Move over Schoolhouse Rock!, there’s a new way to learn about history. French heavy metal band Gojira was the talk of Friday’s Olympics Opening Ceremonies for the band’s headbanging reenactment of the French Revolution featuring opera singer Marina Viotti. Gojira became the first metal band to ever perform at the Opening Ceremonies, helping kick off the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
Rather than the typical opening procession, this year athletes and delegates boarded boats and floated down the Seine River past historic Paris landmarks. Arriving at the Conciergerie castle—the former home of the French monarchy—dozens of actors portraying Marie Antoinette appeared in the windows and sang to the procession from post-guillotine severed heads. Before the gory spectacle could take full effect, flames shot up from the grounds of the 14th-century royal palace as Gojira—stationed on different outcroppings of the castle—took over with thunderous double bass drums and syncopated progressive metal guitar and bass. As Viotti floated by on a prop boat, the song reached its apex and blood-red streamers shot out from the palace-turned-prison.
Gojira is one of the biggest names in French heavy metal and has previously toured with Metallica and Slipknot. Brothers Joe and Mario Duplantier formed the band in 1996, originally under the name Godzilla after the sci-fi monster movie franchise, but were forced to change it for legal reasons in 2001. Instead, they changed the name to Gojira—the original Japanese name for Godzilla. The band is set to return to the U.S. in September and October to support Korn and play Louder Than Life in Louisville, KY.
Watch Gojira at the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremonies below and stream the Summer Games live on Peacock.
This part of #OpeningCeremony with French band Gojira was badass
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— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) July 26, 2024
The post France’s Gojira Stages Heavy Metal Historical Reenactment At 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony [Watch] appeared first on L4LM.
