Paris attacks: Bataclan reopens with Sting concert

Sting has reopened the Bataclan concert hall in Paris with a minute's silence for the 90 people killed by jihadists from so-called Islamic State.

The British singer told the audience, including survivors, that they had to honour the dead and celebrate life.

His concert is on the eve of the first anniversary of the co-ordinated attacks that left 130 people dead across Paris, culminating with the Bataclan massacre.

Sting will donate the proceeds from the show to two survivors' charities.

"We will not forget them," Sting said speaking in French, before starting his hour-long set shortly after 21:00 (20:00 GMT).

The performer began with the song "Fragile", singing: "Nothing comes from violence and nothing will."

Concert-goers, who had been arriving for a couple of hours before the concert began, were in a defiant mood ahead of the show.

"Sting is part of our youth but we also decided to come because of the Bataclan," a man, who gave his name only as Stefano, told PA news agency. "We hesitated at the beginning but we decided that life must be stronger."

The Bataclan has been renovated entirely since the attack.

BBC Five Live's Nick Garnett, who is at the concert, was searched three times before he was allowed to enter.

He tweeted: "The strangest atmosphere. The Bataclan has been repainted, renovated but it's still so vibrant with the horror of a year ago. #Paris".

The Bataclan was the last place the militants targeted on Friday, 13 November 2015.

The co-ordinated attack had already struck the Stade de France and restaurants filled with people enjoying their evening.

The 130 people who lost their lives that night will be remembered in a series of low-key events over the weekend.

But the concert at the Bataclan, where about 1,500 people had been watching American band Eagles of Death Metal when the gunmen burst in last year, is one of the most symbolic.

Jules Frutos, who has co-run the venue for the last 12 years, told AFP news agency: "We had to go on after such horror and not leave a mausoleum, a tomb."

Mr Frutos contacted British rocker Sting, who first performed at the Bataclan in 1978, about the concert after reading he wanted to help.

Sting says he hopes the concert will "respect the memory as well as the life affirming spirit of those who fell".

The 1,000 tickets on offer for the concert sold out within 30 minutes of going on sale.

Hundreds of tickets were held for survivors, and there will be psychologists and counsellors on stand-by for anyone who needs.

"The whole world is going to see the Bataclan live again," Jerome Langlet, of the venue's owners Lagardere Live Entertainment, added.

The concert venue will be closed Sunday, the actual anniversary, when a plaque is due to be unveiled in memory of those who lost their lives.

The Bataclan is opening again on Wednesday for a series of concerts by British singer Pete Doherty, Senegalese star Youssou N'Dour and British Sixties legend Marianne Faithfull.