Who chose the song Gojira played during the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony this past Friday (July 26)?
The group performed a metal rendition of the French Revolution song “Ah! Ça Ira!” from the windows of Paris’ Conciergerie palace with opera singer Marina Viotti during the “Liberté” section of the ceremony.
Those few minutes were a massive win for the heavy music community, as Gojira became the first metal band to ever play the Olympics opening ceremony.
Gojira Were Hand-Chosen to Perform During the Ceremony
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, vocalist and guitarist Joe Duplantier explained that Gojira were specifically selected by the Olympic Committee to play the ceremony.
“Ever since we were contacted by the Olympic Committee and the composer, Victor le Masne, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen just because it sounded completely unreal. The amount of people that would see us live kind of eclipsed the moment,” he said.
The frontman admitted he and his bandmates never thought of Gojira as big enough to play such a huge, international event, and figured Metallica or AC/DC would’ve instead. However, he pointed out that it was victorious for France as a country.
Who Chose ‘Ah! Ça Ira!’?
Gojira didn’t select the song they performed — a committee and the composers did. They were given some light instructions on how to reimagine the song, but otherwise, they had creative freedom when it came to making it a metal song.
“We very simply and organically came up with riffs and grooves that we like to play. We took it as an opportunity to represent the metal scene. So it was our task to really go for it and lay it down, not just be there and play a few notes to shock people,” Duplantier recalled.
“We decided to go full-on with double-kick drums, screaming, growling, epic moments, and a tempo breakdown at the end; we really wanted to show what metal is all about. And to our surprise, it was all accepted by the committee.”
One of the stipulations the committee had about the performance was that Duplantier had to say “Ah! Ça Ira” during the performance, which translates to “It will go” or “It will be okay.” He found it a bit challenging as he mostly sings in English, but sang it three times anyway.
How Gojira Prepared for the Show
Duplantier noted that he and his brother, drummer Mario Duplantier, spent between three and four hours working on the first demo for the song. Then, they met with the composer numerous times in New York City to come up with the classical arrangements, and finally had a few Zoom meetings when Viotti was brought in on the project.
READ MORE: Gojira’s Joe Duplantier Responds to Accusations of Satanic Olympics Performance
Duplantier called playing with nearly 300 classical musicians a “privilege,” though they weren’t very visible during the actual ceremony.
“They’re all there: cellos, tubas, percussion, and bells, you name it. There were all these instruments present. It’s a bit frustrating to not see what’s happening in terms of music; the Marie Antoinette scene and the choir that sing, ‘Ah! Ça Ira’ stole the show completely. But I want to give a big shout-out to all the classical musicians that participated in the song.”