• Since Tuesday, the esplanade in front of the AccorHotels Arena in Bercy has been called Johnny-Hallyday.

    For the occasion, a tribute concert to the rocker is broadcast on France 2 at 9 p.m.

  • A work of art entitled

    Que je t'aime 

    overlooks the esplanade.

    She does not leave fans of the singer indifferent.

  • They are delighted to have a new place to meet in Paris.

    Since his death, they have gathered on the 9th of each month at the Church of the Madeleine.

    The Johnny-Hallyday esplanade will be “a way to meditate”.

Under the threatening sky, thunderous noises resound. Those of the roaring bass of guitarists and the engine rumbles of bikers. The concert of his two passions: what more beautiful melody to pay homage to Johnny Hallyday? It was on the occasion of the inauguration of the Johnny-Hallyday esplanade on Tuesday, in front of the AccorHotels Arena in Bercy, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, that his family, musicians, bikers and fans, gathered. Yvan Cassar, Yarol Poupaud and Robin Le Mesurier, musicians close to the singer, notably host the concert.

“Paris pays tribute to one of its children,” says Anne Hidalgo.

The mayor of Paris believes that the rock star deserves to see his name inscribed on a plaque because he is “the idol of young people, who became the idol of a generation, before fate made him a legend.

Johnny has stood the test of time, he has become a legend.

"

Overlooked by Johnny's bar, the esplanade is imbued with the memory of the singer and the hundreds of concerts he gave at the Accor Hotels Arena.

A memory materialized by Bertrand Lavier's work entitled

Que je t'aime

 and unveiled during the inauguration.

This sculpture which "freezes the quintessence of what Johnny inspired, music, motorbikes and freedom", according to Laeticia Hallyday, represents a motorbike suspended at the top of a guitar neck.

Mixed reviews of the Johnny tribute sculpture

However, it is not unanimous.

"She's ugly," slips a biker to his group of friends.

Further on, Yasmine, another biker, confirms: “I don't like it at all.

I don't recognize Johnny in it.

Maybe some have a more abstract mind than me so I respect but I thought we were going to see it, that it would be a bust of Johnny.

Another group, in fact, is more understanding.

“The neck of the guitar and the motorbike are still symbolic.

It really looks like him.

Johnny didn't want a statue of him, he never liked it, ”says Nathalie.

The fans, like Yasmine, still agree on one thing: “At least we have him closer to us.

When we love Johnny, we want to have him next to us.

"" It is a way to collect each other, it will allow us to meet with fans, to come and pray, because for three and a half years we have only had the Madeleine ", adds Monique.

The singer's grave is far from Paris, in Saint-Barthélemy.

So, every 9th of the month, fans gather at the Madeleine where a mass is celebrated in his honor.

Anne Hidalgo therefore sees in this esplanade a new place "where all the fans could come and collect themselves, without going to the other side of the Atlantic where Johnny now rests, at the foot of the waves.

“And to satisfy the fans, the music continues this Tuesday evening, with a concert broadcast on France 2 at 9 pm.

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