Our man Jules has sent us a preview and review of gay parties and events in Paris in June and July including Paris Gay Pride at the end of June. Click the headline for news on that and Scream Parties, After Rouge, Sex & Sound, Le Depot, La Demence, We Are Revolution Paris and Solidays 2012.
If you click on the link below you can see a short clip from Paris Circuit Party reminding you of the main events for this excellent long weekend (i've already booked the Monday off to be able to go to Supermarxte @ le 1515 on the Sunday 1st July and Matinale @ Crystal Lounge on the Monday morning.
http://www.pariscircuitparty.com/ENG/
The full lineup is of course available on the above website. Complete articles on the Circuit Party and on the Gay Pride March are available (in French) at the following site:
http://www.calameo.com/read/0013466209efe68a9135d
In summary the Gay Pride March, of which this years theme is "2012, L'Egalite N'Attends Plus" (a reference to the incoming governent's pledge to extend full marriage and adoption rights to gay couples within 12 months) starts at 14:00 from Montparnasse (Metro Montparnasse) and ends at around 17:00 at la Place de la Bastille (Metro Bastille). A full podium with dance music from top DJ's and speeches by leading political and gay rights leaders is provided at la Place de la Bastille (in stark contrast with the first gay pride march in Paris that I took part in in 2009 where, as above, the march ended at Bastille but where there was no podium, nothing at all except the CRS riot police engaged in pitched battles with gangs from the banlieus that had decided to take up residency on the steps of the Bastille opera house! I recommend the march as the floats are outrageous and the route takes gives you the chance to get a good look at a stunningly beautiful city without any cars on the route except for the floats of course. On a beautiful day it is event better.
The Circuit Festival party and DJ lineup is as follows
- 2012.06.28 (Jeudi / Thursday) - HUNKUT OPENING PARTY
00h00 - 06h00 @ La Scène Bastille
DJ ELIAS
MARC ROBEN
DJ BENJAMIN
- 2012.06.29 (Vendredi / Friday) - RAPIDO WORLD TOUR
00h00 - 07h00 @ RedLight
GIANGI CAPPAI
FABIO WHITE
XAVIER SEULMAND
- 2012.06.30 (Samedi / Saturday ) - GAYPRIDE TIME
16h00 - 21h00 @ Paris PLACE DE LA BASTILLE (The Podium at the terminus of the Pride March)
- 2012.06.30 (Samedi / Satuday) - OFFICIAL WEEKENDS MAJOR PARTY
23h30 - 07h00 @ Grande Arche de la Défense (pic) / Espace Eiffel
Live Show KAZAKY
DJ ABEL
JUANJO MARTIN
SEBASTIEN TRIUMPH
- 2012.07.01 (Dimanche / Sunday) - OFFICIAL UNDER AFTER PARTY
06h00 - 12h00 @ Grande Arche de la Défense / Espace Haussman
JOHN DIXON
DJ DARKO
- 2012.07.01 (Dimanche / Sunday) - QUE FUERTE SUNDAY FANTASIA
16h00 - 22h00 @ Quai de Bercy. This is an open air location on the banks of the Seine.
ROMANO B
AUREL DEVIL
MICHAEL MARX
- 2012.07.01 (Dimanche / Sunday) - SUPERMARTXE WORLD TOUR
00h00 - 06h00 @ 1515 A smart venue just of the Champs Elysees
HUGO SANCHEZ
STEVEN REDANT
SEBASTIEN TRIUMPH
- 2012.07.02 (Lundi / Monday) - MATINAL AFTER PARTY
06h00 - 12h00 @ Crystal Lounge
MANUE G
RAF FENDER
2/ HOUSE OF PRIDE @ Scream Party: Midday to Midnight 2012.6.30
Not wanting to be outdone by Paris Circuit Party Scream is also organising a major 12 hour clubbing fest on the Saturday night of gay pride weekend, Saturday 30th June 2012.
The DJ lineup includes PAGANO, JJ LOUIS as well as the Scream residents.
Details of this party are below. This is the 2nd major 12 hour house music fest organised by Scream, the last one on New Years Eve was apparently a big success even if there were some teething problems with the coat check (at one point they ran out of coat hangers and were forced to start using black bags). Fortunately there have since been major investments in the coat check department!
http://www.scream-paris.com/#!HOUSE OF PRIDE|c163e
Meanwhile Scream host a number of other great events including the Labs parties and Sunday AM After Rouge parties at the Theatre Rouge at Place Pigalle. Read on for more details on these and more.
3/ LABS PUNK @ SCREAM PARTY
LAB's Punk !!, the 8th edition in a series of excellent House, Tech House, Progressive & Techno parties, has just taken place at Scream. This is one of the biggest new parties of late. As with all the of the Lab's parties so far the music and crowd at last Saturday's party didn't disappoint. The venue was even kitted out with Union Jacks with the words God Save the Queen written across so rest assured our Queen and our flag is a major fashion item the world over especially in Paris! Ben Manson knows how to get the floor bouncing and has had some excellent guests such as Chris Bekker and last night our very own Tom Stephan.
