“Historic for Gojira and metal”: Why the Olympics played an unlikely host for some of the biggest guitar moments of the year

(Image credit: Jeff Hahne/Getty Images)

2024 Year in Review: As if witnessing Gojira’s extreme-metal take on French revolution anthem Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira) at the Olympics with opera singer Marina Viotti wasn’t extraordinary enough, eagle-eyed fans were quick to spot something peculiar in singer/guitarist Joe Duplantier’s hands.

Instead of his signature T-style San Dimas Charvel, it was a custom chrome-bodied, reverse-headstock ESP XJ-1 fitted with a single bridge pickup, presumably his DiMarzio Fortitude humbucker, as well as an Evertune bridge.

The official announcement of his endorsement came a few weeks later, with ESP Artist Relations Director Tony Rauser hailing the performance as “historic for Gojira and metal,” noting how the inclusion of an ESP guitar at the world’s foremost sports competition, an event watched by billions, was something that felt “truly wild.”

Other Olympics news included a cloaked figure shredding on a vintage Veleno aluminum electric, later revealed to be Noé Efira, an associate of the French band Phoenix, and H.E.R. performing the national anthem on a white Strat custom-built by Fender luthier Brian Thrasher, who had previously overseen one-off Starcasters for Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge.