Editor’s note: to follow Live updates from the Olympic opening ceremony.
Athletes will be competing for gold medals over the next two weeks, but on Friday a different kind of metal took center stage.
At the Olympic opening ceremony, French heavy metal band Gojira gave audiences a measure of culture shock by headbanging between songs from “Les Miserables” and “Carmen.”
Godzilla was first welcomed by the headless Marie Antoinette and performed at the Conciergerie along the Seine.
Here’s what you need to know:
2024 Olympic Medals: Who is leading the medal count? Let’s track the medals in each sport to find out.
Who is Godzilla, the metal band performing at the opening ceremony?
Godzilla is made up of Joe Duplantier, Mario Duplantier, Christian Andreu and Jean-Michel Labadier, who performed in the Conciergerie, the residence of medieval French kings.
It was a prison during the French Revolution, with Marie Antoinette being one of its most famous inmates. Gojira performed alongside singer Marina Viotti.
The band name is legendary monster Godzilla was named Godzilla until 2001. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award three times and recently released the album “Fortitude” in 2021.
Gojira plays music of metal and various subgenres, such as progressive metal and groove metal.
Marie Antoinette may have lost her head, but if she still had it, she’d be shaking it in 2024 thanks to Godzilla.
