Opera Singer ANALYZES Gojira Olympics Performance of "Ah! Ça Ira" at the Conciergerie Palace 

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It took the whole world to come together to get Mario to wear a shirt

A metal band performing a revolutionary song on the building where the aristocracy was held prisoner and condemned, has to be the most metal thing to ever happen. Historic.

Elizabeth three years ago: "Im not a metalhead". Elizabeth today: giggling and smiling at Gojira's gutural vocals while seeing blood splattering from decapited aristocrats. Our work here is done, guys.

It's so nice that the Olympics got invited to a Gojira concert.

Symbolism of this scene : - The song "Ah ça ira" (Ah it will be ok) was a famous song that french queen Marie-Antoinette liked to hum, whose origin would be from Benjamin Franklin (in France around 1780) who answered "ça ira, ça ira" (it will be ok, it will be ok) every time he was asked for news about the American Revolutionary War. In 1790, the revolutionaries changed the words of the original song to make murderous apostrophes against the nobility and clergy. - The deca.pitated woman is, of course, the queen Marie-Antoinette. Marie-Antoinette of Habsburg, Imperial Princess of Hungary and Bohemia, last daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis the First, became queen of France in 1774 when her husband, Louis the Sixteen, go to the throne. When revolution began in 1789 and for several years, the Austrian empire and all the monarchies of Europe threaten the French people with reprisals if they do not restore the French monarchy. In 1791, the royal family tried to flee to Austria but was arrested in a small town called Varennes and brought back to Paris. In 1792, is the famous "Brunswick Manifesto", distributed in the streets of Paris, written by the the Prussian army chief Brunswick, ordering the French to restore immediately the king on the throne. It will have the opposite effect. The french royal family is then considered as traitors by the French, because negotiating with foreign enemies who wants to stop the revolutionnary ideas, the republic, and return to the monarchy. In January 1793, King Louis was sentenced to death for perjury and executed. Same year in October, Marie-Antoinette is tried for high-treason and sent to the guillotine. The two years that will follow, a period called "The Terror", should be studied by all those who think that a revolution is always something beautiful and romantic... - The castle is a medieval castle called "La Conciergerie", in the center of Paris. It is a museum today, but during the revolution it was a courthouse and a prison. It's exactly here that queen Marie-Antoinette and the royal family were imprisoned, with thousands of aristocrats, before being sent to the guillotine. - The guy holding the fire flame in front of the palace is a reference to the video game "Assassin’s Creed" and the French Tech (Ubisoft Studio is a french compagny). - The boat is a symbol of the city of Paris, whose motto is "Fluctua nec mergitur" (latin words for "Struck by the waves but does not sink"), who passes over monarchy. - The lyric singer (Marina Viotti) sings the famous opera Carmen, and symbolizes Lady Marianne. Marianne represents a revolutionary woman, with a Phrygian cap on the head (revolutionary emblem). Today this woman is the symbol of the French Republic, its representation is everywhere, and its bust present in all town halls and public buildings of France, or as French administration logo. She is this woman with naked breast, holding a French flag in one hand and a rifle in other hand, in the center of the famous painting by Delacroix, "Liberty leading the People", visible at the Louvre museum... or above a Coldplay music album ;) - Obviously, all these red fireworks symbolizes blood, noble's blood, because a lot was poured during the ten years constituting the French revolutionary time (from 1789 to 1799), before a guy called Napoleon took power and came to restore order and unity in French society. - Some say the audacity of puting heavy metal for an Olympic ceremony is a response to the terrorist attacks in November 2015 in Paris, where 130 people were killed, including 90 in the Bataclan concert hall, during a concert of the American metal band "Eagles of Death Metal".

Gojira is truly in their Dethklok Era at the Paris Olympics. I honestly expected the walls of that castle to crumble under all that METAL!

The building is « La Conciergerie » and it’s the place where Marie-Antoinette (the wife of King Louis XVI) was imprisoned before getting decapited buy the guillotine during the French Revolution. And the song was mainly sang during this period, it’s about hanging the aristocracy. The guitare Joe is playing is not it’s usual guitar, it’s a ESP Custom Model which represents the blade of the guillotine.

