The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris provided plenty of memorable moments, visually and musically. The musical highlights of the festivities were led by Céline Dion, who made a triumphant, emotional comeback by singing Édith Piaf‘s “L’Hymne à l’Amour” from the observation deck atop the Eiffel Tower. It was the Canadian pop icon’s first live performance since being diagnosed with Stiff-Person Syndrome in 2022. Fellow pop superstar Lady Gaga, who just revealed that she is newly engaged to entrepreneur Michael Polansky, was the first live performer during the Opening Ceremony, and got the party started by singing the French classic, “Mon Truc en Plume (My Thing With Feathers),” on a gold staircase while wearing custom Dior.
The most surprising musical performance of the Opening Ceremony was provided by French metal legends and multiple Grammy-nominees, Gojira, who became the first metal act to ever perform at the Olympics. They were joined by opera singer Marina Viotti while playing a reworked version of “Ah! Ça Ira,” a popular song during the French Revolution. The pyrotechnics-filled performance took place atop the Conciergerie, the French prison that once held Marie Antoinette, whose ghostly beheaded image augmented the spellbinding segment.
