Au Son des Guitares
The music is live, and the crowd is lively at this fashionable cabaret-bar that's a Marseille institution.
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With a population of 859, 000, Marseille is a big city by French standards, with all the nightlife that entails. Arm yourself with Marseille L'Hebdo, a glossy monthly events magazine; A Nous Marseille, a hip weekly on theater, art, film, concerts, and shopping in southern Provence; or the monthly In Situ, a free guide to music, theater, and galleries. They're all in French.
Marseille's vibrant multicultural mix has evolved a genre of music that fuses all the sounds of Arabic music with rhythms of Provence, Corsica, and southern Italy, and douses it with reggae and rap.
The music is live, and the crowd is lively at this fashionable cabaret-bar that's a Marseille institution.
At this vast venue, host to the Fiesta des Suds each autumn, you'll find world and Latin music year-round.
For rap and techno, try L'Affranchi.
Restaurant by day, club and tapas bar by night, La Caravelle harks back to prewar jazz clubs, but without the smoke. There are great views over the port and live music two nights a week.
Atop the Terrasses shopping center, Le Réctoire and its terrace, Le Rooftop—together called R2—are a popular restaurant by day and a chic cocktail bar and club by night. Dance on the rooftop to live music and DJ beats, or sip a drink on the sprawling terrace while taking in spectacular views of the J4 Pier (home of MuCEM) and Marseille's big-ship port. Both establishments are open until 2 am six days a week (they close at 7 pm on Monday), a rarity in Marseille.
This bar is a mecca for English speakers, who pour onto the sidewalk, beer in hand, pub style. There's live music, DJs on the weekend, and a lounge for the die-hard rugby and soccer fans who can't go without watching a game.