U2 cancel Paris concert, Eagles of Death Metal safe

Irish rock band U2 have cancelled a concert due to take place in Paris tonight.

U2 performing on the Graham Norton show, filmed at the London Studios, London. Picture date: Thursday October 16, 2014. Image by: Ian West/PA Wire.

A statement on the band’s website said the decision was taken “as a result of the ongoing state of emergency across France” but organisers were “fully resolved to go ahead with this show at an appropriate time”.

Speaking from the French capital 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.

“We hope and pray that all of our fans in Paris are safe.”

All members of the Eagles Of Death Metal, who were scheduled to perform at a Paris venue where at least 100 people were killed, are safe and have been accounted for, a US official has said.

The American rock band were supposed to play at the Bataclan, a theatre in eastern Paris near the trendy Oberkampf area.

Police activity by the Bataclan concert hall, Paris, one of the venues for the attacks in the French capital which are feared to have killed around 120 people Image by Steve Parsons/PA Wire

Officers entered the venue where hostages were being held but attackers, wearing suicide belts, blew themselves up, leaving 80 people feared dead – with earlier reports indicating 100 had been killed.

The US official, briefed by the Justice Department, was not authorised to discuss the briefing publicly and spoke to the Associated Press about the band on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, the band’s management posted on their Facebook page: “We are still currently trying to determine the safety and whereabouts of all our band and crew. Our thoughts are with all of the people involved in this tragic situation.”

Police activity by the Bataclan concert hall, Paris, one of the venues for the attacks in the French capital which are feared to have killed around 120 people. Image by Jamie McKinnell/PA Wire

The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC), quoting the brother of the band’s drummer, reported that all band members escaped the concert hall unharmed. The paper identified the drummer as Julian Dorio, from Atlanta.

“They saw a man with a machine gun just opening fire,” his brother Michael Dorio told the newspaper.

Mr Dorio said his brother told him band members hit the floor when they spotted the gunmen, and then ran out through a backstage door.

They dashed to a nearby police station, where Julian Dorio borrowed a mobile phone to call his family in Atlanta, Michael Dorio said.

The band, formed in 1998 in Palm Desert, California, was celebrating the October release of Zipper Down with a European tour. It is their first album in seven years.

They played a concert at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre earlier this week, according to their Facebook page.

(Press Association)

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