“Headbanging in front of a billion people was a very gratifying experience!” Gojira express their gratitude for being given “the opportunity to represent the Metal community” at the Olympics

(Image credit: Zhang Yuwei-Pool/Getty Images)

Gojira have expressed their thanks for being given the opportunity to become the first metal band ever to perform at the Olympics Games.

On July 26, at the opening ceremony for the Paris games, the French quartet delighted metal fans worldwide by performing a fiery version of French revolutionary anthem Ah! Ça Ira alongside opera singer Marina Viotti on the walls of The Conciergerie, a former royal palace and prison which is now a national monument and museum.

“It was a very bloody era of French history, so it was very metal,” Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier told the New York Times ahead of the historic performance, and the band have now issued a statement expressing their gratitude for the chance to “represent the Metal community” at the global event.

Posting on instagram, they wrote: “We can’t believe what just happened… We are extremely grateful for being part of this Paris2024 Ceremony… Our gratitude goes to the people who invited us, giving us the opportunity to represent the Metal community we’ve been part of since 1996!

“And most importantly Thank YOU to all our loyal fans #gojirafamily for the endless support and an overwhelming response to this event! ❤️❤️❤️ video backstage by @vilma_pediu a big thx to our road crew who adapted to the conditions like it’s no big deal and thank you @marinaviottimezzo @daphneburki @victor_le_masne and the rest of the Olympic core team!”

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Drummer Mario Duplantier shared his own personal memories of the occasion on social media, writing, “What a tremendous honor to be part of this ambitious and epic ceremony in Paris. I have to admit that headbanging in front of a billion people, hitting as hard as I could in a revolutionary scenery made of fire and blood, was a very gratifying experience! A big step for the metal community as well.

“Special thx to the coolest @victor_le_masne and @daphneburki #gojira #paris2024 #olympics2024 #ceremony #conciergerie”

🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨This year Gojira became the first metal band to perform at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics.This is incredibly cool and badass. France will now forever be labeled as cool and badass. pic.twitter.com/vJtH6wEOYvJuly 26, 2024

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.