Taking my life back
Scores of survivors of the attack attended the sold-out concert.
Among them was Aurelien, who had been determined to return to the scene of so much horror.
"It's the first time I've been in a public space for a year. I haven't been to the cinema, to a concert, I get my shopping delivered -- I've always stayed at mine," said the man in his thirties, who did not want to give his full name.
"Tonight I'm taking my life back like it was before. It's a duty, there's an obligation to be here -- because there are 90 people who can't come anymore," he added, visibly moved, his hands trembling.
The Bataclan's co-director said he had prevented two members of the US group Eagles of Death Metal -- who were on stage when the bloodshed started last year -- from entering the Sting concert over controversial remarks by their lead singer Jesse Hughes.
"They came, I threw them out -- there are things you can't forgive," said the venue's co-director Jules Frutos.
However the band's manager Marc Pollack denied members of the group had tried to enter the concert hall at all.
Hughes caused dismay in France earlier this year by suggesting Muslim staff at the Bataclan were involved in the attack.
A rare right-wing rocker and supporter of US president-elect Donald Trump, Hughes will however be present outside the concert hall on Sunday for the unveiling of the plaque to the victims.
The wave of attacks profoundly shook France but Prime Minister Manuel Valls vowed Saturday that "Islamist terrorism" would be defeated once and for all.
"Terrorism will strike us again," he warned. "But we have in ourselves all the resources to resist and all the strength to beat it."
France is part of the international coalition launching air strikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria.
At home, the country remains under a state of emergency, while terrorism and the role of Islam are key themes six months before presidential elections.
