La Machine du Moulin Rouge

Montmartre - 18eme, Paris – Partiers looking for an all-night blowout could head to the infamous Moulin Rouge and pay upwards of €80 – or just stop next door at sister club La Machine, where they’ll get all the thrills at half the price.

With space for eight hundred revelers, the venue plays host to some of Paris’ swankiest parties and hottest bands, not to mention the high-energy DJ sets and dancing till dawn.

The fun starts in the late afternoon when chilled-out work colleagues gather at the terrace bar for a few glasses of wine, and then continues once the sun goes down and the long line of hipsters amped for the night’s gig snakes into the concert room.

An L-shaped bar is usually swarming with loud girlfriend groups sipping cocktails and flirting with the rocker boys, as post-grads toss back shots at funky transparent tables inlaid with plants.

Live music from the likes of These New Puritans and WhoMadeWho blasts over the crowd from the historical Central Room’s huge raised stage – once graced by The Beatles and The Kinks – as the dance floor explodes with enthusiastic students getting down and going crazy, while a long mezzanine with more seating and a bar offers space for music lovers to exchange opinions about the performers.

La Chaufferie – once the Moulin Rouge’s boiler room and still decked out in stainless steel and original piping – is home to the main dance floor, whose winding black-and-white checked pathway, green floor, and giant mushrooms might make patrons wonder if they’ve fallen down a rabbit hole into an industrialized Wonderland.

Packed to the rafters with a fun-loving dance crowd, La Machine is a not-to-be-missed experience for those who want a little taste of the Moulin Rouge without all the wallet-busting high kicks.    ← read less