On November 13th 2015 terrorism struck close to home in a literal and emotional sense. Our writer Si Forster had four close friends caught up in the horrific mayhem of the attack on the Eagles of Death Metal show at the Bataclan theatre in Paris and the whole team spent that night in frantic search for hard news among the chaos. This week EoDM return to Paris to finish the show, Si gave us a few thoughts on what it means.
You think something’s over, and then you realise that it isn’t and may never be.
On the 16th of February, the Eagles of Death Metal will play a show at L’Olympia Bruno Coquatrix Concert Hall in Paris. It’s going to be a difficult night for a lot of people there, as much of the audience will comprise of those who were there at the last show. From an outside perspective, this looks brilliant – defiant, courageous, celebratory even – and I hope that this is how it is for many of those present, audience and participants alike. It’s not that simple though.
This is difficult to write. I wasn’t there. Friends of mine were however, and they may or may not be returning next week. Memories of confused messages, heartbreaking news footage and terrified worldwide communications flew around in a blur, followed by hysterical, tearful relief when all those we knew were accounted for (alive but not unhurt), followed by the guilt at such relieved celebration when so many people were experiencing much worse. All of that, and I wasn’t there.
I’m writing this now because even though the press and everyone else has moved on and forgotten all about it, there’s still so much going on. The processes are hard to read about and sad to see, and the point of all this is that time isn’t just marked out in events, incidents and conclusions, it’s something that just goes on, it ebbs and flows and doesn’t stop. I can see the times when light is made from tragic circumstances, as well as when it becomes too dark to bear, and try to engage in every eventuality. This is what I’m trying to do now, in all honesty.
Music is therapy. This is why I’m at Echoes and Dust at all, and while it’s a terribly flawed concept (my own record collection is skewed about 20% in favour of making me feel better and 80% in making stuff seem worse) it does work, because we actively seek out what fills our hearts with whatever we want at any time we choose. It can’t always work to a schedule though. If February 16th isn’t your night, then there will be other nights that will be, whether you expect them to or not.
My hope is that everyone who goes to this show next Tuesday has an incredible night where the main feeling that you leave with is that of gladness that you went. For those who were there last time and a return seems too much, there will be other shows in other cities at other times and I hope that you leave those shows with that same feeling that you were glad that you went to whichever ones you went to, because it’s none of our business what the right thing for you to do happens to be. For the Eagles of Death Metal, I hope that you have a wonderful night, for as soon as this was announced, the choice for you to attend has been made and cannot be undone.
For Maria, Pat, Mark and Brian, I hope that this finds you well and that whatever you do feels right and that you have the best time doing it, whether it’s bouncing about at the front of a great show or just cleaning the car out. I’m so glad you’re still here to read this, and hope to see you all soon.
