Okay, let’s not bury the lede for once. Gojira absolutely smashed it over at the opening of the July 2024 French Olympics. An astoundingly powerful Death Metal performance in front of a felt billion people. The devil’s music on full display and the evening crowd in an uproar. And the RMR crew loved every second of it.
Controversy and pushing the envelope were clearly on the menu throughout the performance. Artistic director Thomas Jolly probably pushed his very own ideas of diversity at all costs a bridge too far. His statement that he wanted to – and I quote – “…capture France in all its diversity…” already falls flat on its face. If that were the case, where was the traditional France? The truly astounding elements that make up this great country? When cornered by the press, he stated that “…in France, we have the right to believe and not to believe. In France, we have many rights.” Indeed so. And making a mockery of the beliefs and feelings of large swathes of the populace seems to be one of them, too. Apparently.
To my utter astonishment, nestled in a presentation that oddly resembled a Paris Pride Parade event, suddenly Marie-Antoinette’s beheaded countenance, with her hair on fire no less, started to lead off into the old revolutionary tune ‘Ah! Ca ira!’. That in itself already was a bizarre experience.
Little did we know that the moment Joe Duplantier‘s thundering guitar roared off we were on a boat ride down history lane. French metal against the famous backdrop of La Conciergerie, the final place of imprisonment of one of France’s most famous queens. Gojira, unleashed and on fire, delivered powerful Death Metal fare, seconded by opera singer Marina Viotti (ex Soulmaker) on a symbolized ship representing the coat of arms of Paris. A full-throated performance full of fire, fake blood, roaringly good metal, and a touch of the French Revolution.
The reactions to the band’s performance were as swift as some were contradictory. The metalheads were mostly delighted, of course. However, some attacked Gojira for delivering a satanic performance. That’s truly ridiculous. Duplantier‘s boys are environmentalists at heart, no Satanists. Seth or Corpus Diavolis would be closer to the target, if and when the organizers would have entertained mingling with a darker slice of the metal multiverse. As a side note, it is sad that the organizers felt the need to use the cliché that metal is from the dark side and – by definition – bad. And they did that by invoking the metal beast to represent one of the bloodiest episodes of France’s history, no less.
Furthermore, Eurosport’s anchors’ comments about the performance were often unbearable. Especially the British channel was astonishing in its disrespect to one of France’s greatest metal bands. But then, perhaps, the musical performance complete with fake blood wasn’t quite to their taste. Who knows, right? And that is why the clip below stems from the French channel that was slightly more succinct.
Ultimately, though, and despite all the controversy Jolly managed to generate, he also brought us Gojira. And that in a frankly grandiose setting. Death Metal on a global and thunderous stage. The cinematography, storyline steeped in history, and execution were perfect. Let’s just hope that the IOC will let this band publish their own version of the song and a video devoid of all those often dubious comments.
But ’nuff said. Let’s move on to the video. Hit play, if you dare.
Ed’s note: At the 11th hour and just after the Grammy Awards 2025, Eurosport decided to set the above clip to private and replace it with another, sanitized one. RMR will let the old embed stand and wait until it goes public again. Meantime, feel free to use this link to access Gojira‘s official video that released later in 2024.
Oh, and Gojira et al made it to the Grammy Awards – and won. Find out more. – RMR Feb 2025
Label: Self-Released | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 26 July 2024