Saturday, November 14, 2015

Cold Fight against Terror: Foo Fighters cancel Paris tour, Coldplay and others join calls for peace

The rock band Foo Fighters have canceled the remaining dates of their Sonic Highways World tour, which included a concert in Paris, following terrorist attacks in the city on Friday that killed at least 127 people. Band leader Dave Grohl (pictured below) announced the news of the tour cancellation on Saturday, a day after the attacks.
"It is with profound sadness and heartfelt concern for everyone in Paris that we have been forced to announce the cancellation of the rest of our tour," the band said in a statement. "In light of this senseless violence, the closing of borders, and international mourning, we can't continue right now. There is no other way to say it. This is crazy and it sucks."
"Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was hurt or who lost a loved one," the group added. The group had four dates left and was scheduled to perform in Paris at a different venue than the one targeted, however.



The deadliest attack took place at the Bataclan concert hall, where four gunmen shot dead at least 87 people during a concert by American band Eagles of Death Metal, a group which Grohl had worked with in the past. Family members said the band, including singer and guitarist Jesse Hughes, escaped the attack but that several crew members were unaccounted for, NBC News reported on Saturday. The group has also canceled the remainder of its tour and is returning home, Agence France-Presse reported.



In addition to the concert hall, suicide bombers also blew themselves up outside the Stade de France, France's national stadium, where thousands of people, including French President François Hollande as well as Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera's daughter, were watching an exhibition game between France and Germany as the explosions took place. The three attackers were killed.



Meanwhile, Coldplay performed part of a scheduled concert in the United States that day, but held a moment of silence for the victims of the tragedies and also performed a cover of an iconic song that calls for peace. Coldplay performed a short, acoustic concert in Los Angeles on Friday night after postponing a larger TIDAL and KROQ live streamed gig "out of respect for the terrible events in Paris." The rock band held a moment of silence before performing and opened the concert with a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine."



On Friday, fellow rock group U2 said they had canceled two concerts in Paris, including one that was to be taped for an HBO special, in wake of the attacks. Concerts were not the only enetertainemnt venues affected by the tragedy; Paris premieres of Steven Spielberg's feature “Bridge of Spies” and Natalie Portman's “Jane Got a Gun” were canceled as well.



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