Eagles of Death Metal made an emotional return to Paris on February 16, three months after the terrorist attack at their gig in Le Bataclan which claimed 89 lives.
The band previously had pledged to their fans that they would finish November's interrupted gig, with frontman Jesse Hughes saying to the crowd: "Bonsoir Paris, we're ready for this". He later cried out for "peace, love and rock and roll" when encouraging the crowd to sing along with him.
The gig took place at L'Olympia Bruno Coquatix under heavy security, with armed guards flanking the venue at all sides.
EODM co-founder Josh Homme was also present at the gig. While the Queens of the Stone Age star appears on the band's albums, he usually doesn't play with them live, but took to the stage to perform alongside regular touring drummer Julian Dorio.
Survivors of the Bataclan atrocity had been offered free tickets to the concert.
The band are continuing their rescheduled European through March. In December the rockers returned to Paris to help U2 close their concert just three weeks after the terrorist attack.
Vive la musique, vive la liberté, vive la France, and vive EODM.
— EaglesOfDeathMetal (@EODMofficial) February 17, 2016
Thank you for this, Paris. pic.twitter.com/3W3GKT5qsk
Ahead of the gig, singer Hughes hit out at French gun control and said the massacre at the band's Bataclan show may have been prevented if more people had guns.
Eighty-nine of the 130 people killed in the terrorist attacks were in the Bataclan during Eagles of Death Metal's set on November 13. The band's merchandise seller, Nick Alexander, was among the fatalities. The so-called Islamic State subsequently claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.
Speaking to French broadcaster iTele as he prepared to take to the stage again in the French capital, frontman Hughes said: "I'll ask you: did your French gun control stop a single ******* person from dying at the Bataclan? And if anyone can answer 'yes', I'd like to hear it. Because I don't think so."
"I think the only thing that stopped it was some of the bravest men that I've ever seen in my life charging head-first into the face of death with firearms," he continued.
Eagles of Death Metal on stage in the Bataclan on November 13
"I think the only way my mind has been changed is maybe that until nobody has guns, everybody has to have them.
"Because I don't want to see anything like this ever happen again. And I want everyone to have the best chance to live and I saw people die that maybe could have lived, I don't know. But I wish I knew for sure if they could have had a better chance."
Fighting back tears during the interview, Hughes said: "I haven't had any nightmares, and I've slept fine, but when I'm awake is when I see things that are nightmares, you know? And I thought that talking about it would make it easier... but it's not. There's really no frame of reference for this at all. I just wish it would go away."
U2 welcomed Eagles of Death Metal on stage in Paris for the final show of the Dublin group's iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour last December. The band joined U2 for a cover of Patti Smith's People Have the Power.
U2 and Eagles of Death Metal Photo: Danny North
"They were robbed of their stage, so we would like to offer them ours," said Bono, introducing the band on the night. U2 also left the stage while Eagles of Death Metal performed their own track, I Love You All the Time.
