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DJ Mag Top100 Clubs
37
The Rex
3

Celebrating 20 years last year, The Rex opened its doors in 1988 but Thursday 21st May 1992 was its real starting point. That was the night when a young Laurent Garnier promoted his first Wake Up! party with the sole intention of reinvigorating the then stale Parisian rave scene with guests like Derrick May, Carl Craig and Jeff Mills.

Like Garnier, the Rex will remain a French music legend forever more and has never once sold even a shred of its soul to the Franc - it remains dedicated to underground electronic music seven days a week.

Ivan Smagghe, Stefan Bodzin, Radio Slave, Josh Wink and Dave Clarke have been recent guests as well as electro legend Afrika Bambaata.

But despite its stellar guests and towering name, the eternal charm of The Rex lies in the claustrophobic intimacy of its low-sunk ceilings. At first a surprise - given the club's resonating name - its no-nonsense rave basement pulls you in like an old clubbing comrade and reminds you why you fell in with clubbing in the first place.

"The first time I played I was like, 'Why the hell am I playing in a tiny little capsule?'" jokes Systematic's Marc Romboy. "They took the word DJ booth too literally. But the sound of this club is stunning. It has an intense pressure and kicks through the whole room. In the last 20 years the venue has lost nothing."