It was a concert like no other.
Roads closed around the Bataclan and armed police stood guard outside as the venue opened its doors to the public for the first time since the attacks which left 90 people dead almost exactly a year ago.
There was a nervous anticipation from the waiting crowd, many of whom were friends and family of people who died, or witnesses to the atrocities that took place in that very room.
The completely renovated theatre bore no scars from 13 November last year but the audience told a different story.
Friends were in tears outside and groups raised a glass "au Bataclan" while waiting for Sting to take to the stage.
It didn't take long for the Bataclan to become itself once again.
As Sting walked onto stage, speaking in French, he told the crowd: "Tonight we have two tasks: firstly to remember and honour those who lost their lives in the attacks a year ago, and to celebrate music and life, like this historic music venue represents."
And, after the most silent of minutes one could imagine, he said: "we will not forget them".
It was a carefully chosen set list with lyrics which took on a new poignancy.
Singing in the chorus to his to his opening song How Fragile We Are and, later, during Driven To Tears he sang: "Seems that when some innocents die, all we can offer them is a page in some magazine".
As the end of the concert approached it would be easy to mistake it for any other concert.
The audience was euphoric.
However, the row of uniformed first responders standing at the back was a constant reminder of the significance of the night.
Sting dedicated his last song, Empty Chair to James Foley, an American journalist who was captured and killed in Syria by Islamic State, and to all the families who "lost someone close".
The emotion in the room was real.
"Vive le Bataclan" was his final word, prompting applause that lasted long after he had left the stage.
For all the renovation, and reinvention, the Bataclan will never shed its history but tonight, once again, it was an entertainment venue - not a tomb.
It was filled with music not gunfire.
Filled with hope and love and life.
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