Palais Nikaïa () is an indoor

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that may ...

and multi-purpose facility located in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It opened on 4 April 2001, and is located five minutes' drive from

Côte d'Azur International Airport Côte is a British cafe chain founded by Richard Caring, Andy Bassadone, Chris Benians and Nick Fiddler in Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross ...

. The name Nikaïa derives from the ancient Greek settlement, predecessor of today's Nice. In addition to concerts, Palais Nikaïa can host variety shows, sporting events and conventions. On its own, Palais Nikaïa has seats for between 1,500 and 6,250 persons depending upon configuration, with an upwards maximum of 9,000 capacity including those standing. However, in a unique arrangement, it is located next to the outdoor

Stade Charles-Ehrmann Stade Charles-Ehrmann is a multi-use stadium in Nice, France. For sporting events it seats 8,000 spectators. It is sometimes used by the OGC Nice, for practice or friendly matches, and by their reserves team the Eaglets. For large concerts, it is ...

, with sliding glass doors to operate between them, and the two in combination can be used to host very large concerts with up to 50,000 or more in attendance.

History

Palais Nikaïa was built in 2000 and 2001 by the architects André Grésy and Serge Grésy, who had previously participated in the plans of the Zénith de Toulouse, as well as by Louis Chevalier. It was inaugurated on 4 April 2001 in the presence of Albert, Hereditary Prince of Monaco and

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

. The latter then gave the first concert in the venue. From 2001 to 2009, the palace was managed by and Denis Thominet via the . In June 2009, the municipality chose as its new delegate the Vega Group associated with the French subsidiary of the

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

group in an operating structure called , and 70% owned by Vega. Following the death of

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

on 5 December 2017, two days later the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Nice Christian Estrosi proposed that the venue be renamed in Hallyday's honour. Finally, the municipal council decided that only the forecourt of the performance hall would be renamed with the name of the singer.

Events

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

performed at the venue on May 4, 2013, during their

Delta Machine Tour The Delta Machine Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English electronic music band Depeche Mode in support of the group's 13th studio album, ''Delta Machine'', released 22 March 2013. Following a warm-up show in Nice, France on 4 May 2013, th ...

, in front of a recording-breaking sold-out crowd of 9,904 people. The venue hosted the

2013 Jeux de la Francophonie The 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie, also known as ''VIIèmes Jeux de la Francophonie'' ( French for ''7th Francophone Games''), were held in Nice, France, from September 6-15. This was the second edition of the games to be hosted in France and the fi ...

which took place in Nice from 6 to 15 September 2013. The disciplines practiced in this venue were

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

and

freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling ...

. The venue hosted the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 21st edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster France Télévisions. The contest took place on 26 November 2023 at the P ...

, which took place on 26 November 2023.

References

External links

* Concert halls in France Music venues in France Sports venues in Nice Buildings and structures in Nice Tourist attractions in Nice Sports venues completed in 2001 Music venues completed in 2001 2001 establishments in France 21st-century architecture in France {{music-venue-stub

History

Events

See also

References

External links