Sting reopens Paris Bataclan amid tears, cheers and controversy — in pictures

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  Sting began what had been billed as “the toughest gig in rock” with a minute’s silence for the 130 people who lost their lives in a night of Islamic State gun and bomb attacks across the French capital. Francois Guillot / AFP Photo

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  The British singer — who spoke French throughout the gig — told the crowd that “we will not forget them” before launching into a set that walked at line between celebration and reflection. Christophe Ena / AP Photo

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  A woman lights a candle outside the Bataclan concert hall. Kamil Zihnioglu / AP Photo

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  The biggest applause of the night, however, was for Desert Rose, a song Sting originally recorded with the Algerian singer Cheb Mami. Performed with the Lebanese trumpet star Ibrahim Maalouf, its driving arabesque beat felt like a defiant retort to puritanical ISIL dogma from which the gunmen sprang. Boris Allin / Universal Music France via Reuters

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  As he left the stage, the star said “Vive le Bataclan”, before returning to perform alone the “Empty Chair”, a song he wrote in tribute to US journalist James Foley who was beheaded by IS in Syria in 2014. AFP Photo

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  The concert was not short on controversy. In a sensational turn of events, Jules Frutos, the concert hall’s co-director said he had prevented two members of the US group Eagles of Death Metal, who were on stage during the attack, from entering. AFP Photo

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  ”They came, I threw them out. Rhere are things you can’t forgive,” Mr Frutos said, furious at Eagles frontman Jesse Hughes for his claims that some of the venue’s Muslim security guards were complicit in the attack. Ian Langsdon / EPA

Rock star Sting on Saturday reopened the Bataclan, the Paris concert hall where militants massacred 90 people, with a hugely symbolic and emotional show to mark the anniversary of France’s bloodiest terror attack.