Paris events this week

Where to go in Paris: events, concerts and shows worth your night

Paris packs more stages into its twenty arrondissements than almost any city on earth: over a hundred theatres, two opera houses, concert halls from the Olympia to the Philharmonie, and a club scene that runs from the Grands Boulevards out to the 19th. Below is where to go in Paris when you want more than the sights, with addresses, plus what tends to be on when.

Concerts and live music in Paris: the Olympia, the Philharmonie and the jazz clubs

L’Olympia (28 boulevard des Capucines, 75009, olympiahall.com) is the city’s legendary music hall: red neon letters over the Grands Boulevards, around 2,000 seats, and a stage that has hosted everyone from Piaf to the Beatles. Touring pop and rock acts still play it, along with the big stand-up shows. The Philharmonie de Paris (221 avenue Jean-Jaurès, 75019) in the Parc de la Villette is the home of the Orchestre de Paris and one of the best-sounding halls in Europe, with jazz, world and electronic nights alongside the symphonies. For jazz on a smaller scale, New Morning (7–9 rue des Petites-Écuries, 75010) has run nightly since 1981. Arena-sized tours play the Accor Arena at Bercy.

Paris nightlife: clubs from the Grands Boulevards to the canal

Rex Club (5 boulevard Poissonnière, 75002) is the city’s techno institution, in the basement of the Grand Rex cinema, Thursday to Saturday from around midnight. The bigger, later nights are further out: along the Canal de l’Ourcq in the 19th and in the warehouses of the northern suburbs, where the collectives that shape Paris nightlife run their parties. The Métro stops around 1.15 am on weeknights and 2.15 am on Fridays and Saturdays, so most club nights end with a Noctilien night bus or a bike.

Theatre, opera and ballet in Paris

The Opéra national de Paris (operadeparis.fr) splits its season between the Palais Garnier (place de l’Opéra, 75009), where the Paris Opera Ballet dances beneath the Chagall ceiling, and the modern Opéra Bastille (place de la Bastille, 75012) for the large-scale opera. The season runs from September to July; ballet at Garnier is the ticket that sells out first. Paris theatre is mostly in French, but the Comédie-Française on the Rue de Richelieu and the Théâtre du Châtelet’s musicals and dance are worth it even so, and the city’s cabarets and circus companies need no translation.

Art galleries and museums in Paris for an evening

Palais de Tokyo (13 avenue du Président-Wilson, 75116, palaisdetokyo.com) is Europe’s largest contemporary art space and stays open until midnight, which makes it the obvious late-night gallery: raw concrete halls, big installations, a bar on the terrace facing the Eiffel Tower. Its neighbour, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, is free for its permanent collection. The Centre Pompidou is closed for renovation until 2030, so its collection travels; the Fondation Louis Vuitton (8 avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, Bois de Boulogne) has taken over as the city’s blockbuster exhibition venue. Most museums open late one evening a week, usually Friday.

Paris festivals and events by season

• Spring: the Nuit des Musées in May, when museums open free until late, and the start of the outdoor season in the parks.
• Summer: the Fête de la Musique on 21 June, free concerts on every corner of the city; the Paris Jazz Festival in the Parc Floral; open-air cinema at La Villette in July and August; and Rock en Seine, the big rock festival in the Domaine de Saint-Cloud at the end of August.
• Autumn: Art Basel Paris in the Grand Palais in October, the new opera and theatre season, and Paris Photo in November.
• Winter: Christmas lights on the Champs-Élysées from late November, and the January sales as an excuse for the Grands Boulevards.

Things to do in Paris tonight and this weekend

The listings above are the live version of all this: every concert, show, club night and exhibition on in Paris tonight, tomorrow and this weekend, with times, prices and tickets, updated every hour.