The party is over, the Covid-19 epidemic has decided so.
At least in appearance.
Failing to exclaim a pint in hand in a cramped bar, we now dance hidden behind the door of a locked apartment.
Saturday, 2:30 a.m.
A few hours earlier, when everyone had to limit their contacts, we were informed, without further details, that a big party was taking place in accommodation in the center of Paris.
In the midst of the pandemic, these evenings are multiplying even as from this Tuesday, bars are asked to draw the curtain, for a minimum of fifteen days, consequence of the maximum state of alert, triggered in the capital and its small belt .
In front of the building, we do not know the floor, but the flow of rapper Ninho, who shakes the entire stairwell, quickly leads us to the right door on the first floor.
Opposite and on the floor above, they are only offices, never anyone at night, the ideal hideout.
We knock, a woman, hair slicked back, in evening dress, sticks a head.
" There is a problem ?
Does the noise bother you?
She immediately worries.
We pretend that we pass out of curiosity after hearing street music.
"Come on, come home, have a drink," she insists, reassured.
A mask on the nose, we finally enter the accommodation of about sixty square meters.
In front of us, in the kitchen, two young women serve the participants with Red Bull Vodka at the counter and, in exchange, hand them a credit card terminal.
We understand: it's not just a party with friends.
But a clandestine bar.
"We mostly have evenings since the establishments close at 10 pm", slips us, bluntly, the one who brought us in.
She is Naya (the first name has been changed), specializing in events in Paris and in Europe.
With the Covid-19, an alternative had to be found for it to continue its activity.
So here she is the solution, in this place kept secret until the last minute.
“We change our address every week so as not to get caught by the cops,” continues Naya, without worrying about the epidemic in full rebound.
"Why are you the only one wearing a mask?"
The figures are clear: 260 people infected out of 100,000, 1,155 new cases in 24 hours, 35% of sheaves in the Ile-de-France region occupied by Covid patients, that's too much.
But if in the streets, nightclubs have a hangover from bad days, higher up in the floors of the caulked lounges, we raise a toast to our youth.
Here, the virus does not exist.
Not once in the evening will the word be spoken.
We visit the place.
First, the living room.
At this point, it takes a few seconds for us to realize that we had underestimated the crowd.
How many are they ?
Fifty-three to be precise, between 20 and 30 years old, without a mask, dancing on Aya Nakamura in this 30 m2 room, drowned in the vapors of Chicha.
Beforehand, the place was emptied, the walls soundproof.
Does the owner know about it?
We only know that the housing belongs to a real estate company, surely sublet for the occasion.
Only a few teddy bears on a shelf and four large beds on the floor are enthroned, reminiscent, with a little imagination, of the benches of nightclubs.
Near the window, in front of the drawn curtains, a DJ connects hip-hop and RNB hits to the decks, in a flood of blue, green, purple light.
Everything is done to recall life before as if nothing had changed.
"Why are you the only one wearing a mask?"
»Asks a party animal, really surprised.
Alcohol, hookahs and ... security service
Next to it, a bedroom has been transformed into a smoking room, windows open, but iron shutters closed.
There are 28 people, so that makes 81 in all.
In the middle of the billows of smoke, you have to elbow your way to progress between the groups, puffing their cigarettes in their noses.
Among them, a small troop came to celebrate a bachelor party.
But how do we get back here?
If the ticket and alcohol are free for girls, boys must pay.
And the bill is salty.
"We were 100 euros per head, we had a price because we are 14", says one of them, speaking to us two centimeters from the face.
We have the info confirmed.
"Yes, otherwise it's 150 euros for guys with alcohol, hookahs at will until 7 am", agrees a security guard, a real mirror cabinet.
Moreover, if the atmosphere is relaxed, the security service is on the alert.
When one of the participants is a little too engaging, one glance is enough to make him intervene: "Is everything okay ladies?"
No, because, sir, you speak a little loud to them ”.
The slightest overflow could rock the evening.
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In front of the door, and despite the time, more than 3:30, the ballet of entries and exits continues.
"We take people back to the bottom to prevent them from making noise," says Naya, whom we meet again.
"By the way, do you want a ball?
Turning around, a young blonde, a banana filled with banknotes at her waist, is blowing one up.
It's laughing gas, nitrous oxide to inhale, a dangerous practice, very popular among young people.
Again, it's free for girls and 10-15 euros each for boys.
"Yeah, don't chain them too much," Naya admits, resuming our conversation.
"Evening in my apartment, contact me privately"
We ask him, how do we know where and when the parties take place?
"Take my Snapchat or my Instagram and contact me, now that I know you, I'll tell you where the next ones are," she says.
Or, book on this App.
"You download it and immediately a page is displayed:" Secret room Paris ".
4:30 am, we decide to go home even if the party is far from over.
It will last up to 7 hours and will be driven back to the same place on Saturday.
And even on Sunday.
The weekend before, other underground parties had been reported to the police.
Right next to the Champs-Élysées, nearly 150 people have been taking advantage of R'n'B parties every Friday and Saturday since the beginning of September.
"At 5 o'clock in the morning, when I was leaving, the organizers had just ordered a new delivery of ice cubes", testifies a reveler who paid his entry a hundred euros.
Skimming illegal parties, William, 26, isn't exactly surprised by these apartment parties.
Even if he favors open places, where the mask is worn "before being alcoholic", he has already had six rave parties, since the end of confinement, in the park of Sevran or at Le Bourget.
“It was two weeks ago, the CRS landed, I left direct.
"They buy their seats on an online site where there are legal and illegal events" a bit like going to the theater ".
A few days ago, he saw an invitation passed on Facebook: "Evening in my apartment, contact me privately".
“It was posted on a techno group that brings together 65,000 members!
William says.
From 3,700 to 7,500 euros fine if repeat offense
Contacted the national president of cafes, brasseries and nightclubs (Umih) fulminates: “We had said it this summer, young people would party with or without us.
The problem is just shifted, we see it everywhere in France, loose Laurent Lutse.
The bars would have had to toughen up the protocols to avoid this situation.
"For its part, the police headquarters speaks of a" phenomenon ".
“During the spring, our services noted the appearance of a new type of festive evenings in the capital, which coincided with the closing of discotheques”, going as far as “quasi-commercial activity in a place transformed for the 'occasion in a night establishment welcoming dozens of revelers several times a week and supervised by security guards ”.
Police are instructed to intervene systematically.
Opening a clandestine bar where entry or consumption is payable, is even punished with a fine of 3,700 euros, 7,500 euros in the event of a repeat offense and six months' imprisonment.
However, according to a senior police officer, the situation on the spot is not simple.
“For a week during a dozen interventions for noise, we found ourselves facing organized clandestine parties, he testifies.
In this case, we check that everything is going well, we try to lower the music, but being more directive in front of more than 100 people, it is exposing yourself to a riot.
"