[kj] [OT] Paris attack.

[T.B.]

Paul Owens wrote:

Doubt it was anything to do with the band. They choose the date and a venue they could easily rush. The fact that the band was American would be seen as a bonus by these lunatics.

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I agree.  It could have been any band, it was simply decided for whatever reasons to coordinate these attacks on this Friday night because a lot of people were out and about and events were going all throughout the city.  

The Bataclan club is well known as a smaller music venue in Paris.  It's one of the venues of choice for bands playing smaller venues in France and being a club able to hold about 1,500 people with minimal security, an easy target for a few gunmen to bully their way in and kill a lot of people in a confined setting.  Killing Joke have played there several times the past decade, a different night, it could have easily been them and their fans.

Tragic though this was, it could have been even more horrific if these animals had targeted the U2 show at the nearby Bercy Arena which was to go on tonight.  Tonight's show was to be broadcast live worldwide on HBO - imagine a live concert broadcast where gunmen storm the packed arena shooting hundreds of people and blowing themselves up on live tv.  I would think that would be every Jihadist' wet dream.

The end result, at least in the short term is this is being seen as an attack on live music, at least by those in the music community.  The next time any of us go to a show whether it's a club, arena or stadium, we'll be almost subconsciously looking at exits, suspiciously looking at everyone around us, not feeling quite comfortable.  I remember seeing The Cult barely a month after 9/11 in downtown LA at the Olympic Auditorium and it was the weirdest, most subdued atmosphere for a concert I can ever recall.  Getting in to shows will (should) be more tedious, as security for any large public events will be beefed up.  Already bands like the Foo Fighters have canceled the rest of their European tours, France is in lockdown for days if not weeks going forward.