Simple Plan’s planned private showcase in Paris, France that was to be held this coming Monday, September 16th, has officially been canceled due to the shootings in Paris that took place this Friday, September 13th, that left over 120 people dead and hundreds more wounded. The deadliest place of shootings was the Bataclan concert venue that the band has performed at back in 2008.
Simple Plan have released an official statement regarding the cancelation of their private show, that was supposed to be an event only available for a couple contest winners:
Due to the tragic events that happened in Paris last night and after consulting with our friends and partners at Warner Music France, we have decided to cancel our concert scheduled for Monday evening in Paris. The safety and well-being of our fans are always our absolute priority.
We are struggling to find the right words to express our sadness and the horror we feel when faced with such senseless violence. This tragedy hits very close to home, as we had the privilege to perform at Bataclan in 2008.
We are devastated that music fans and artists were targeted by these attacks. In these difficult moments, our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to the victims and their families, to all our French fans and friends that we love so much and more specifically, to our friend and promoter Arnaud, from “Nous Productions”, who is fighting for his life today.
We have informed our friends at Warner Music France of our desire to come back as soon as possible to Paris, when the time is right.
We stand with you Paris, united and in solidarity.
See you soon,
Pierre, Chuck, Seb, Jeff and David.
Simple Plan.
From SimplePlan.cz’s previous posts you also know that Simple Plan were supposed to board their plane to Paris this weekend and stay in Europe at least for a week and half. Due to the unknown whereabouts of the band in Europe besides Paris, it wasn’t clear whether the band would be leaving to Europe at all. However Jeff Stinco gave Billboard the following statement: “We were leaving for Paris tomorrow for a show on Monday; unfortunately, because of the tragic events that took place today, we have to cancel our plans. The French borders are closed. We plan to go back to France as soon as possible: if the situation changes, we hope to show our support to our French fans by the end of this week.” It is however still unsure whether the band is leaving for Europe at all and if so, where.
In the end of this article, I’d like to express my deepest condolences to all those affected by this tragedy and the whole city of Paris. I am sending lots of prayers to all the music fans in Paris, for whom has yesterday been the absolute worst nightmare imaginable. As a music fan myself I personally take concert venues as the holiest place that should be filled with joy, peace and love and not hatred and fear. It breaks my heart to see such tragedy. Please, stay strong, Paris, we are thinking of you.