I cried when i saw this performance. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd see a heavy metal group recognized in this way and there is no band that could have pulled this off better than Gojira.

As a french metalhead i am SO proud of Gojira, they nailed it SO hard! Horns up to all the melalhead folks around the world 🤘

I am parisian, I was there, I never listen to metal music but I loved every millisecond of that scene and music. Now I have my first death metal playlist on my spotify 🤩

Where’s the petition? I’ll sign it! I want a full up metal opera of the French Revolution and this song.

Marina is a big metal fan and on her Instagram is fangirling over getting the chance to sing with Gojira

This performance made me bawl. I'm a 50 yr. old metalhead for the entirety of my life. To see the music that I dearly love FINALLY gain this level of legitimacy is everything.

Gojira meets The Olympics: Heavy Medal!

As a Finn I'm proud, that the mixing of opera and metal, like Nightwish and Gojira, has been brought to mainstream entertainment without diluting. I never thought I would hear a double bass drum beat in an olympic opening. Marina Viotti is a metal music fan ? Excellent ! I was equally astonished by the performance of Celine Dion, she poured her heart out in her version of an Edith Piaf classic.

Gojira won the Olympics and the Internet. Don't see how this can be topped. 🔥💯🤘🏼

The wife and kids were worried about me when I saw this live... I lost my mind. How cool they allowed crews to shoot smoke and pyrotechnics out of a historic building - and hang band members out of windows. They never rehearsed this in person or on site according to Joe's interview with Rolling Stone. This was a one shot deal

You have to hand it to the French.. They go hard and are unashamedly unique.

My Wife was watching the opening ceremony and yelled at me saying "Gojira is playing in the opening ceremony!!!!". Which just proved making her listen to metal for the last 15 years was all worth it but she knows who Gojira is :) And of course I had to run in and watch it :) It was so awesome, and I hope they release a recording of this as a single.

0:44 was exactly how every single metal head reacted at the same exact moment. If you say you didn’t, you’re lying.

Rio missed a big chance not putting on Soulfly or Sepultura during their "homage to music" during that opening ceremony, so big up to France for giving extreme music a special place

There NEEDS to be a studio version of this, it is good! Edit: Been very clearly pointed out to me I misspoke. This version should be released for the public.

What also made this so cool. Was the Assassins Creed torch bearer, who ran over rooftops, doing parkour, leaping, sliding down roofs, going through the Louve, and other Paris Landmarks. He literally runs over rooftops, just like his counterparts in the video games. He stops on a rooftop across the river of Gojira to watch them, he’s holding the torch in this video. They created a story where French soccer star had torch, he got on a subway to go to Eiffel Tower, but train lost power. So he handed torch to young skateboarder, bmx kids. They ran torch to this Asssassins Creed torch bearer. As Paris was locked down traffic for the opening ceremony day. So this torch bearers was only way to get torch across city. Over rooftops., and through landmarks.

I hope beyond hope that they actually put out a studio version of this. Hearing a full mix that has no commentary or background audio from the event will be AMAZING.

21:41 The visual effect of the boat sailing through raining blood + the music = goosebumps! This performance was so EPIC! 🔥🔥🤘😍

Gojira wrote its name prominently in the annals of most epic METAL performances with this one.

I've seen this 100 times and still get goosebumps....and I'm not a huge Gojira fan. BUT...I'll be checking them out more now.

I am French and I really like your reaction and your judgment. For additional information, the boat is the symbol of Paris, and its motto "Fluctuat Nec Mergitur" in Latin. It means "Swept by the waters, but do not sink." The red shreds represent the blood shed by the aristocrats, and I love the effect of these shreds clinging to this boat as it progresses. It perfectly symbolizes the access to Freedom for Paris and for France, with the end of the monarchy, all amid immense violence. Vive Gojira !

