The Zénith de Paris is a concert hall in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, located in the Parc de la Villette

Parc de la Villette

The Parc de la Villette is a park in Paris at the outer edge of the 19th arrondissement, bordering the Boulevard Périphérique, which is a ring road around Paris, and the suburban department of Seine-Saint-Denis.-History:...

 in the 19th arrondissement on the edge of the Canal de l'Ourcq

Canal de l'Ourcq

The Canal de l'Ourcq is a 108.1 km long canal of the Paris Basin with 10 locks. It was built at a width of 3.2 m but was enlarged to 3.7 m , which permitted use by more pleasure boats...

. Its ability to seat approximately 6,300 people makes it one of the largest venues in Paris. The closest métro and RER stations are Porte de la Villette

Porte de la Villette (Paris Metro)

Porte de la Villette is a station of the Paris Métro. The origin of the commune of the Villette was a Gallo-Roman village, which grew up on the Roman road that led to east Flanders. About 1198, it became Ville Neuve Saint-Ladre and by 1426 it was called Villette-Saint-Miser-lez-Paris. The commune...

, Porte de Pantin

Porte de Pantin (Paris Metro)

Porte de Pantin is a station of the Paris Métro, serving Line 5.The name refers to the av. de la Porte de Pantin, on the edge of Paris leading to the town of Pantin.-Gallery:...

, and Pantin

Pantin (Paris RER)

Pantin is a train station in the French commune of Pantin . It is situated on the Paris–Mulhouse railway.-Services:...

.

History

The Zénith de Paris was built in 1983 to replace the Hippodrome de Pantin

Hippodrome de Pantin

Hippodrome de Pantin was a permanent circus-style tent venue located in the Parc de la Villette near the Porte de Pantin Métro stop in north-eastern Paris. It was constructed in 1974 as the Paris home of the Jean Richard Circus, and in that period, was known as the Nouvel Hippodrome de Paris. ...

, a circus big-top which had become the main venue for touring rock bands visiting Paris (after the closing of the Pavillon de Paris

Pavillon de Paris

The Pavillon de Paris was a large concert space in Paris, France, located near the Porte de Pantin Métro stop, on the northern edge of the city. With a seated capacity of approximately 10,000 spectators, the Pavillon was the city's largest indoor music arena throughout its brief operating history...

). The Zénith was built on the same location as the old circus tent, and was designed by architects Philippe Chaix and Jean-Paul Morel on the initiative of Minister of Culture Jack Lang

Jack Lang (French politician)

Jack Mathieu Émile Lang is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party, he served as France's Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986 and 1988 to 1992, and as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002. He was also the Mayor of Blois from 1989 to 2000...

. It was inaugurated by Renaud

Renaud

Renaud, born Renaud Séchan, is a French singer, songwriter and actor.Renaud may also refer to:* Renaud , a male French given name* Renaud , a 1783 opera by Antonio Sacchini* Renaud, Quebec, part of Laval, Quebec...

 at the start of 1984.
Reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...

, this hall was intended to be used for a fixed term of three years after which it was to be dismantled and replaced by a new hall nearby. However, instead, its success gave birth to new halls throughout France, in Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

, Montpellier

Montpellier

-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....

, Nantes

Nantes

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

, Clermont-Ferrand

Clermont-Ferrand

Clermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme department...

, Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

, Dijon

Dijon

Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....

, Pau, Toulon

Toulon

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

, Saint-Etienne

Saint-Étienne

Saint-Étienne is a city in eastern central France. It is located in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes region, along the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon...

, Caen

Caen

Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....

, Orleans

Orléans

-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...

, Nancy, Amiens

Amiens

Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...

, Lille

Lille

Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

 and Limoges

Limoges

Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....

. These halls are also named "Zénith", which is a trademark registered by COKER and the Ministry of Culture.

Artists who have recorded there

Most of the great names of French pop music have recorded concerts at the Zenith: for example, Jenifer

Jenifer Bartoli

Jenifer Yaël Dadouche-Bartoli , better known as simply Jenifer, is a pop singer who has, since 2002, had a number of hit singles in the French, Belgium and Swiss charts...

, Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...

, Véronique Sanson

Véronique Sanson

Véronique Sanson is a two-time Victoires de la Musique Award-winning French singer-songwriter, musician, and producer with an avid following in her native country.She brings a very personal vocal style to the singing of French pop songs: Her voice has a very strong vibrato.Unlike...

, Cindy Lauper, Renaud

Renaud

Renaud, born Renaud Séchan, is a French singer, songwriter and actor.Renaud may also refer to:* Renaud , a male French given name* Renaud , a 1783 opera by Antonio Sacchini* Renaud, Quebec, part of Laval, Quebec...

