“A place dedicated to electronic music with such capacity didn’t exist”

Located in a former leather hall in La Villette, in the 19th arrondissement, this new Parisian club dedicated to electronic music is organizing its sold-out launch party this Friday. A place of 3,000 m2, capable of bringing together 2,300 people.

“I can’t wait to see what it will look like when it’s full, with different musical styles, and a party atmosphere“, rejoices Mathilde. The clubber is one of a few hundred guests who came to attend the inauguration of Mia Mao, a new club accessible from the Ourcq canal, in the Parc de la Villette. “The sound system is awesome. And the project has the merit of succeeding, which does not happen all the time in the industry“, she reacts, after this pre-opening evening, organized on Wednesday January 15.

Disco, house, French touch, techno… For this kind of preview, DJ Alys LF became the first artist to mix within the club. “It’s been two days since I slept, it was a lot of pressure but it’s nice“, she confides.

In an industrial atmosphere of raw concrete, the place is spread over 3,000 m2, with 7 meters of ceiling height, an English double-decker bus which accommodates tattoo artists, a vast mezzanine around the stage, as well as a large space outside.

The place is managed by the same team as Glazart and Kilomètre25, two clubs also located in La Villette. Within the park, there are already a multitude of rooms, such as the Cabaret Sauvage or the Trabendo. “I knew Paris with two clubs… Today it’s abundant. There have never been so many quality places, smiles Arnaud Perrine, the co-founder of Mia Mao. A place dedicated to electronic music with such capacity did not exist a priori in the capital.“

The reconversion of the space required two years of work, and an investment of more than 8 million euros. “It’s a bet: the ambition is to open a place on a par with other European capitals, as exists in Berlin or London. French electronic music is really very famous and it’s normal that we can have a venue that lives up to our culture.“, says Arnaud Perrine.

To enter Mia Mao, you have to give up taking photos or videos. A small sticker is stuck on the public’s phones. A practice inspired by Berlin clubs, with one difference: unlike addresses like Berghain, the Parisian club does not have backrooms – rooms where it is possible to have sexual relations.

“At Berghain, you have to maintain a certain intimacy with the backrooms. This is not our subject. At some point, people just need to maybe be able to switch off a little bit, without being glued to their phone. For the public, for the artists and for the atmosphere“, estimates Arnaud Perrine.

Depending on the headliners of the different evenings, tickets will cost between 15 and 40 euros. If the inauguration took place in a small group, the real launch evening also offers a 4-hour set by Laurent Garnier. According to Mia Mao’s team, the 2,300 places were gone in less than 10 minutes.