Versailles → Paris · 1996 to 2010
Thomas Mars and the band, 2006 to 2010. Press Drive.
On the walls: Thomas Mars, May 2006 (Alex Laljak, CC BY 3.0); Phoenix at Belfort, June 2007 (Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 FR); Mars in Seattle, January 2010 (musicisentropy, CC BY-SA 2.0). Credits in full under each photograph below.
Versailles · 1996
The four of them are from Versailles and first got together as a group at school. They chose the name Phoenix in 1996; their first album, United, came four years later.
Place d’Armes, Versailles, in front of the château gates
Thomas Mars found Prince’s Purple Rain at seven, living in Versailles.
An open square in front of the château gates. The band’s first rooms were private homes in the town and are not named here.
29 June 2007 · 2013
In February 2007 NME reported that Air and Phoenix would play the Château de Versailles together on 29 June, part of a world tour that took them to Japan, Australia and New Zealand first.
In 2013 Phoenix played an acoustic Entertainment at dawn in the gardens for La Blogothèque’s Take Away Show: one long take, filmed partly from a drone.
Palace 9am to 6.30pm, closed on Mondays; gardens and park 7am to 8.30pm. The Passport is €35 from April to October and €25 from November to March. The gardens are free in the low season and €15 on Musical Gardens days.
Versailles · €35 to 31 Oct · €25 from 1 Nov · 9am–6.30pm
The palace with a timed entry, the Trianon, the gardens and exhibitions, where Phoenix and Air played in 2007. The palace closes on Mondays.
See tickets
Before Phoenix · 1992–93
A reviewer called them daft punky thrash, and two of them kept the words. The third, Laurent Brancowitz, formed Phoenix with his brother, Christian Mazzalai.
Darlin’: three names on one bill.
The tunnel · Before 2009
He remembers driving from Versailles into Paris through a tunnel with Steve Reich playing. That drive became Love Like a Sunset, Part 1.
Steve Reich’s Piano Phase sets two players on the same short pattern; one stays steady while the other creeps ahead, until they come back together. Here the pattern is twelve lamps.
In unison: both rows light the same 7 lamps.
Seattle, January 2010: the photographer caught Mars lying on the stage floor while the band played Love Like a Sunset, the piece that began on that drive.
2004 to 2008
Phoenix kept changing rooms. Here are five, in order: carry the flight case from one to the next.
A dead room: Alphabetical was made in a room chosen because it sounded dead.
2009 to 2013
The record made on rue des Martyrs took them a long way from the Place d’Armes. Distances are as the crow flies from Versailles.
New York5,819 km
4 April 2009
Phoenix were the musical guests on Saturday Night Live on 4 April 2009 and played 1901 and Lisztomania, two songs from the album they had finished at Motorbass.
The Tour at NBC Studios goes round the building where the shows are made; the quickest way in is from Sixth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets.
The Tour at NBC Studios starts here; use the Sixth Avenue entrance between 49th and 50th Streets.
Midtown, New York
Round 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where Saturday Night Live is made. Enter from Sixth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets.
Book the tourBelfort368 km
5 July 2009
Phoenix played the Sunday of the 2009 Eurockéennes, 5 July, on a bill with Slipknot, Gojira, Laurent Garnier, Charlie Winston, Mos Def and Sliimy.
The festival ran from 3 to 5 July that year on the Malsaucy site.
A lake and festival peninsula outside Belfort, with paths round the water.
Indio9,004 km
2013
Phoenix headlined the Saturday night of Coachella 2013.
R. Kelly walked on for a surprise singalong, mashing 1901 into Ignition (Remix).
A polo club in the Coachella Valley. On festival weekends the field is for ticket holders.
Madison Square Garden · 20 October 2010
On 20 October 2010, during Phoenix’s encore, Daft Punk appeared at the back of the stage.
Phoenix’s encore at the Garden. Kill the lights.
Together they played Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger with a piece of Around the World, and finished on 1901.
It put Laurent Brancowitz back on a stage with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, his bandmates in Darlin’ in the early 1990s.
The Garden’s own tour takes about an hour: adults $48–$49. On event days the arena is for ticket holders.
Manhattan, New York · Adults $48–$49 · about 60 minutes
Behind the scenes of the arena where Daft Punk joined Phoenix in 2010: backstage, a suite and the ceiling from the bridge.
See tour dates
2020 to 2024
A record made inside a shut museum in the Louvre, a concert back in it on 27 November 2022, and the Olympia the next night.
Sortie 127 November 2022
107 rue de Rivoli, in the Louvre palace, Paris 1er
Phoenix made Alpha Zulu in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, inside the Louvre palace, while the museum was shut during the pandemic.
On 27 November 2022 they went back to play it there, streamed live at 9.30pm Paris time.
Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 6pm, Thursdays until 9pm for exhibitions; closed on Mondays. Collections €15, with exhibitions €18; free under 18.
Louvre, Paris 1er
At 2 place des Pyramides, opposite the Louvre and over the Tuileries, a short walk along rue de Rivoli from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. 98 rooms and 32 suites.
See the hotelSortie 228–29 November 2022
28 boulevard des Capucines, Paris 9e
Two sold-out nights, 28 and 29 November 2022, on the Alpha Zulu tour.
The hall’s guided tours take in the stage, backstage and the dressing rooms, an hour to an hour and a half; under-12s book by phone.
A working music hall. Guided tours of the stage, backstage and dressing rooms take an hour to an hour and a half; meet at Le Petit Olympia, 6 rue de Caumartin, at 9.20am.
Paris 9e · 1 to 1½ hours · book online
The stage, backstage and dressing rooms of the hall where Phoenix played two sold-out nights in 2022. Meet at Le Petit Olympia, 6 rue de Caumartin, at 9.20am.
