Phoenix’ Thomas Mars Worried for Athletes Swarming Stage

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. There, everything went well anyway, but we just had sweaty hands!” he said.

Brancowitz, who was also interviewed by France Inter, said Phoenix was given “carte blanche” for their live show. “The only thing we were asked was to ‘make the concert for the athletes, because they’re the heroes.’ But we didn’t imagine they would be a meter away,” he said, adding that it was a “magnificent experience.”

Phoenix was joined on stage by artists including Air and DJ Kavinsky that are also part of the so-called French Touch, a music wave which kicked off in the mid-1990s and blended electro, dance, jazz and rock beats.

Kavinsky and Belgian singer Angèle played “Nightcall,” the breakout song from Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive,” while Air played “Playground Love” with Phoenix. The song was featured in “The Virgin Suicides,” directed by Sofia Coppola, who happens to be Mars’ wife.  

The ceremony, which was orchestrated by artistic director Thomas Jolly, culminated with the handover to LA2028 Games. The segment, produced by the L.A. Games organizers, saw Grammy-award winning superstar H.E.R. sang the U.S. National Anthem with gusto and Tom Cruise jumping off roof of the stadium to take the Olympic flag from the hands of Team USA champion Simone Biles and L.A. mayor Karen Bass. The performances of Billie Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dog, meanwhile, were all pre-taped in Long Beach.