If you haven't yet heard Ben Manson play at Labs, Paris (he has hosted Scream events in Paris and internationally for a number of years) you may have heard him at La Demence, where he regularly hosts the After set on the upstairs Dance floor from 7am to 1pm or later, at Greenkomm where has a residency or even on La Demence cruise last year if you were lucky enough to be on board!
See details of all Scream's forthcoming parties including Labs on their website http://www.scream-paris.com/ or on http://www.europartyboys.com/en/home.php (the Euro Party Boys site is probably more up to date) and listen to one of Ben Manson's latest podcasts here http://benmanson.podomatic.com/entry/2012-06-06T03_35_12-07_00.
4/ AFTER ROUGE going from strength to strength - "Are you ready for the Red Experience?"
So whereas Orange was born in a pub named Prince of Orange, Paris' best weekly Sunday Morning After Party fixture, AFTER ROUGE (or After Red if you want the translation) was born in a theatre called Theatre Rouge. The parties run from 6 am to Midday every Sunday and last Sunday's edition following on from the LAB's party, was a stunner. The venue is totally unassuming from the outside as the Theatre is in one of the slightly more seedier districts of Paris (yes la Place Pigalle is famous for seedy sex venues and hookers) however once you are inside you are struck by a beautiful, classy venue oozing with history. In all the ambiance is perfect for the Sunday morning After Party - in a historic venue nicely refurbished with the benefit of a top notch sound system. One of the things that you notice when going out in Paris is just how much the Parisians like to party. The crowd at AFTER ROUGE, similarly to that at After MATINALE or UNDER, is slick and sophisticated and knows how rock and roll. Everyone is up for it. If you have been to Scream Party before a free shuttle bus is provided to whisk you to the After Rouge. To get there early you are advise to exit Scream no later than 6.30 am to avoid queues at the coat check when leaving Scream and when arriving at Rouge. There are several departures and even if you miss the last one there are plenty of taxis available at that time of the morning or you can get the Metro which starts at 5 am. Raf Fender hosted yesterday's party and other famous DJ's to host Rouge recently include Ben Manson and Pagano. Here is a Ben Manson's latest set at Rouge : http://benmanson.podomatic.com/entry/2012-05-21T05_44_00-07_00
Finally a huge thx, hugs and kisses to Ludo of Scream and Jean-Claude and Arnaud of Raidd Bar who originally had the guts to give Parisian clubbers and visitors what was so seriously lacking in Paris - a regular weekly top notch main party and After party at the same venue and with the same standard of international and French house and techno music EVERY Saturday. Once upon a time, whilst Paris has always had great parties, there was no consistency between weekends with say 2 major clubbing events and 2 after events one weekend and the following weekend, nothing.
5/ SEX & SOUND @ Exciting Club (or Le Rexy to you & me) : New weekly Friday Night Men only dance and sex fest:
Last Friday saw the first edition of brand new sex and dance event SEX & SOUND. The billing advised that the event was to take place in a new venue - The Exciting Club !!!, however I immediately recognised the address as being, coincidentally, the same as the long established nightclub Le Rexy. When I arrived I noticed that the name of the so called new venue was draped across the Rexy branding inside and outside the club so maybe this is just a bit of a marketing gimmick. However the music and and the night as a whole was splendid, as is to be expected from the 3 top notch resident DJ's below. If some investment could be made in Le Rexy's (sorry Exciting Club's) sound system then the night could be even better still.
Antaum B : http://soundcloud.com/antaumb/antaum-b-code69-21-04-2012
Marc Roben: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KZCP4eT-fM
DJ Worx http://soundcloud.com/djworx/djworx-cybern-tic-part-1
Drinks prices are very reasonable for Paris with beers at 5 EUR and spirits including double Vodka Red Bull at 7 EUR. Entry at 10 EUR includes a drink (a beer or spirits).
Once you have had a chance to unwind a bit on the dance floor after a hard week's work (or not as the case may be) you can head down to the Sex Floor where last Friday there was loads of action with tons of sexy guys.
Personally this is I reckon exactly what Friday nights need in Paris - there is now a decent clubbing and sex event on a Friday. The event takes place every Friday night at Le Rexy Club, 9 rue de la Grande Truanderie, 75001 Paris Metro Etienne Marcel Line 4 or a short walk from Metro Chatelet / RER Chatelet Les Halles. Le Rexy also hosts gay friendly after parties from Thursday to Monday mornings from 6 am to Midday : http://rexy-club.com/main
6/ LE DEPOT - BEURNING - New weekly Friday night event 11.30 pm - 9 am ish.
Sex & Sound is open until 6 am however as things tend to wind down a bit from 5 am you may want to head (literally) just across the road to LE DEPOT the infamous and still going more or less as strong as ever Parisian disco, backroom, and sex institution - http://www.ledepot-paris.fr/index_site.php
Le Depot is open 7 nights a week typically til 8 am weekdays and 9 am or later at weekends. Typically Friday nights at LE DEPOT are busier than Saturday nights, though this may have changed a little now that the RnB Beur night Total Beur has shifted from Friday to Saturday nights to be replaced with Beurning see the flyer above. UK DJ's often play at Beurning including recently Jeffry Hinton.
