Anne Hidalgo and Laeticia Hallyday paid tribute to the artist in front of a hundred people

Tuesday morning, the Johnny Hallyday esplanade was inaugurated in the Bercy district in Paris. A sculpture dedicated to the singer was unveiled on this occasion.

Johnny’s last five musicians, including Yarol Poupaud and Yvan Cassar gave a mini-concert before being joined by a hundred bikers.

The day of homage to Johnny Hallyday started Tuesday morning in Paris, between two showers, four years after the singer’s death.
Including the inauguration of the Esplanade Johnny, on the vast forecourt in front of Bercy, with a plaque unveiled in the presence of Laeticia Hallyday, his widow, and Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris.

It is an emotional day for all Johnny Hallyday fans. This Tuesday, September 14, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo and the singer’s widow, Laeticia, inaugurated the Johnny Hallyday esplanade in front of the AccorHotels Arena, where a statue of Taulier now sits. Many bikers were also present to celebrate this day of tribute, which will end with a concert « Johnny Hallyday that I love you », in the Parisian hall in front of nearly 10,000 spectators.

Laeticia Hallyday thanked the singer’s many admirers on site: « Thank you for being here today. I recognize so many faces. It is very moving. The freedom to be, the freedom to live, the freedom to think. In honoring the memory of Johnny, it is this freedom too that we pay tribute to today. « 

“On December 5, Johnny will be watching over us for four years. So that Johnny can finally bring us together around him, his memory, and his music. […] This is the meaning of this ceremony: to anchor forever in the soil of Paris the trace of his stay among us « , she also explained. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, then spoke, highlighting the close relationship that Johnny Hallyday had with the capital: “Between Johnny and Paris, it was a beautiful love story. « Johnny is an artist apart, who has never stopped reinventing himself. It is the idol of young people who has become the idol of a generation, « said the city councilor. She was also the one who read a few words of tribute addressed to her by Laura Smet, the singer’s daughter, who declined to participate in the event.

The sculpture by plastic artist Bertrand Lavier titled Something …, in allusion to the famous hit of « the idol of young people », was unveiled on Tuesday, September 14 in heavy rain, on the Johnny Hallyday esplanade inaugurated just opposite of the AccorHotel Arena in Bercy (Paris 12th arrondissement). It is a work of 6 meters high dedicated to Johnny Hallyday. The sculpture represents a pole in the shape of a guitar neck, with a Harley Davidson at the top that belonged to Johnny.

Overlooked by the Johnny’s bar, the esplanade bears the remembrance of the singer and the hundreds of concerts he gave at the Accor Hotels Arena.

« It is a very strong emotional charge to reach the end of this dream to create a place of contemplation anchored in Paris for the fans who cannot make it to Saint-Barth, » said Laeticia. « 

Line Renaud thanked the Paris City Hall on Twitter for the inauguration of this esplanade « located where you have triumphed so much ». « For me, Johnny, you never left. You are always in my heart, you are there. […] I see you, I imagine you on stage. You were a giant, ”said the actress.

Laeticia Hallyday, invited many artists, including Florent Pagny, Calogero, Julien Doré, Patrick Bruel, Catherine Ringer, Louis Bertignac, Gaëtan Roussel and Patrick Fiori, who will resume hits from the « taulier », to end the day of homage to Jonny.

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