U2″s Paris show originally planned for Saturday, Nov. 14 and the HBO concert special scheduled to air the same day have both been canceled following Friday”s horrifying terrorist attacks in France”s capital city.
Dozens of people were killed in the coordinated attacks, including over 100 people at the Bataclan, the music venue where hostages were being held before the police stormed the building.
The program would have been the Irish band”s first concert special on HBO. Saturday”s show at AccorHotels Arena was to be filmed and air HBO in the U.S. and Canada that same day. U2 played two shows in Paris earlier this week, on Tuesday and Wednesday, and they had begun posting rehearsal footage on their social media accounts in anticipation of the HBO program.
Here is the official statement from HBO:
As a result of the ongoing state of emergency across France, the U2 Paris concert scheduled for 14th November will not be going ahead as planned. U2 and Live Nation, along with HBO who were due to live broadcast the Saturday concert, are fully resolved to go ahead with this show at an appropriate time.
Speaking from Paris the band said:
“We watched in disbelief and shock at the unfolding events in Paris and our hearts go out to all the victims and their families across the city tonight.
We are devastated at the loss of life at the Eagles of Death Metal concert and our thoughts and prayers are with the band and their fans.
And we hope and pray that all of our fans in Paris are safe.”
The feature film “Jersey Boys” has replaced the concert on the HBO schedule.
In the wake of personal tragedy earlier this year, the show did go on for U2. The band”s longtime tour manager Dennis Sheehan died in West Hollywood in May. The day following his death, when U2 performed at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., they closed out the show with their song “40” in memory of Sheehan. (At their 1983 concert at Red Rocks, Sheehan”s lone voice rallied the whole crowd to sing the refrain of the song from their album “War.”)