Getting the night owls on the dance floorBY LUC JACCARD |  | It's half past midnight. In Saint-François, in Chauderon, in the Tunnel, car doors slam shut in makeshift parking spaces that are bus stops by day. You can hear the sound of footsteps moving along the pavements. Night owls meander or march along the streets, on their way to these buzzing sanctuaries where time becomes both intense and abstract. Lausanne is a beacon of light that blazes in the night sky of Helvetia. It has been shining since the 90s, when electronic music burst onto the scene and numerous new pubs and clubs were opened in a rapidly changing neighbourhood in Flon. These years of abundance shaped today’s night life, creating Lausanne’s “club culture” reputation, which attracts people from far and wide. The phenomenon filled streets that were once deserted after a certain time in the evening. It breathed life into the city at night. Today’s youth find it hard to believe, given the lively scene in Flon, the Tunnel, the area around Grand-Pont and Marterey, that Lausanne was once quiet. Sold-out high massesHow many stars shine in the Lausanne night sky today? Thirty clubs? Maybe more… And of all types! DJs are the new idols and celebrate sold-out high masses, while in smaller “chapels” that are waiting to be discovered, people let the rhythm of salsa music take control of their bodies. The large number of places on offer means that 18-year-olds can become devotees of a certain club, only to turn their noses up at it two years later because it is full of school children. So they simply move on and become regulars at some other place. There is something for every age and every taste. This means that the scene is well established. X-axis: age. Y-axis: musical style. The graph just needs to be plotted.
Leaving the explosive eruption in the past, today the lava has solidified and people dance in clubs whose names, along with their legendary DJs, are known from Paris to Ibiza. We can enjoy the ripened, sweeter fruit. |
