Aftershow Diaries

April 22nd - 19:00 outside of Théâtre de l’Œuvre.

In Paris, the night doesn’t always unfold - Sometimes, it stops exactly where it’s supposed to begin. The crowd starts to gather outside, the security guard glances at me, checking whether I belong and he waves me towards the bar.

Inside, the theatre smells exactly like it should: Waxed wood. Fabric…. Dust that’s settled into history. And something else — human presence, layered over time, a kind of scent that doesn’t belong to a single night, but to all the nights that came before. 

While heading downstairs a mirror catches me for a second -  Leather boots, Metal details. Leather jacket and a Foo Fighters tee that’s seen better nights.

The bar is already doing what most Paris venues do. One champagne, one story, Veuve Clicquot dominates the space, no alternative, no  conversation. It’s efficient,  It’s also forgettable. Sudden flashback — I’m at the Bowery Ballroom — NYC 2019 for the show of the Posies, not sure if it’s the dimmed yellow lights or the burgundy wall resemblance but, Hearing Kim Fowley’s “Trip” flips me back to Théâtre de l’Œuvre —-  good playlist makes difference. 

The crowd is older. Rock has aged well here — couples, familiar faces and contained energy  and everyone stays within their circle. In another city, someone would have already started a conversation, but here, silence is part of the architecture.

This is Paris, it is not unfriendly - just preserved and somehow you can already feel that the night won’t continue here. 

Before the spectacle would start I started a conversation with an old man sitting next to me,music references, familiar names - Eric Clapton came up inevitably, about to bring up the album of Derek And the Dominos when lights started to dim and it’s about to get started. 

I am scanning the crowd, you always see this specific type at  French rock shows, you also see them at some of the record stores like Fnac, Gibert - You’ll mostly find them digging up a Metal or French chanson section, wearing a black band shirt like a uniform, i call them Johnny Halliday crew - don’t get me wrong, Johnny did leave a huge legacy, do not forget him landing at Stade de France with a  helicopter, but did his authenticity lay somewhere between being half Billy Idol and half Elvis?! Either way, why does  “Allumer le feu” seem like a tribute to “Light my fire”, either or, I had no idea who the guy was until a couple years back I saw Laeticia with her entourage at the restaurant where I was working as a mixologist. 

The show looks great, some crazy stories unfold including Keith Richards, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, the mythology does not stop,  the glimpse into the intimate and untold, but even after living in Paris for 6 years after i hear French language for more than an hour my brain starts to convert it in to a white noise, i am back after I heard the word “Cocktail De Serge Gainsbourg"  that I definitely will re-create. Serge knew a great deal about cocktails, there’s this fragment from the TV show, where he’s meant to guide a bartender through making a Daiquiri, but it quickly becomes clear that he knows more than she does. You can see his impatience when she’s too slow—the ice starts diluting before the drink even comes together. Having worked behind the bar for nearly a decade, I can relate: precision with ice, timing, and proportions isn’t a detail, it’s everything. 

There’s the whole aspect about music and cocktails in Paris. There are music venues with great music and crappy bars, or good bars.  Paris has to think about how to merge the two: some places are making an effort in the past years.  In  general at any music venue bar, you should not risk ordering  anything containing more than 2 ingredients, they will even somehow manage to fuck up something that is hard to fuck up - “Negroni” - You’ll get a cocktail with crapy Gin like Befeater, or even crappier - Gordon’s and the cheapest sweet vermouth, do not even dream about Carpano Antica Formula, luckily there’s only one Campari in the world and that the only fair ingredient you’ll get,  it will be straightly build in the glass, it will also be extra diluted and you’ll pay almost the same price as in the best cocktail bars of Paris, wishing you have ordered a beer, or even better a Picon beer, the beer at those places flows like a river, no risk it will taste stale, if you have enthusiasm ask questions or watch how the cocktails are made and do not even think ordering wine, because usually it will be a cheap bottle sold in a triple price. 

The  lights come back, people stand, coats on, people seem to linger, but the energy seems to dissolve, everything that could happen after: The cocktails, music, conversations is left undefined and that’s something that waits to be re written, sometimes it stops exactly where it’s supposed to begin, You can spot this elegance of unfinished nights anywhere from Rock music venues, Jazz clubs, Operas…. Paris  might want to think about how to keep the butterflies in the belly alive after the show.

— Nina Naskidashvili
Paris, May 25, 2026