-
French metal titans Gojira shocked the world over the weekend, teaming up with opera singer Marina Viotti for an unforgettable performance at the 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris. The formidable quartet from Ondres, Landes and Viotti performed a punishing rendition of the French Revolutionary anthem Ah! Ça Ira, outside of Conciergerie Palace.
The brutality of the musical output was matched in intensity by the production which featured beheaded figures symbolizing the executed Queen Marie Antoinette, an impressive collection of explosions and a finale in which the palace appeared to be rain blood. The response to that performance, save for some conservatives predictably calling it "satanic", has largely been a collective "holy shit" with a largely unfamiliar television audience of approximately one billion people seemingly all becoming instant fans of Gojira. The impact of the Gojira performance has been so widespread that it has made them the most talked about artist to perform at the event not named Celine Dion and is rightfully being viewed by the metal community as a landmark moment.
One collection of people we hadn't heard from since the big day was Gojira, but the band have now opened up to Rolling Stone about the rollercoaster experience. In a new interview,singer-guitarist Joe Duplantier has reflected on the instantly iconic moment and revealed how it all came together in the first place.
"It’s a bit unreal. It’s been in the works for months. Ever since we were contacted by the Olympic Committee and the composer, Victor le Masne, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen just because it sounded completely unreal. The amount of people that would see us live kind of eclipsed the moment. I wasn’t thinking about what it was going to be because it was just too mind-bending to think about. So the reality of the moment was absolutely mind-blowing from where we were, up there at the Conciergerie and the view we had of the scenery and all the Olympic teams, passing by on boats. It was pretty surreal."
Duplantier, whose brother Mario plays drums in the band, also provides some insight into what he thought the impact of the performance could be. "At least for our part, the fact that metal and opera had never been seen together on TV and in front of so many people before is a statement for the country of France. It’s saying, “Hey, look. We’re still pushing the boundaries in the world.” So congrats to France for putting this together."
He also answers a question about the allegations that the performance was "satanic", offering that it was more a depiction of French culture "It’s none of that. It’s French history. It’s French charm, you know, beheaded people, red wine, and blood all over the place — it’s romantic, it’s normal. There’s nothing satanic [laughs]. France is a country that made a separation between the state and religion during the revolution. And it’s something very important, very dear to the foundation of republican France. We call it laïcité. It’s when the state is not religious anymore, so therefore it’s free in terms of expression and symbolism. It’s all about history and facts. We don’t look too close closely at symbolism in terms of religion."
The Rolling Stone piece also delves into just how late they found out about the production elements, how the song was chosen, what the artistic intention was and how important they believed the moment could be for metal as a whole. Read it here.
Mario Duplantier has since taken to social media to post his thoughts on the moment stating "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"
And of course, there were plenty of online detractors regarding the performance, ranging from "it should've been X band" to "it was lame" and all the other total nonsense your mind could conjure up. To those people, I have to say this – if you truly aren't excited about this moment, then you're unconcerned about the overall state of the genre or you just hate other bands being successful. Both reasons suck. Just be excited that a very, very heavy metal band got such a massive spotlight."
From the moment they dropped their debut full-length Terra Incognita in 2001, Gojira has been among the most universally beloved bands in modern metal. Much of that love can be attributed to the quality and consistency of their output.
Across seven studio albums, the formidable quartet have continued to evolve their sound while maintaining the ferocity, groove and technicality that won them a fervent global fanbase that has continued to expand with every release.
Their latest full-length, 2021's Fortitude was somewhat of a landmark moment for the band, reaching a career-high #3 on the ARIA Charts while single Amazonia earned them their third GrammyAward-nomination (following nominations for Silvera and Magma in 2017) in the category of Best Metal Performance.
Much like heroes and considerable influence Sepultura, Gojira has remained committed to actively campaigning for the causes and movements that inspire them, pairing music and message in a way that has always felt genuine and meaningful.
An unmissable live act, the band have consistently toured throughout their career, gracing the stages of some of the world's biggest rock and metal festivals, arenas and now the dizzying heights of the Olympic stage.
BUY GOJIRA MERCH NOW
Listen to Gojira
