Paris looks to reclaim the night with new festival

In October last year, a group of artists and nightlife professionals launched a petition entitled Paris: Quand la nuit meurt en silence, claiming that "the general law of silence which strikes our events and places of social gathering is about to turn 'the City of Light' into the European capital city of sleep".

A year later, the response has come in the form of a new festival called "Les nuits capitales" which will run from the 17th to the 21st November. The festival is five nights dedicated to live music and clubbing in what is left of the Paris night scene, with a whole series of special prices and other advantages exclusively available online on the official site.

The event, which focusses on upcoming French acts rather than international stars, seems to offer some interesting possibilities, but will it solve the general problem? By institutionalising the night in Paris, will this initiative erase a little more the spontaneity and organic movements that are necessary in creating a scene and a movement?

As Paris becomes ever-more bourgeois, perhaps the problem is more that the residents have simply become tired of the night. It would be a shame if this were true, so let's hope that this festival can inspire a little more energy in the city post sundown!

For more information, see: http://nuitscapitales.com/