, Les Enfoirés

Les Enfoirés

Les Enfoirés , is the name given to the singers and performers in the yearly charity concert for the Restaurants du Cœur .-History:...

, Jean-Jacques Goldman

Jean-Jacques Goldman

Jean-Jacques Goldman is a Grammy Awards-winning French singer-songwriter. He is hugely popular in the French-speaking world, and since 2003 was the second-highest-grossing French living pop singer, after Johnny Hallyday.- Biography :...

, Vanessa Paradis

Vanessa Paradis

Vanessa Chantal Paradis is a French singer, model and actress. She became a child star at 14 with the worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi"...

, Michel Berger

Michel Berger

Michel Berger , born Michel Jean Hamburger, was a very successful French singer and songwriter. He was a central figure of France's pop music scene for two decades both as a singer and as a songwriter for well-known French artists like his wife France Gall, Françoise Hardy and Johnny Hallyday...

, Bernard Lavilliers

Bernard Lavilliers

Bernard Lavilliers is a French singer.He was born Bernard Oulion in Saint-Étienne, Loire.The band Fatals Picards wrote a song Bernard Lavilliers, satirizing Lavilliers' image as a former adventurer.-Discography:...

, Johnny Hallyday

Johnny Hallyday

Johnny Hallyday is a French singer and actor. An icon in the French-speaking world since the beginning of his career, he was considered by some to have been the French Elvis Presley. He was married for 15 years to one of the most popular French female singers: Sylvie Vartan...

, Lara Fabian

Lara Fabian

Lara Fabian is a Belgian-Italian international singer who also holds Canadian citizenship. Multilingual, she sings in French, Italian and English....

, Dorothée

Dorothée

Dorothée , the stage name of Frédérique Hoschedé, is a French singer and TV presenter.- Biography :1. Her childhood :...

, Claude Nougaro

Claude Nougaro

Claude Nougaro was a French songwriter and singer.Claude Nougaro was born in Toulouse to a respected French opera singer, Pierre Nougaro, and an Italian piano teacher, Liette Tellini. He was raised by his grandparents in Toulouse where he heard Glenn Miller, Édith Piaf and Louis Armstrong on the...

, Hubert-Felix Thiéfaine

Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine

Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine is a French pop-rock singer and songwriter, born 21 July 1948 in the town of Dole in the Jura département.Mostly shunned by television and radio, he has built over the years – through word of mouth and frequent touring – a considerable following which allowed him to fill the...

, France Gall

France Gall

France Gall is a popular French yé-yé singer.Gall was married to, and had a successful singing career in partnership with, French singer-songwriter Michel Berger....

, Sheila

Sheila (singer)

Sheila is a French pop singer, who became successful as a solo artist in the 1960s and 1970s and later fronted a disco act called Sheila and B. Devotion. Sheila has sold over 24,000,000 copies of records in France and was the top selling artist in France in the 1960s and 1970s...

, Michel Sardou

Michel Sardou

Michel Sardou is a French singer.He was born in Paris, the son of Fernand Sardou and Jackie Rollin . Contrary to claims common towards the beginning of his career, he is not the grandson of the dramatist Victorien Sardou...

, Eddy Mitchell

Eddy Mitchell

Eddy Mitchell is a French singer and actor. He began his career in the late 1950s, with the group Les Chaussettes Noires , taking his name from the American expatriate tough-guy actor Eddie Constantine...

, Étienne Daho

Étienne Daho

Étienne Daho is a French singer, songwriter and record producer who has released a number of synth-driven and rock-surf influenced pop hit singles since 1981.- Career :...

, Patricia Kaas

Patricia Kaas

Patricia Kaas is a French singer and actress.Kaas is a very successful French-speaking singer, with an International following...

, Kassav'

Kassav'

Kassav' is a Francophone zouk band formed in Paris in 1979. The core members of the band are Jocelyne Béroard, Jacob Desvarieux, Jean-Philippe Marthély, Patrick St. Eloi, Jean-Claude Naimro, Claude Vamur and Georges Décimus...

, Michel Jonasz

Michel Jonasz

Michel Jonasz is a French composer-songwriter, singer and actor. His compositions include: La boîte de jazz, Joueurs de blues and Les vacances au bord de la mer....

, Tri Yann

Tri Yann

Tri Yann is a French band from Nantes , who play folk rock music drawing on traditional Breton folk ballads.The band was founded in 1970 by Jean Chocun, Jean-Paul Corbineau and Jean-Louis Jossic – all of whom remain members – hence the suggested name of Tri Yann an Naoned , Jean and Yann being...

, Zazie

Zazie

Zazie is a French singer and songwriter. Zazie co-produces all her albums.-Early life:...

