Madonna performs surprise Place de la Republique concert in memory of Paris attack victims

The singer headed to the Place de la Republique memorial site after her sell-out arena show

Madonna has played a surprise, intimate gig in Paris to help “spread a light” in the aftermath of the horrific terror attacks on the French capital.

The singer headed to Place de la Republique following her sold-out show at AccorHotels Arena on Wednesday night, after giving fans a last-minute tip-off on Twitter.

Place de la Republique is where mourners have been gathering to remember the 130 victims of the 13 November atrocity, and Madonna was joined by guitarist Monte Pittman and her 10-year-old son David Banda to perform some “songs for peace”.

“Everyone knows why we’re here,” she told a small group of onlookers. “We just want to sing a few songs about peace, just to spread love and joy and to pay our honour and respect to the people who died almost four weeks ago. And to spread light, we all need it.”

The 57-year-old went on to cover “Imagine” by John Lennon (possibly in a nod to pianist David Martello), alongside her own hits “Ghosttown” and “Like A Prayer”.

She ended the gathering by shedding a tear and saying “peace”. Earlier in the night, Madonna had wrapped herself in the French tricolour (as Bono did during U2’s Paris gigs last weekend) and sung national anthem “La Marseillaise”, encouraging her audience not to “bend down in fear”.

Madonna said at an emotional concert in Stockholm, Sweden soon after the attacks that she believes goodness outweighs evil, before leading her fans in a moment of silence.

“I do believe that as much chaos and pain and senseless violence and terrorism that occurs around this world - not just in Paris - as much as that does occur, there is more goodness in this world,” she said. “We are here to prove it.”