Opened by one of the founders of Moulin Rouge over a century ago, Paris’ most storied concert hall has hosted everyone from Edith Piaf and The Beatles to Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift. Even the red neon sign out front is a landmark. Meticulously restored to its velvet-covered, gold-trimmed glory in the ’90s, the venue brings in top talent from around the world. If you visit, get there early to catch up-and-coming acts that’ll be tomorrow’s headliners.

The 1500-capacity Bataclan is a mainstay of Paris’ live-music scene, hosting a discerning list of French and international rock, electronic, and hip-hop acts. Built as a vaudeville hall in the mid-19th century (Buffalo Bill Cody performed there), it established itself as a rock venue in the 1970s. The room sounds great, and numerous live recordings, from Lou Reed to Metallica, have been captured here.

One of Paris’ oldest music venues, Le Trianon was gorgeously restored in 2009, and its red-velvet seats and sparkling chandeliers endow it with an atmosphere of bygone elegance. The lineup varies widely from night to night. Indie songwriters, hip-hop artists, and even occasional classical performances fill the calendar alongside A-list artists like Rihanna, Angèle, and M.I.A. The sound is impeccable and the bird’s-eye view from the upper balconies is breathtaking.

Housed in a 16th-century building amid the tourist bustle of the Latin Quarter, Caveau de la Huchette has been a hotbed of jazz and blues since 1946. It has hosted a laundry list of American and French jazz luminaries, including Art Blakey, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Claude Bolling, and was the inspiration for The Cavern Club in Liverpool, which The Beatles made famous in their early years. Recently, the club made a Hollywood cameo in Damien Chazelle’s La La Land.

Built in 1887, La Cigale has been a vaudeville hall, an adult-movie theater, and an avant-garde event space. Today it’s among Paris’ best midsize venues and has hosted a range of culture-shaping artists including Adele, Massive Attack, Billie Eilish, and Oasis. The red-velvet seating and gilded architectural embellishments make it a luxurious—and unusually intimate—venue to see A-list touring acts from around the world.

According to lore, this 19th-century ballroom was the birthplace of the cancan, but its more recent notoriety as a music venue hails from the live recordings of David Bowie and Counting Crows. With a capacity of 1400, the spacious, sparsely appointed spot brings in a mix of international and touring acts from every genre (Arctic Monkeys, Wu-Tang Clan). It also gets playfully name-checked in The Roots’ single “You Got Me,” featuring Erykah Badu.

The Philharmonie de Paris is a newcomer among Paris’ performance halls—it was completed in 2015—but stunning architecture and bold programming earn it a spot among the city’s legendary venues. The futuristic performance hall features a system of floating balconies that bring patrons startlingly close to the stage. Though dedicated mostly to symphonic performances, it also hosts international pop and jazz artists including Yasiin Bey, Agnes Obel, and Gilberto Gil.

When this Art Deco gem opened in 1927, it was celebrated for its immaculate acoustics and inaugurated by a trio of guest conductors: Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, and Philippe Gaubert. It ceded the throne as Paris’ preeminent classical concert hall in 2015, when the Philharmonie de Paris opened, but the venue was acoustically renovated to suit louder performances. The schedule includes major rock, hip-hop, and pop artists such as Nick Cave, Lizzo, Anderson .Paak, and Nile Rodgers.

With a history reaching back to the 18th century, this cozy concert hall has been a cinema, a skating rink, and a wrestling arena. Since rebranding as a concert venue around the First World War, it has hosted legends like Maurice Chevalier, Joséphine Baker, and Serge Gainsbourg. Generations later, it still draws notable French and international artists like Coldplay, Jacques Dutronc, and Lou Reed. The best views are from the horseshoe-shaped balcony.

Housed inside the former Theatre de la Gaîté, this buzzing digital-arts center offers contemporary music, multimedia exhibits, screenings, and lectures. The 300-capacity Grande Salle is the largest of its three performance venues, featuring reconfigurable bleacher seating and immersive video projections. Previous performers include Flume, Damon Albarn, and The Magnetic Fields. The two smaller rooms are about half as big, offering more experimental performances in an intimate setting.