‘Never forget’: Sting reopens Paris Bataclan one year after music hall massacre

Sting, who fronted the hit pop band The Police before a long solo career, opened the emotionally charged gig with a minute’s silence, telling the crowd: “We will not forget them.”

“Tonight we have two tasks to achieve: first to remember those who lost their lives in the attack, and then to celebrate life and music in this historic place,” the performer said.

On November 13, 2015, the assailants burst through the music hall’s main entrance and sprayed automatic gunfire into the crowd as the Californian rock band the Eagles of Death Metal played on stage.

During a more than two-hour long assault, the attackers executed some victims and took others hostage. The attack ended after one militant was shot dead and the two others killed themselves by detonating explosive vests.

In coordinated strikes that night, other gunmen and suicide bombers targeted a soccer stadium and several cafes in Paris. In all, the Islamic State militants killed 130 people.