Music Venues in Paris

The City of Light might as well be called the City of Music considering how many great Paris music venues there are.

This glorious, international, and resoundingly cosmopolitan city has it all when it comes to live music, from smoky underground jazz clubs to massive complexes and everything in-between. The Stade de France national stadium is one such massive complex, with room for up to 80,000 fans to go crazy as the biggest bands of the day take to the stage.

Not quite so large but bursting with history is the Olympia music hall, which has been playing host to all manner of live music since the late 1800s. Sports arena Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy also frequently doubles as a music venue, and another multitasking major player is Le Grand Rex, which is a combination music venue, cinema, and theater with room for almost 3,000.

But if more intimate music venues are your thing, you can start with the smaller – but by no means small – music halls like Le Bataclan, La Fleche d'Or, Le Showcase, and La Cigalle, which collectively might play host to reggae one night, hip-hop the next, then maybe some R&B, rock, folk, you name it! Add to this entire wonderful mélange a massive assortment of jazz and blues haunts and your music venue calendar should be packed in no time.

Finally, when looking for music venues in Paris one should never forget the crazy vibrant DJ scene, especially at popular dance clubs like Le Nouveau Casino, or the prominence of cabaret theaters that throw in lots of live music in-between the boobies. Merci Paris. Merci.