AccorHotels Arena

AccorHotels Arena (originally known as Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy and formerly Bercy Arena) is an indoor sports arena and concert hall located on boulevard de Bercy in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France. The closest métro station is Bercy.

Designed by the architectural firm Andrault-Parat, Prouvé and Guvan, it has a pyramidal shape and walls covered with sloping lawn. It is the main venue for the Paris Masters, ATP Tour tennis tournament and for many sports: handball, basketball, boxing, gymnastics, track cycling, show jumping and more. It has a seating capacity ranging from 7,000 to 20,300, depending on the event. POPB hosted the European gymnastics championship in 2000, the 1991 and 1996^[1] FIBA European Championships Final Fours and the European Basketball Championship in 1999 among others. The POPB has also staged WWE Raw on September 28, 2008. It also hosted the 2010 Euroleague Final Four. It also hosted the Masters Karting Paris Bercy star race from 1993 to 2001, and again in 2011.

As part of the 2014-15 renovations efforts, the arena was renamed Bercy Arena on 1 January 2015. It was again renamed AccorHotels Arena in October 2015.^[2]

Notable concerts

French singer Dorothée holds the record for the highest number of shows at the arena by a female artist with 58 shows (57 shows between 1990 and 1996 and one show in December 2010).

One of the first shows to have been recorded in the Palais Omnisports was in 1985, when Deep Purple Mark II reunited for the Perfect Strangers tour. 20,000 people attended the show.

Celine Dion played 7 sell-out shows in 2013 on her Sans attendre Tour she previously played 6 sold out shows in 2009 as part of her Taking Chances World Tour playing to more than 100,000 people, 5 shows in 1996 during her Falling into You Tour and prior to that 5 dates on her highly successful D'eux Tour. She is scheduled to come back to the arena for 6 sold-out shows from June 24 to July 3, 2016 on her Live 2016 Tour.

Madonna has performed 21 sold out shows at the venue between 1990 and 2015.

In 1996, Mariah Carey performed during the Daydream World Tour. She returned to the venue in 2000 and 2003 for her Rainbow World Tour and Charmbracelet World Tour. She is scheduled to come back to the arena as part of her Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour on April 21, 2016.

In 1996 Tina Turner performed as part of her Wildest Dreams Tour. These concerts were notable due to Bruce Willis and his band being the support. Bruce Willis also performed a song with Tina as part of the encore.

The arena played host to Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concerts on September 4–5, 1988. The shows were headlined by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band and also featured Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour and Michel Jonasz.

In 2006 French singer Mylène Farmer held a 13-date concert series from January 13 to January 29 at Bercy. The highly expensive show entitled Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy was recorded on January 21, 22 and 28. A release on DVD and CD followed later that year.

Also in 2006, pop singer Christina Aguilera performed at the venue during the European Leg of her Back To Basics Tour. On December 7, 2006.

French singer Johnny Hallyday performed 79 shows in this place, from 1987 to 2006. Four shows, scheduled in 2010, were cancelled due to artist's health problems. More than one million people have seen him perform at the arena over his career.

Britney Spears performed altogether 5 shows at the venue, in line with her Onyx Hotel Tour in 2004, the Circus Tour in 2009 and the Femme Fatale Tour in 2011. All concerts were sold out.

Kylie Minogue performed at the venue on March 15, 2011 as part of her Aphrodite World Tour. She returned to the venue on November 15, 2014 as part of her Kiss Me Once Tour. The concert was sold out.

U2 performed at the stadium six times: the first one was on February 10, 1985 during their Unforgettable Fire Tour, in front of a crowd of 16,000 people. The second and the third were on December 11 and 12, 1989 during their Lovetown Tour, in front of a total crowd of 32,000 people. The fourth one was on May 7, 1992 during their Zoo TV Tour, in front of a crowd of 16,000 people. The fifth and the sixth were on July 17 and 18, 2001 during their Elevation Tour, in front of a total sold out crowd of 34,000 people. U2 performed two shows on November 10 & 11, 2015 as part of the Innocence + Experience Tour, with two to be held on November 14 and 15 (one of which was to be televised internationally live on HBO) postponed due to the November 2015 Paris attacks.

Fairuz made a European Television appearance on French TV on 13 October 1988 in a show called Du côté de chez Fred. Fairuz, who had scheduled a concert at the POPB of Paris Bercy concert hall three days later on 16 October, was the main guest of French TV presenter Frédéric Mitterrand, France's Minister of Culture (2009).