Drummer beats the hell out of this drums like my mom beaten me after seeing my grades in school 🤷🏻‍♂️

I get teary eyed whenever I see this performance it's so amazing and perfect is so many ways. Absolutely adore it.

OH YES! Their performance was seriously so so amazing LONG LIVE GOJIRA!

Hi from France, I'm so proud of this performance, I am being a huge GOJIRA fan since I watched them in 1999 in Paris supporting the norwegian Black Metal band IMMORTAL, their name was GODZILLA, they changed into GOJIRA the year after. I love so much GOJIRA that I have on my right arm a tattoo with the 2005 album "From Mars To Sirius" album art cover. About the GOJIRA choice, it is because of Daphné BURKI, she is a TV host in France, and she is the director of the costumes for the opening and ending ceremonies of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, she is a huge Metal fan and she loves GOJIRA, she insisted a lot to make it happen !

I love how even with this song, Gojira finds a way to include its “patented” scrape into the mix.

As someone who studied linguistics, I find it so interesting to see how much I still recognise from the explanations you give, from the anatomy of the throat to all the different ‘mouth filters’ and the way each mouth/head part shapes the sound. Thank you for all the in depth commentary!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: metal music has mental healing properties that none of my therapists had, ever since I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, over a decade ago (a friend of mine just introduced me to Gojira with this performance, and my brain immediately disconnected from the high stress I was going through that night) and the "blo0d splatter" re-connected it lol that visual effect was truly glorious

This was so awesome to see live and so unexpected. I really kind of hope they put a studio recording of it out as well.

This is what Metal and Opera is supposed to be like! Everything to the max!

I love that I had a couple of my friends, who HATE metal music, call me after this and were like "Damn, okay...THAT was awesome! I think I kinda get the whole metal thing now." Made me so damn proud as a lifelong metalhead! LOL

Immediately one of the most iconic live performances of all time.

My god, when he screams, shivers down all over my spine. Gojira vocalist screaming voice is the best. I'm not a metalhead but there was always something about Gojira that pulled me in

I almost cried watching this part of the opening ceremony. As a metal fan, a metal musician, and a vocalist this was a transcendent moment in music. METAL IN THE OLYMPICS!! Truly emotional.

I think we all did that big smile and giggled immediately when Gojira started and started doing the Leonardo Dicaprio pointing meme to our TV's . Such a massive win for the music community and metal community and millions of people saw this. Literally was the biggest musical highlight just destroying all the other acts. Also love that Arno from Assassin's Creed was parkouring around the city... Killer performanace and visuals.

Hopefully this performance will put some more eyes on the French metal scene. There are some really great bands there that should definitely be put in the spotlight.

Celine was beyond reality as well. Two amazing performances.

Next winter olympics, Norway needs to up this and go full Black Metal in the snow !!

Gojira is Aurora's favorite heavy metal band. She herself said in an interview that she would like to work with Gojira. Aurora and Gojira together.... imagine what would happen...

Elizabeth needs to form her own metal band asap. "The Charismetal".

I love when opera and metal hang out together, some of my favourite genres too. This whole moment was iconic on so many levels, and it feels like Gojira were being true to themselves and to the whole metal community. This is a world changing moment! Incroyable!

My smile was so big my face still hurts😂

I was laughing and screaming when I first saw this. It was 2am and I was PUUUUMPED

I think I enjoyed that olympic moment the best. I had absolutely no idea Gojira was gonna play. When they started, the cake I was eating almost fell out of my mouth.

One of the most disrupting presentations on the Olympics, congrats to Gojira!

Please consider reacting to the Gojira song "The Art of Dying" Live at Vieilles Charrues Festival 2010.

That opening was EPIC!!! I loved from the start to the finish, the mix of heavy metal with opera is amazing, what a blast, historic in all senses indeed, for metal and for the history itself!

I struggle to express how much this performance impacts me. On the one hand it’s powerful to have metal be taken so seriously on a stage of this size, but also the addition of operatic vocals to Gojira’s aggressive sound is-like you said-EPIC.

one tear dropped when this happened. For a fan of Metal, is a lifetime moment

Great video. I was also very impressed by Celine Dion's performance at the opening ceremonies especially considering the health issue she's facing.

