I remember vividly the moment when I heard about the massacre at the Bataclan. It was at a Hard Rock Hell festival in North Wales. I’d just walked out of the venue for a smoke when I was shown the BBC News reports. The fact that I, my family, and my colleagues were at a rock concert at the same time that attackers walked into the Eagles of Death Metal gig and killed so many just left me numb.
That night I sat in a chalet with some other reviewers and photographers from Devils Gate Media watching the news updates with a growing sense of horror. But as the early hours of the morning ticked by there was a sense of defiance: a sense that music fans should not be cowed by anyone.
The first band to play in Paris after the massacre was Belfast’s Stiff Little Fingers
. Their singer Jake Burns made the point that bands from Northern Ireland had been through terror and still played on.
Back in those dark days punk offered a disenchanted youth a way to step away from the sectarianism and unite with music. From the bars and clubs the music scene continued to throw a single middle digit up to the terrorists. When bands as diverse as Motorhead, Echo and the Bunnymen, WASP, Def Leppard, Saxon and Metallica played in leisure centres there were still bombings and shootings. Returning home was a challenge with the city centre surrounded by a ring of steel barriers and gates, but the music fans were not going to stop.
Waking up to the news of the terror attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester brought a wellspring of emotions. I have never heard of the singer – not someone likely to come across my radar. But I know the feeling those young fans had when they walked into the MEN. Excitement, eager to enjoy a show; laughter, friendship, and a common desire to simply enjoy a gig…
The deliberate, calculated attack was, I believe, to strike out at those who wish to enjoy an evening of music; to engender fear. They will do that. But only briefly.
After the Manchester bomb across the UK music fans will consider going to shows and consider their safety. However, when the mourning is done, the tears have been shed and the investigation goes on the music will once again draw the fans.
We are the many. They are the few. Our tears of sadness build resolve in our hearts. The anger that you bring, we defeat with love. You want to bring fear, we defeat it with hope. Where you want us to cower, we rise up.
When you want us to lash out, we sing the words of passion for life. We live, we love and we never back down. Go out, live your lives. The victors will never be the cowards that stalk with hate, but those of us who walk in the light in the darkest of times.
This week many will go to shows; drink a beer and cheer on the bands they love. Come Saturday night I shall be at a gig in the Limelight. Like those there and other venues it is out small gesture of solidarity with the victims of the Manchester bomb and a “fuck you” to the terrorists.
To the victims of all terror across the world shine on all of you, shine with the music that inspires you, the music that is both escapism and touches the soul.
In memoriam to the victims of the Manchester bomb we must never ever stop supporting live music. Whether you are a fan of pop acts, rappers, indie artists, heavy metal, boy bands, punk or rock you are the peaceful army of freedom. We are legion.
Peace, love and rock n roll