7/ LA DEMENCE BLACK Friday 22nd June 2012 22:00 to Saturday 23rd June Midday
The DJ lineup for the next edition of La Demence - BLACK - which includes Paul Heron, is as follows:
line up - Dancefloor 1
22h00 – 00h30 I Andrei Stan [RO]
00h30 – 03h00 I Phil Romano. [IT]
03h00 – 05h30 I Paul Heron [UK]
05h30 – 08h00 I John Doe [DE]
line up - Dancefloor 2
00h00 – 03h30 I Dikky Vendetta [NL]
03h30 – 07h00 I Elias [ES]
07h00 – 11h30 I Steven Redant [ES]
I will be there for sure.
8/ "WE ARE REVOLUTION PARIS" SATURDAY 14th JULY 2012 (Breaking News, Party Just Annouced):
So what perfect timing just as the latest edition of Paris news goes to press we get details of a mega WE party fest due to hit Paris by storm next month and quite possibly cause a revolution!
July 14th in France as you may know is the storming of the Bastille day or "La Fete Nationale" so this party has clearly been announced to coincide with this. The Olympia Bruno Coquatrix is a major concert venue in Paris so this is clearly going to be quite an event.
Here is a video from the organisers Spirit of Star, who have been organising some of the best parties in Paris for yonks. Tickets are supposed to be on sale from Friday 15th June.
http://www.spiritofstar.com/intro.php
9 / SOLIDAYS 2012 "Embrassez vos envies" - Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th June 2012 - 80 Concerts for the fight against AIDS:
Better late than never here is a preview of this months 14th (!) edition of HIV AIDS fundraising event SOLIDAYS!
The weekend of the 22nd to the 24th June 2012 sees the 14th edition of SOLIDAYS at Paris Hippodrome de Longchamp racecourse which is an annual music festival to raise money for HIV Aids charities.
The 13th edition in 2011 attracted 155,000 festival goers and raised 1,6 M EUR for HIV aids charities. The record however was the 2010 edition which attracted 168,000 visitors and raised 1,8 M EUROS.
Solidays is music festival consisting of over 80 concerts from French and international artists to raise funds for the combat against HIV and AIDS. The main backer is "Solidarite SIDA" - http://www.solidarite-sida.org/ and support also comes from the taxpayer via local government (region Ile de France, Mairie de Paris and departement des Hauts de Seine). The event goes on up for three days generally from the Friday afternoon to the Sunday evening. Concerts continue until the small hours hence the availability of "Night" and "Day" tickets. Receipts of the festival are donated to organizations fighting against AIDS, to prevention programs and emergency aid to the sick, some specifically created for Africa, a continent with the largest number of patients. The artists involved in Solidays perform for free or for a reduced fee.
This June's festival, "Embrassez vos envies" takes place from Friday 22nd June to Sunday 24th June 2012. The concert line up is as follows:
Friday 22nd : Bénabar, Orelsan, Selah Sue, The Kills, Ayo en acoustique, Birdy Nam Nam, Le Peuple de l'Herbe, Metronomy, Miles Kane, La Grande Sophie, Didier Wampas,Sinsemilia, Ben Howard, Andréa, Blitz The Ambassador, Cheyenne Doll, Concrete Knives, Don Rimini, Huoratron, Nadéah, We are the 90's, Wine
Saturday 23rd : Shaka Ponk, Zebda, Izïa, Dirtyphonics, Danakil, Debout sur le Zinc, Frànçois and The Atlas Mountains, Rover, Skip The Use, The Bloody Beetroots DJ set,Tinariwen, Youssoupha, Anthony Joseph & the Spasm Band, Biga Ranx, Christine, Fuel Fandango, Delta Heavy, Jon Malkin, Kavinsky, Lord Zeljko, New Politics, Netsky,Radio Nova Soundclash, Shantel, Success, Triggerfinger, Twin Twin, Vincha, We are Evergreen
Sunday 24th : Charlie Winston, Garbage, Amadou & Mariam, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Brigitte, Arthur H, 1995, General Elektriks, Irma, JoeyStarr, New Politics, Airnadette, Beat Assailant, Bernhoft, Crane Angels, Hyphen Hyphen, Loud Cloud
You can see more on the festival on their website (French only) http://www.solidays.org/
Tickets are available for 3, 2 & 1 days. The 3 and 2 days packages appear to be sold out :-( (ok next year I'll get organised and give you more notice :-) however there are still day and night tickets available at 39 & 25 EURO respectively. You can buy tickets from the "billeterie" of the official website : http://www.solidays.org/billetterie/
You may also be able to pick up tickets (even the 2 and 3 day tickets) from "unofficial" sources outside the event based on past experience.
To access SOLIDAYS : Metro Line 10 Boulogne or Jean Jaures
RER / Metro Porte Maillot (from which shuttle buses are also available).
Here is a little preview of the action. Hope the weather is "au rendez-vous" (it was last year)!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xp8n71_solidays-2012-c-est-parti_music?ralg=behavior-meta2#from=embed-playreloff-4
Hope you enjoy the parties!!
Jules