Depeche Mode performed at stadium twenty-one times: the first one was on December 17, 1984 during their Some Great Reward Tour. The second and the third were on May 6 and 7, 1986 during their Black Celebration Tour. The fourth, the fifth and the sixth were on November 16, 17 and 18, 1987 during their Music for the Masses Tour. The seventh, the eighth and the ninth were on October 21, 22 and 23, 1990 during their World Violation Tour, in front of a total sold out crowd of 50,000 people. The tenth and the eleventh were on June 29 and 30, 1993 during their Devotional Tour. The twelfth one was on October 7, 1998 during their Singles Tour. The thirteenth and the fourteenth were on October 9 and 19, 2001 during their Exciter Tour. The fifteenth, the sixteenth and seventeenth were on February 21, 22 and 23, 2006 during their Touring the Angel. The eighteenth and the nineteenth were on January 19 and 20, 2010 during their Tour of the Universe, in front of a total sold out crowd of 32,239 people. The twentieth and the twentieth-first were on January 29 and 31, 2014 during their Delta Machine Tour, in front of a total sold out crowd of 33,132 people. The 2001 shows were filmed for the group's concert film One Night in Paris.

On June 1, 2012, Jay-Z and Kanye West brought their Watch the Throne Tour to Bercy, performing the song "Niggas In Paris" a record 11 times.

Beyoncé performed 2 consecutive shows at the venue for The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour on the 24th and 25 April 2013. Although the concerts weren't sold out.

Heavy metal act Iron Maiden have been Bercy regulars since 1986. When longtime members Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith rejoined the band in 1999, their first European show back with Iron Maiden was at this venue.

Lady Gaga performed at the venue in front of a total crowd of 13,018 people on November 24, 2014, as part of her ArtRave: The Artpop Ball. It was the last date of her world tour. The show was streamed live around the world, online on Yahoo! Live, and the show became the most-streamed concert in the history of the website.

Janet Jackson will perform for the first time at the arena on 10 April 2016 as part of her Unbreakable World Tour.

Adele will perform at the arena on June 9 and 10 2016, as part of her world tour 25 .

Live DVD

The Cranberries' live DVD Beneath The Skin; the Depeche Mode live record One Night in Paris released in 2001; Placebo's live DVD Soulmates Never Die (Live in Paris 2003); Lionel Richie's Live in Paris CD/DVD were filmed at the venue. Daft Punk also recorded their 2007 live album Alive 2007 at the arena. The best selling music DVD in France, Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy by Mylène Farmer was also filmed at the venue.

Madonna's concert video footage of her famous 1991 documentary Truth or Dare (aka In Bed With Madonna), chronicling her Blond Ambition Tour, was shot at this venue on July 3, 4 and 6, 1990. Fourteen years later, the concert video footage of Madonna's 2005 documentary about her Re-Invention Tour, I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, was also shot in the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, on September 4 and 5, 2004. Le train des enfoirés ( resto du coeur ) 2005. Phil Collins's Final Farewell Tour was live at the venue, so was his Live DVD in 2004.

In March 2008, the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach performed Mahler's massive eighth symphony at the venue. Together with four mixed choruses, five children choruses, and eight soloists the masses involved excessed 1.000 participants in "The symphony of a Thousand".

Shakira's world tour The Sun Comes Out World Tour was filmed there on June 13 and 14, 2011 sold out concerts. Live from Paris (Shakira album), a live CD and DVD, was released in December 2011.

Johnny Hallyday recorded 4 DVD-CD there : Johnny à Bercy (1987), Johnny dans la chaleur de Bercy (1990), Bercy 92 (1992), and Lorada Tour (1995). At the end of his 60th birthday tour, called Plus Près de Vous Tour (2003), he burned a piano on stage while playing Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On, making a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis. On 09-30-2006, his Flashback Tour show was played live from POPB on the biggest TV Channel in Europe, TF1. At these occasions, he played with guests as Luther Allison or Colin James. After his health problems that lead to the cancel of his farewell tour (Tour 66), he came back for a duet with great French guitarist Mathieu Chedid on 15, 16 and 17 December 2010.

See also

• List of tennis stadiums by capacity

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy.

• official website

Coordinates: 48°50′19.15″N 2°22′42.60″E / 48.8386528°N 2.3785000°E / 48.8386528; 2.3785000