Bataclan drummer pens letter to Manchester Arena survivors
A drummer who survived the terror attack on the Bataclan theatre in Paris in 2015 has written a letter to the music fans caught up in the Ariana Grande concert bombing. Julian Dorio sat in on drums with the Eagles of Death Metal when terrorists stormed the Bataclan and killed 89 people in a sick shoot-out, and now he has poured his heart out to the survivors of the Manchester Arena explosion, which took place as Grande fans were exiting the venue (22May17).
Dorio, who performs with The Whigs, begins his letter by writing, “Dear Manchester, I am heartbroken for you. As I watched the news of that terrible night from my home in Nashville, Tenn., 4,000 miles away, my central nervous system responded like a chemical reaction.
“I thought, ‘Not again’. Yet since that awful moment, I’m awed by the testimonies of your courage and intrepid spirit. Reflecting on my own experience in Paris, I know that no words can do justice to what you have endured, or the journey you now traverse to healing and wholeness. I can only offer what has been true for me.”
Dorio goes on to reveal his heart “trembles like it could actually break” but adds, “that’s OK”, urging the Manchester survivors to “Feel it all”.
He adds, “I have learned to be patient with myself and to acknowledge every feeling, sensation and thought as it ebbs and flows. Sometimes I’m flooded with memories – the wave of sound, the gunpowder hitting my nose, the helplessness – but as I worked to resolve the trauma, they’ve receded. The events have become integrated into my ‘story’.
“I increasingly live in the present, free from the tyranny of that horrific day. This wasn’t true in the days and months following the shootings. Initially, it was as if the needle on a record was fixed in a groove so that the same music played over and over. I couldn’t move forward. I was stuck while the world moved on around me.”
The rocker then encourages Grande fans to be kind to themselves, adding, “have mercy on each other”, and “lean on one another”. And he’s all for Grande’s upcoming benefit memorial in Manchester, stating, “I know how difficult attending another concert will be, but as a musician I see no other choice. I commend Ariana Grande and her crew for so boldly recognizing that. As a unified people, the restorative power of song is the ultimate sign of resistance. Life without music is incomplete.”