, Khaled

Khaled (musician)

Khaled Hadj Ibrahim , better known as Khaled, is a raï singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Sidi El Houari in Oran Province of Algeria...

, Faudel

Faudel

Faudel , born Faudel Belloua on June 6, 1978 in Mantes-la-Jolie, is a French singer of Algerian descent.-Early years:...

, Rachid Taha

Rachid Taha

Rachid Taha is an Algerian singer and activist based in France who has been described as "sonically adventurous." His music is influenced by many different styles such as rock, electronic, punk and raï.-Early life:Taha was born in 1958 in Sig , Algeria, although a second source suggests he was...

, the group "Tryo

Tryo

Tryo is a French language 'unplugged' reggae acoustic band, popular in Europe and in Quebec, with three French guitarists, a percussionist, and a producer: Guizmo, Christophe Mali, Manu Eveno, Daniel "Danielito" Bravo and Bibou....

", Lorie

Lorie

Laure Pester, professionally known as Lorie, is a French singer. Her fame can be attributed to producer, songwriter and composer Johnny Williams and her father–manager Dominique Pester...

, and Alizée

Alizée

Alizée Jacotey is a French singer, known professionally by her given name Alizée She was discovered by Mylène Farmer, following her winning performance in the talent show, Graines de Star, in 1999...

. Also, in French rock and rap: Superbus

Superbus (band)

Superbus is a five-piece French pop/rock band formed in 1999.-History:After a trip to the United States to perfect her English in 1999, Jennifer Ayache went looking for musicians to make a group. She met Michel Giovannetti, a guitarist, and François Even, a bassist, who already knew each other from...

, Indochine

Indochine (band)

Indochine is a French new wave/rock band, formed in 1981. The band was very successful in France in the 1980s, as well as other parts of continental Europe and Latin America, with songs like L'Aventurier and Canary Bay...

, Téléphone

Téléphone

Téléphone was a French rock band formed in 1976 by Jean-Louis Aubert , Louis Bertignac , Corine Marienneau and Richard Kolinka ....

, Ange

Ange

Ange is a French progressive rock band formed in September 1969 by the Décamps brothers, Francis and Christian .-History:...

, Dionysos

Dionysos (French band)

Dionysos is a French rock band formed in 1993 in Valence, Drôme; they formed at their lycée. They perform songs in both French and English, and have released six studio albums. They are well known in France for their surrealism and eccentricity....

, Pleymo

Pleymo

Pleymo is a French nu metal and rapcore band. Pleymo have sold over 100,000 albums to date. The band's name apparently originates from the lead singer once having a haircut as a child that was similar to that of Playmobil figures....

, Damien Saez

Damien Saez

- Early life :Damien Saez was born in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie, on 1 August 1977, where he lived until the age of 3–4 years before his family moved to Marseille...

, Bérurier Noir

Bérurier Noir

Bérurier noir is a French punk band formed in Paris in 1983 by Loran , François and Dédé . They called themselves "noir" for the color of mourning and for anarchy and "Bérurier" after the character from the novels of Frédéric Dard...

, NTM

Suprême NTM

Suprême NTM is a French hip hop group formed in 1989 in the Seine-Saint-Denis département. The group comprises rappers Joey Starr and Kool Shen...

, and Eiffel

Eiffel (band)

Eiffel is a French rock group founded in 1998 around Romain Humeau.Their influences range from the Pixies to Léo Ferré, encompassing Jacques Brel, Sonic Youth, Serge Gainsbourg, The Buzzcocks, Noir Désir, the Stooges, David Bowie, Sixteen Horsepower the Kinks, the Beatles, Tears For Fears, Fugazi,...

.Amel Bent

Amel Bent

Amel Bent is a French singer.- Biography :Amel Bent grew up in the French commune of La Courneuve with her Algerian father and a Moroccan mother. She has a brother and a sister...

 Diam's

Diam's

Diam's is a French-language rap artist of French and Greek Cypriot origin. Her family moved to Essonne in 1984....

Katy Perry

Katy Perry

Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...

Events at the Zénith de Paris

The Cure

The Cure

The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...

's album Paris

Paris (The Cure album)

Paris is a live album recorded by The Cure at Le Zénith de Paris, in October 1992 during their Wish tour, but released in 1993.Paris was released at the same time as Show, which was recorded in the United States. The album features more cult classics like "The Figurehead" and "One Hundred Years"...

was recorded here in 1992, as was the 2001 Hullabaloo Soundtrack

Hullabaloo Soundtrack

Notes*A sample of Tom Waits's "What's He Building?" can be heard in disc two's pregap *The Intro of Rachmaninov's 'Prelude in C Sharp Minor "The Bells of Moscow"' is played at the beginning of Track 7 Disc 2.-Japanese release track listing:...

