Phantom Paris

The phantom room of Bercy

The Marcel-Cerdan room was a forgotten annex of the old Palais Omnisports. Paris Society, now integrated into Accor, and the Accor Arena rehabilitated it, and on March 17, 2023, Phantom opened: not a corridor club, but an XXL box intramuros, with access via Porte 28. At midnight, the Bercy park stops being a post-concert wasteland and the public descends into the bowels of the arena.

Origami, the ceiling that splits

The heart is not the booth, it is the ceiling. Origami, a 170 m² kinetic mirror broken down into 41 triangles—sixteen mobile, each with a motor and LED—changes shape throughout the night and sometimes descends like an inverted pyramid that deforms bodies. It was imagined by artistic director Laurent Sabatier; the light design is by Pauline David (Light Is More); the machinery, by MECAoctet and Novelty. Around it, dozens of metal arches turn on and off like specters. There is a 9-meter height, 1,400 m² of black floor where you cannot see the end, and a bar that crosses the entire back. The Greek phantasma—making the invisible visible—stops being a slogan and becomes tons of dibond above the people.

An Olympia until six

Charlotte Lions, artistic director and programmer of Electrobeach, set the format: show built like at the Olympia, but from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM and in a party key. A real concert stage, not a club booth; screens, tour lights, and DJs who sometimes look small on that box. The first season brought together the live act of Monolink and the Raw XXL of I Hate Models with Trym, Maceo Plex, Eric Prydz, Tiësto, Bob Sinclar, or Steve Aoki. The menu later opened to trance, bass, hard dance, and house, from Carl Cox and Armin van Buuren to Ben Klock, Charlotte de Witte, or The Blessed Madonna. There are also aftershows of the Accor Arena—including a VIP elevator from the stands—and autonomous nights. Three years later, Phantom is alive continues to be the motto of a venue that lights up the basement of Bercy when the arena turns off.