Quelle fierté et quelle surprise lorsque j'ai découvert en direct ce tableau et les premiers riffs de guitare. J'ai halluciné, je n'y croyais pas ! De voir Gojira avec cette mise en scène absolument magnifique. Et la surprise d entendre la chanteuse lyrique Marina Viotti qui a été parfaite. C'était magique et surtout épique ! Fière que mon pays, la France, ait eu l'idée de mettre en avant le metal pour des cérémonies de jeux olympiques. C'est la première fois que ça était fait et c'est juste génial. Et Gojira mérite les louanges ils ont réussi leur prestation. Ce groupe est connu à l'international mais pas suffisamment respecté en France car le metal n'est pas mis en valeur dans notre pays. C'est assez péjoratif comme style de musique ici. D'ailleurs, il y a eu une polémique après cette séquence. Le choix musical et les clichés sur le metal. Que Gojira est un groupe "satanique"... En France on n'a pas encore cette ouverture d'esprit comme dans les pays scandinaves ou germanique. Bref c'est dommage que l'image du metal soit résumé au satanisme voir au racisme. En tout cas, je suis heureux de voir un de mes groupes préférés au JO et faire honneur au metal. C'était absolument grandiose ! Merci mille fois pour cette œuvre qui restera à tout jamais dans l'histoire des jeux olympiques.

I got tears in my eyes when i saw them playing for Olympics Games. The Metal music for all the world, and that was GOJIRA! VIVE LA FRANCE! 🙂

I do remember the time when you were discovering metal music with your analysis and now you embrace the genre and are kind of expert at it. This is amazing and I love it !

Marina was the Lead Singer in a Metal Band " Soulmaker" She sounds a bit like Floor ( also Mezzo )

I like how she laughs and takes everything so gleefully!

Let them eat PAIN!! 🤘🖤

Hello from France ! I am so happy and proud of Gojira. They nailed it !! It was a dream came true to see a metal band in prime time to represent french history. I am full of joy 😊 A little historical presision perhaps. The conciergerie has indeed been turned into a prison during the Révolution, but it was for centuries before that the castle of the kings during middle age.

I've never been much prouder to be french than this moment. The most french thing ever. Nobody will ever top this opening ceremony.

I saw it and cheered. Then the blood rained. Then they set fire to the Conciergerie. And this was in the rain. And the whole chorus was decapitated!

You've mentioned "Carmina Burana" many times in video. I agree, it's the most metal choral work, and requires a double orchestra to perform it. How about a breakdown of just the "O, Fortuna" section? Most people have heard it in parts, but it's worth giving the whole movement a listen. Explain the story behind whole work, and how much other absolutely metal and debaucherous moments can be found in it. I performed it in the chorus, and is one of my favorite memories.

Being an American of French heritage it was a metal moment of pride 🇫🇷❤️💙🤍🇺🇲🤘🎶

This blew my mind when I saw it. Highlight of the whole olympics for me.

Your giggle in the beginning is ALL OF US! I was blown away and am absolutely obsessed with the ENTIRE thing too ❤‍🔥❤‍🔥❤‍🔥❤‍🔥

You, Will Ramos, and Nik Nocturnal could do an AMAZING cover of this

I giggled just like you, Elizabeth, the first time I watched this. So did my 90-year-old Dad. And here we are still, 100 times later, still giggling. It's euphoric!

When I watched this live I immediately thought of you! I was like: "Elizabeth would absolutely love this!!!"

5:10 that’s called a pickscrape, and is a very signature Gojira thing. Absolutely amazing

This was such a great surprise in the Olympic opening ceremony.

Thank you for recognizing the importance of this for "my people." Bands like Gojira, Opeth and Mastodon have been huge for us, all leading up to that performance.

