Nuits Sonores

Lyon at the heart of electronic music

The history of Nuits Sonores began in Lyon back in 2003. Members of the non-profit organisation ArtyFarty, which founded the event, decided to take over the city, its heritage and its industrial sites to create a festival celebrating electronic music. 

Every May, the Nuits Sonores festival attracts thousands of visitors to Lyon. For five days and four nights, the crème de la crème of artists from the international, national and local electronic music scenes take to the city’s stages. Laurent Garnier, Patrick Vidal, Richie Hawtin, Jon Hopkins, Moderat, Amelie Lens, Nils Frahm and more recently Lyon’s own Bernadette, Mangabey, Umwelt, are just a few of the artists to have played Nuits Sonores since the early days.

The first historic night of this unique festival was held at the Transbordeur, then the former Fagor-Brandt factories, which hosted the event for multiple years, transforming this iconic industrial wasteland into a unique forum for cultural creation.

Over two decades later, Nuits Sonores is recognised as one of the electronic scene’s most respected festivals, featuring nearly 200 artists every year.

Nuits Sonores extras

Over the years, the Nuits Sonores programme has become increasingly varied, adding art events, conferences, screenings, daytime debates, etc. to celebrate independent contemporary cultures. Subs… and H7 welcome festival-goers.

The festival hasn’t forgotten about the kids: since 2012, the Nuits Sonores fringe event “MiniSonore” has been putting on creative, multimedia, musical workshops to stimulate kids’ creativity. 

Finally, the “extras” have also featured among the festival’s highlights. Zany, unusual and novel events are organised outside the festival’s hours, giving festival-goers the chance to enjoy unique experiences: listening to music in a car converted into a jacuzzi, taking part in the world musical chair championship (soundtracked by a set from renowned DJs), giant karaoke, the world’s biggest paper boat race, etc. Every year, some forty ever crazier projects are included in the Nuits Sonores daytime programme.

The 2024 program at a glance

Nights: NS Clubs

Tuesday 7 May 2024

• Mind Against & Recondite All Night Long
  La Sucrière - from 10:00 pm to 05:00 am
• Elevate Festival  
  Le Sucre - from 0:00 am to 6:00 am

Wednesday 8 May 2024

• Kaoz Theory with Kerri Chandler
  La Sucrière - from 10:00 pm to 05:00 am
• A Night with Vel presented by the Absolut Company Creation 
  H7 - from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am
• NS Club x Grünt
  Le Sucre - from 12:00 am to 6:00 am 

Thursday 9 May 2024

• NS Club with Klangkuenstler & more
  La Sucrière - from 10:00 pm to 05:00 am
• NS Club: A night With Cornelius Doctor
  H7 - from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am
• NS Club x Unsound 
  Le Sucre - from 12:00 am to 6:00 am

Friday 10 May 2024

• NS Club: Hangout with LB Aka Labat & Friends
  La Sucrière - from 10:00 pm to 05:00 am
• NS Club 
  H7 11:00 pm to 5:00 am
• NS Club x Terraforma
  Le Sucre - from 12:00 am to 6:00 am

Saturday 11 May 2024

• Mini Sonore from 12:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Heat
• NS Club: Versus
  La Sucrière - from 10:00 pm to 05:00 am
• NS Club
  Le Transbordeur - from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am
• NS Club x Marquis Sale 
  e Sucre - from 12:00 am to 6:00 am

Sunday 12 May 2024

• Mini Sonore from 12:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Heat
• Closing Day

Days 

DAY 1 - Wednesday 8 May 2024 from 16:00 to 00:00
Audrey Danza · Bambi b2b Subsism · Baraka (live) · Bonobo (dj set) · Caïn و Muchi · Château Flight (live) · Dj Gigola · Francesco Del Garda · Istanbul Ghetto Club (live) · JakoJako (live) · KI/KI (live) · Odalie (live) · Saint Abdullah & Eomac (live) & more

DAY 2 - Thursday 9 May 2024 - 16:00 – 00:00
Crystal Murray · Deena Abdelwahed “Jbal Rrsas” (live a/v) · Jayda G · Kaba & Hyas (live) · Mama Snake b2b Spekki Webu · Mimi Géniale · Mina & Bryte (live) · Mézigue (live) · Palms Trax · Perreo Supremo · Verito Asprilla & Cardozo (live) & more

DAY 3 - Friday 10 May 2024 from 16:00 to 00:00
Async Figure (hybrid live) · Azo (live) · Caravel · Fatboy Slim · Gabber Eleganza Presents “The Hakke Show” · GLITTER55 b2b GЯEG · Ibaaku (live) · Jennifer Cardini · Marina Herlop (live) · Martha Da’ro (live) · MEULE (live) · Mun Sing (live) · NZIRIA (live) · ojoo · Paranoid London (live) · RHR · Sabrina Bellaouel (live a/v) · Skrillex & more

DAY 4 - Saturday 11 May 2024 from 16:00 to 00:00
33EMYBW & Joey Holder (live a/v) · Aba Shanti-I · Ago Gazo (live) · Ale Hop & Laura Robles “Agua Dulce” (live) · Another Taste (live) · AYS · Beatrice M. (live) · Congo Natty feat. Phoebs · Danilo Plessow (MCDE) · Ebo Taylor & The Family Band (live) · Héctor Oaks (live) · Om Unit “Acid Dub Studies” (live) · Ryoji Ikeda (live a/v) · Rắn Cạp Đuôi (live) & more

CLOSING DAY - Sunday 12 May 2024 from 16:00 to 00:00
Ben Klock b2b DVS1 · Infravision (Kendal & Pablo Bozzi)

Finding the festival’s venues

In 2024, Nuits sonores’s Days and Closing Day programmes are taking place at the brand new Grandes Locos, located in La Mulatière in a former SNCF technicentre. This site, with its dizzying halls and mechanical remains, is home to 4 stages with different experiences, and becomes a living space in its own right for five days.

On the Presqu’île, La Sucrière is an emblematic venue in the Lyon Confluence district, once a sugar warehouse and now dedicated to culture and events. A major and symbolic venue in the history of Nuits sonores from the very beginning, in 2024 it will host part of the festival’s night-time programme, with five nights and very special projects taking place on its central stage..
Nearby, H7 is opening up its main room to house a stage focused on local collectives (in 2024, H7 hosts 4 “A night with” formats coprogrammed by local artists), while Le Sucre is putting on intimate club-style events from midnight to the early hours.

Le Transbordeur, in Villeurbanne, becomes part of the festival’s nighttime itineraries, offering an alternative programme faithful to the aesthetics that Le Transbordeur has vigorously defended since its opening.

The Days head down to their favourite playground and experimental site: the city and the urban space, the historic heartland of Nuits Sonores: this year, festival-goers are invited to (re)discover the city through Lyon’s public squares and cultural sites, thanks to a series of open events and the Extra! programme. 

Note that all the main Nuits Sonores sites are accessible to people with disabilities.