lend a hand shrinks battalion. “ Although we do not see here those most overdue, who preferred not to come, we feel that there is the beginning of a restoration … “Some people come into the spaces arranged to share their anguish, and when the show comes to an end, a young woman with endless tears will eventually decide to empty his bag …

But already, the room stomps for reminders. Encouraged by Francophiles impulses of Jesse Hughes, who wrapped a while ago a blue scarf, white, red knit that anonymous hands have stretched him from the pit, and the tricolor guitar he outlet for his last song, the crowd demands La Marseillaise . It will Brown Sugar, Rolling Stones. Who dreamed of “first concert of the rest of [his] Life” is a much more rock’n’roll value. In the night, the boulevard where the crowd goes by, the profound words of Jesse Hughes sound like a mantra: “ bugger your mother, no one will stop me from continuing this stuff . “