CD/DVD by Muse

Muse (band)

Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...

, the 2004 Anywhere but Home

Anywhere but Home

Anywhere but Home is the first live album and DVD by the rock band Evanescence, released in 2004. It includes all four of their Fallen music videos, an hour of behind the scenes features, and a recording of a concert at Le Zénith in Paris...

CD/DVD by Evanescence

Evanescence

Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording private albums, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide...

, and the 1992 Beethoven Was Deaf

Beethoven Was Deaf

Beethoven Was Deaf is a live album by Morrissey, recorded around the time of the tour for Your Arsenal. The songs were recorded live at Paris Zenith on 22 December 1992, except for the titles followed by a *, which were recorded live in London 2 days before. The sleeve notes incorrectly state that...

album by Morrissey

Morrissey

Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

Oasis

Oasis (band)

Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

 performed in 1997, with lead vocalist Liam Gallagher

Liam Gallagher

William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...

 performing drunk.

In March 2005 the Italian singer Laura Pausini

Laura Pausini

Laura Pausini, is a Grammy Award-winning Italian soul singer-songwriter. She debuted in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with the song "La solitudine", which became an Italian standard and an international hit, reaching the top spot on the Italian...

 held two concerts that appeared on her CD/DVD Live in Paris 05

Live in Paris 05

Live in Paris 05 is a live album and video album highlighting Italian singer-songwriter Laura Pausini’s 2005 World Tour performance at Paris’ Le Zénith in March 2005. The album was issued by Warner Music in November 2005 in CD, DVD, CD+DVD and two-disc DVD editions.-Track listing:...

.

In November 2009, the Québécois group Les Cowboys Fringants

Les Cowboys Fringants

Les Cowboys Fringants are a popular band and cult phenomenon from Quebec, who perform Québécois néo-trad music , the band also draws on Country music. They have gained an international underground following, especially in France, French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland...

 recorded a live album at Le Zénith, with a release date of April 2010.

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 held a house show

House show

A house show is a professional wrestling show run by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive during televised events, as well as test reactions to matches, wrestlers, and...

 at Le Zénith in Paris in April 2007, where the Women's Championship

WWE Women's Championship

The WWE Women's Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Entertainment promotion. Created in 1956, it was the oldest active professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment history until its retirement in 2010 as a result from a unification...

 changed hands twice, as Melina

Melina Perez

Melina Nava Perez is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Women Superstars Uncensored. She is best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment under the ring mononym Melina....

 lost the title to Mickie James

Mickie James

Mickie Laree James , better known simply as Mickie James, is an American professional wrestler and singer of mixed Native American-Caucasian descent, currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , where she is a former two-time TNA Women's Knockout Champion.James began her professional...

, and later won the title back.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...

 held an event at Le Zénith on January 24, 2010.

Peace One Day's annual Peace Day celebration took place at Le Zenith on 17 September 2010.

On June 10, 2011, SM Entertainment

SM Entertainment

S.M. Entertainment is an independent Korean record label, talent agency, producer, and publisher of pop music, founded by Lee Soo-man in South Korea...

 hosted the SMTOWN Live Concert '11. SM Entertainment

SM Entertainment

S.M. Entertainment is an independent Korean record label, talent agency, producer, and publisher of pop music, founded by Lee Soo-man in South Korea...

 is the first Korean entertainment company to hold a collaborative concert in Europe. Participating artists included TVXQ

TVXQ

TVXQ, an acronym for Tong Vfang Xien Qi , is a South Korean pop group formed in 2003 under SM Entertainment. In South Korea they are known as Dong Bang Shin Ki , often abbreviated by international fans as DBSK; they were later introduced in Japan as Tohoshinki under the Avex sub-label Rhythm Zone...

, Girls' Generation

Girls' Generation

Girls' Generation is a nine-member South Korean electropop girl group formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2007. The nine members are: Taeyeon , Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun...

, Super Junior

Super Junior

Super Junior is a South Korean boy band. Formed in 2005 by producer Lee Soo-man of SM Entertainment, the group comprised a total of thirteen members at its peak, and was once claimed to be the world's largest boy band...

, SHINee

SHINee

Shinee is a contemporary R&B South Korean boy band. Formed by SM Entertainment in 2008, they made their debut on May 25, 2008 on SBS's Inkigayo with their promotional single, "Noona Neomu Yeppeo "...

, f(x)

F(x) (band)

f is a five member South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment in 2009. The name is a play on the mathematical notation for function, and when input with different 'x', there can be many different outcomes. f strives to be the kind of girl group that can change and adapt to many situations....

, and others.

External links

• Zénith de Paris