The gravity of this performance was... Timeless. You could FEEL the horror and the consequence of a violent revolution through what this gave us sonically and visually, in the very same setting no less, absolute chills. This is theater if I've ever seen it.

What the beheaded lady (Marie-Antoinette probably, queen to Louis XVI, who was jailed in that very building you can see here before being executed) is "ah ça ira", a Revolutionary song about killing the aristocrats ("it will be fine" would be a rough translation of the title) (it was the mightiest response to London 2012 Olympic Openning, which showed the British Queen Elizabeth II with James Bond ; the answer here is "look how WE take care of our queens and kings!" ) The "weird boat" is the symbol of Paris. The city has the motto "fluctuat nec mergitur" , meaning "rocked by the flows but not sinking"

Never thought I'd live to see the day Gojira not only were given a performance slot at the olympics, but do it in such a mind bogglingly metal ass way and literally rewrite metal history

Joe's multi-tonal voice was one of the wildest things I've ever heard in concert. The first time I saw them, I'd never heard anything by them before. So it was a mind bending experience.

the keyboard/choral strikes remind me of Nightwish. Symphonic gojira obviously works.

you have no idea how much i've been waiting for your video on this... THANK YOU!

One of the best Metal bands in existence played at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics... As ugly as the world can be right now, THIS is a very big deal.

Elizabeth how excited you get and your passion for music is so beautiful! Thanks for the react, and also my for making these spoiled by metal shirts! Had to get me the red one. Love what you do!! ❤❤

Merci, merci Elizabeth ! C'était magique ! Métal et opéra : Dieu réunit ceux qui s'aiment ! Et encore plus avec la puissance et la pertinence de ton analyse. Love fromFrance.

The French metal band Gojira plays at the Olympics 😳. That’s awesome!

Conservatives: They're satanic! Fans: No they are just really pissed off about conservatives destroying the planet.

They need to make this a full song. I was totally crying seeing this, it's so good and amazing. I told Mom to turn up the TV and told her this is one of the best bands in this era of metal! I'm so glad they been put in for the opening ceremony, the full ceremony is just beautiful, nothing will beat it in the future!

Dude! YOU ARE SO LUCKY THAT THIS ISN'T BLOCKED! Fingers crossed it stays the same!

Gotta love how the stripped down lyrics suddenly become more nuanced. "Ah ça ira" used to be said by the people from the street and "Mea culpa" was the aristocracy asking for forgiveness to the new republic, good old opposition between the people and the monarchy. Now we only have "Ah ça ira, Mea Culpa, Let' rejoice good times will come without fear for fire and flames" (which are snippets from the original lyrics). Disconnected from the original song, it could just be about repentance for all the violence and full of hope for the future. Very Gojira-ish no? Also, delicious irreverent french humour : they made Marie-Antoinette's head sing with the parisian street accent a revolutionary song. Needless to say, the royalists here were not happy.

No Olympic performance will ever compete with this and it's possibly the biggest moment of metal music history. Also, I can't wait to see Gojira with Korn on September 23rd, here in NJ.

Fantastic! I'm so glad y'all were able to get this up. Such a magnificent performance, the most metal one ever.

I couldn't care less about the Olympics being held in Paris, but Gojira's performance made me feel proud to be French, and proud of them for getting to where they are now. Singing 'Ah! Ça Ira' is also super ballsy, considering what's been happening in French politics.

Marina was clearly the best singer to play with them, she's a metalhead and she was singer in metal bands few years ago

This is one of those moments we as metalhead will always remember.... this is huuuuge...the amount of publicity Gojira is getting now is insane. I did not know previously that they were playing in the ceremony, so when I saw them in the tv my jaw drop.....imagine all those French people watching this like for the first time.

This should be France's new national anthem.

We need a Gojira and Elizabeth collab! 😁

The coolest opening scene i've seen at the Olympics! I get goosebumps filled with pride over Gojira and could not be less impressed by the outraged groups that jump on anything to get offended. It's monumental for metal!

Couldnt believe it when i saw it live.. That was one of the most metal things ive seen in my whole life!