Book a tourSortie 311 August 2024
Saint-Denis, just north of Paris
Phoenix played the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics here on 11 August 2024, with Ezra Koenig.
They had been meant for the opening ceremony, on the Louvre’s roofs; bees kept up there worried people, and the band moved to the closing.
Guided tours of about 90 minutes, €16 for adults, booked ahead; no tours on event days.
Saint-Denis · Adults €16 · about 90 minutes
Changing rooms, the players’ tunnel and the stadium museum, where Phoenix closed the 2024 Olympics. No tours on event days.
See tour timesFrom the Place d’Armes to the Stade de France: 22 km, and twenty-eight years after the name.
12 places you can visit in Versailles, Paris, Berlin, Belfort and America. The band’s first homes in Versailles are private and are not named.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An open square in front of the château gates. The band’s first rooms were private homes in the town and are not named here.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Palace 9am to 6.30pm, closed on Mondays; gardens and park 7am to 8.30pm. The Passport is €35 from April to October and €25 from November to March. The gardens are free in the low season and €15 on Musical Gardens days.
Place d’Armes, Versailles, in front of the château gates
The four of them are from Versailles and first got together as a group at school. They chose the name Phoenix in 1996; their first album, United, came four years later.
An open square in front of the château gates. The band’s first rooms were private homes in the town and are not named here.
Place d’Armes, Versailles
In February 2007 NME reported that Air and Phoenix would play the Château de Versailles together on 29 June, part of a world tour that took them to Japan, Australia and New Zealand first.
Palace 9am to 6.30pm, closed on Mondays; gardens and park 7am to 8.30pm. The Passport is €35 from April to October and €25 from November to March. The gardens are free in the low season and €15 on Musical Gardens days.
Stay
Hôtel Amour in the 9th, and the Regina facing the Louvre.
Paris 9e · 28 rooms · single rooms 9 m²
Twenty-eight rooms at 8 rue de Navarin, in the 9th, the arrondissement of rue des Martyrs. A café, bar and restaurant with a garden veranda; no television or air conditioning in the rooms; one accessible room.
See the hotelLouvre, Paris 1er
At 2 place des Pyramides, opposite the Louvre and over the Tuileries, a short walk along rue de Rivoli from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. 98 rooms and 32 suites.
See the hotelGo there
The château, the Olympia backstage, the Stade de France, Madison Square Garden and NBC, plus marketplace walks.
Versailles · €35 to 31 Oct · €25 from 1 Nov · 9am–6.30pm
The palace with a timed entry, the Trianon, the gardens and exhibitions, where Phoenix and Air played in 2007. The palace closes on Mondays.
See ticketsParis 9e · 1 to 1½ hours · book online
The stage, backstage and dressing rooms of the hall where Phoenix played two sold-out nights in 2022. Meet at Le Petit Olympia, 6 rue de Caumartin, at 9.20am.
Book a tourSaint-Denis · Adults €16 · about 90 minutes
Changing rooms, the players’ tunnel and the stadium museum, where Phoenix closed the 2024 Olympics. No tours on event days.
See tour timesManhattan, New York · Adults $48–$49 · about 60 minutes
Behind the scenes of the arena where Daft Punk joined Phoenix in 2010: backstage, a suite and the ceiling from the bridge.
See tour datesMidtown, New York
Round 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where Saturday Night Live is made. Enter from Sixth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets.
Book the tourParis
Live marketplace results for music walking tours of Paris. Check each itinerary for Pigalle and the 9th.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursVersailles
Live marketplace results for trips out to Versailles. Check what each includes; the palace closes on Mondays.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
No Phoenix date after today has been announced.
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Take it home
The first four albums, from United to Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
Phoenix · 12-inch LP, Source, 2000
The first album, four years after the name. Zdar mixed it.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyPhoenix · CD, Virgin Music France, 2004
Made in a room picked because it sounded dead.
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Find a copyPhoenix · CD, Virgin Music France, 2006
Finished in the old East German radio house in Berlin.
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Find a copyPhoenix · 2 × CD, V2, 2009
The rue des Martyrs record, and a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.
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Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 15 of 15 Moments
Place d’Armes, Versailles, in front of the château gates
Four Versailles school friends choose the name Phoenix.
A drive into Paris with Steve Reich playing becomes Love Like a Sunset, Part 1.
Place d’Armes, Versailles
Air and Phoenix play the Château de Versailles.
An acoustic Entertainment in the gardens of Versailles for La Blogothèque.
Nalepastraße 18, Oberschöneweide, Berlin
It’s Never Been Like That is finished in a former East German radio station.
Port de la Bourdonnais and Port Debilly, Paris 7e and 16e
A houseboat by the Eiffel Tower, one of the rooms tried for the new album.
Rue des Martyrs, near the top of the street, Paris 9e
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is made at Philippe Zdar’s studio.
30 Rockefeller Plaza, Midtown Manhattan, New York
1901 and Lisztomania on Saturday Night Live.
Presqu’île du Malsaucy, near Belfort
The Sunday of the Eurockéennes de Belfort.
Seventh Avenue at 33rd Street, Manhattan, New York
Daft Punk join Phoenix at Madison Square Garden.
Avenue 50, Indio, California
Phoenix headline Coachella’s Saturday night.
107 rue de Rivoli, in the Louvre palace, Paris 1er
Alpha Zulu is made inside the closed museum.
A concert streamed from the museum where Alpha Zulu was made.
28 boulevard des Capucines, Paris 9e
Two sold-out nights at the Olympia.
Saint-Denis, just north of Paris
Phoenix close the Paris Olympics at the Stade de France.
