Watch: GOJIRA Performs At 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

French progressive metallers GOJIRA performed at today's (Friday, July 26) Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony, making them the first metal band to ever play at the Olympic Games.

GOJIRA's morbid production paid bloody tribute to a historically famous dead lady, Marie Antoinette. Vulture described the performance, a collaboration with opera singer Marina Viotti, as "a full musical, metal–opera–Cameron Mackintosh mash-up tribute to … the guillotine," featuring "decapitated faces painted clown-white [singing] the French revolutionary song 'Ça ira'" during the "Liberté" portion of the ceremony.

GOJIRA's version of "Ça ira" was reworked alongside French composer and producer Victor le Masne, according to The New York Times.

In a phone interview, GOJIRA vocalist-guitarist Joseph Duplantier told The New York Times of the song choice, "It was a very bloody era of French history, so it was very metal," adding, "The song's going to be in your face."

According to the biography on her web site, Marina has previously "experimented with jazz, gospel and heavy metal".

Video and photos of GOJIRA's performance can be found below.

Also performing at the ceremony were Céline Dion, Lady Gaga and Aya Nakamura.

"The opening ceremony is orchestrated by renowned stage director Thomas Jolly," Time Out reports, "who has invited a stellar cast of local and international stars to celebrate the rich history and diversity of French musical culture."

GOJIRA is considered a standard-bearer for French rock and bringing French rock to an international audience. Metal Hammer declared GOJIRA "metal's most important band" in 2016.

GOJIRA has been nominated for a Grammy Award three times — twice in 2017, for "Best Metal Performance" and "Best Rock Album" ("Magma") and once in 2022 for "Best Metal Performance".

GOJIRA's latest album, "Fortitude", entered Billboard's Top Albums chart at No. 1 in May 2021, while also claiming the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top Current Albums, Current Rock Albums and Current Hard Music Albums tallies. The release also marked a career high debut on the Billboard 200 for GOJIRA, arriving at No. 12, with several career high chart positions and Top 10 debuts in countries around the globe including: France (No. 2),United Kingdom (No. 6),Australia (No. 3),Germany (No. 8),Belgium (No. 2),Netherlands (No. 4),Denmark (No. 3),Portugal (No. 4),Finland (No. 2) and Norway (No. 10).

Furthermore, GOJIRA concluded a month-long fundraising initiative in support of the indigenous-owned NGO The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) who advocate for environmental and cultural rights of indigenous tribes in the Amazon. Working with the social good-focused digital platform Propeller, the charitable campaign raised over $300,000 through an auction and raffle of one-of-a-kind items from the band and their friends in METALLICA, TOOL, SLIPKNOT, SLAYER, Slash and more. All proceeds were donated to APIB to support their work aiding the indigenous tribes of the Amazon who have suffered immensely — victims of deforestation, land loss, forced labor, violence, and harassment.

Recorded and produced by Joseph Duplantier at Silver Cord Studio — GOJIRA's Ridgewood, Queens, New York headquarters — and mixed by Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE),"Fortitude" is GOJIRA's first album in five years and the follow-up to 2016's Grammy-nominated LP "Magma". A collection of songs urging humanity to imagine a new world and then make it happen, "Fortitude" has been earning widespread critical praise with Rolling Stone naming it one of their best albums of April 2021 and remarking "It's all the rage of death metal mixed with the conscience of punk rock and the musicality of progressive rock." NPR hailed "Another World" as "an apocalyptic banger," and Paste called "Into The Storm" a "much-needed revolutionary anthem." Stereogum declared, "hearing this band operating at their peak is a life-affirming thing," while Revolver attested "Fortitude" "could spark a revolution."