Ex-Police frontman to perform in honour of 90 people killed last year at venue which has since struggled to attract big names

Sting has announced he will reopen Paris’s Bataclan concert hall on 12 November, the day before the first anniversary of the jihadi attack on the French capital that killed 130 people, including 89 at the iconic music venue.



The former frontman of the Police said he had agreed to appear “first, to remember and honour those who lost their lives in the attack a year ago, and second to celebrate the life and the music that this historic theatre represents. In doing so we hope to respect the memory as well as the life-affirming spirit of those who fell. We shall not forget them.”

Sting (@OfficialSting) Exclusive concert in Paris for re-opening of @le_bataclan just announced for Sat., Nov. 12. Details/ticket info at https://t.co/lrpZj6pppQ. pic.twitter.com/VkMcbdnidx

Sting previously played at the Bataclan with the Police during their tour in April 1979. The announcement on his website was a major boost for the venue, which had reportedly been struggling to attract big names back to perform there. All revenues from the show will be donated to Life For Paris and 13 Novembre: Fraternite Verite, two charities working with victims of the Paris attacks.

‘You will not have my hate’: Antoine Leiris on losing his wife in the Paris attacks Read more

On the day of the anniversary itself, survivors of the attack and the US rock group Eagles of Death Metal – who were on stage when the massacre began – will attend the unveiling of a plaque in front of the concert hall, according to the French news channel BFMTV. The owners of the Bataclan have yet to confirm that the ceremony will take place.



The Bataclan, which opened in 1865 and has hosted performers including Velvet Underground, the Clash and Prince, was one of several targets in a wave of attacks across the French capital by Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers. Bars, restaurants and the national stadium were also hit.

In an emotional announcement in Paris on Friday, Bataclan director Jerome Langlet said he hoped the theatre could regain its role as one of Paris’ leading music venues and not remain forever a reminder of tragedy.

It was given a grant of €280,000 (£255,000) to restore it to its former glory and has been entirely refurbished. Government security officials last week gave the go-ahead to re-open it to the public, Langlet said.

However, many French musicians invited to perform at the reopened venue have declined due to the emotional weight of the occasion. They said their reluctance was not out of fear but that they were not comfortable with celebrating and performing in the same venue where so many innocent people were killed.

As it stands, there are 24 concerts scheduled in the coming months at the Bataclan. They include performances from the Libertines frontman Peter Doherty who has sold out two nights starting on 16 November, as well as Senegalese star Youssou N’Dour and his Super Étoile de Dakar band. The Muslim musician, who sees himself as an ambassador of peace and tolerance, will also play the Bataclan for two nights.



Another upcoming performer at the venue is British-born singer Marianne Faithfull. The 60s legend, who lives in the French capital, said she had written a song inspired by the attacks which she would perform for the first time there.

“I understand that it’s frightening,” Faithfull recently said of bands who were reluctant to play, but added that it was important that the venue did not cower in the face of the attacks. “I think music makes people happy … and it can be very healing, which is why [reopening] the Bataclan is a very good thing. And if I can help do that, I am glad,” she said.

“The fact that I am doing the concert and that I wrote the song speaks for itself. Everybody was completely traumatised by the whole thing. It was just so terrible.”

Eagles of Death Metal made an emotional return to Paris in February, playing in front of hundreds of survivors of the attacks. One of the band’s crew, British roadie Nick Alexander, was among those killed. But allegations by the band’s frontman, Jesse Hughes, that the venue’s Arab-origin employees were complicit in the attack have tarnished their image in France.

The venue strongly rejected the claims and invitations for the band to play at French summer music festivals were cancelled.



Since last year’s attack, tributes and testimonies have flooded in from friends and families of victims. At an inquest into Alexander’s death in May this year, his ex-girlfriend described his final moments before he was shot up to three times. Helen Wilson, who had remained close friends with Alexander, told how they had played dead as the gunmen tore into the Bataclan crowd shortly after 10pm. A book, entitled You Will Not Have My Hate, by Antoine Leiris, the husband of another Bataclan victim, Hélène Muyal-Leiris, was released last month. It took its title from an open letter Leiris wrote to his wife’s killers on Facebook at the time.

Tickets for the Sting show will go on sale on 8 November. The singer will be joined by a three-piece band to perform songs from his new album 57th & 9th .