Events in Paris

Paris's electronic music scene was established at Rex Club, housed in the Grand Rex building on Boulevard Poissonnière - a complex that opened as an art-deco cinema in 1932. Electronic music began there in 1988; DJ and producer Laurent Garnier ran his landmark Wake Up! parties at Rex from 1992 to 1995, widely credited with founding Paris's dance music scene. Rex Club holds 800 and programmes exclusively electronic music - techno and house - across its basement space. Rex Club ranked 41st in DJ Mag's Top 100 Clubs in 2022.

Jazz has centuries of history in Paris. Le Caveau de la Huchette, in a 16th-century cellar at 5 Rue de la Huchette in the Latin Quarter, has operated as a jazz club since 1946 - its regulars included Sidney Bechet, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Art Blakey. New Morning, founded in April 1981 in the 10th arrondissement with 500-seat capacity, has hosted major American jazz and world music acts since its opening. Dozens of smaller jazz clubs, particularly in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Montmartre, sustain the city's jazz tradition year-round.

For large concerts, the Olympia - inaugurated on 12 April 1893, making it Paris's oldest active music hall - seats 1,985 and holds 2,824 for standing configurations. Édith Piaf, Billie Holiday, The Beatles (1964), and The Rolling Stones have all performed there. The Olympia was demolished in spring 1997 and rebuilt identically in seven months to preserve its original acoustic character. Hip hop, afrobeats, and urban music are active scenes, particularly in Paris's outer arrondissements, with dedicated nights across the city.