Olympics: Phoenix’ Thomas Mars Says He Worried for Overjoyed Athletes Swarming Stage at the Closing Ceremony
variety.comElsa Keslassy International Correspondent Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars, who performed at Sunday’s concert at the Stade de France for the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, said that he worried for athletes’ safety during the show.
French indie rock band Phoenix delivered a rousing rendition of their hit “Lisztomania” surrounded by hundreds of athletes. While Mars is accustomed to live performances, the Olympics’ closing ceremony was a different kind of gig, he told French radio France Inter on Monday morning, due to the overjoyed crowd of athletes who were out of control during the musical act. “We were told that generally at closing ceremonies, the athletes are very happy with the pressure from the Olympics coming down so they let loose,” said Mars. “But there, they got up on screens, they broke the screens,” he said. “In fact, we were afraid for them because we had been told for the last two weeks of rehearsal ‘Above all, don’t get on the screens, it will fall out!’ And there (at the Stade de France) we saw 400 people on a screen,” he said with a laugher. “So we continued playing and we tried to not see what was happening,” he said.
At some point during the performance, the athletes also came on stage in what looked like a rehearsed scene. But Mars said it wasn’t planned. “We’re a little used to people who invade the stage.
As Branco (Laurent Brancowitz, the group’s guitarist) says, ‘It’s a thing that happens.’ But there have been bad situations in the past with people falling through the stage.
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