By Stefan Godin · · 3 min read · portrait · collectif · nantes · techno
Paco Tyson : the free open air collective in Nantes
Paco Tyson has kept Nantes dancing for free since 2017. Three big-top editions at La Chantrerie, then the Station Nuage open airs, from Parc O Tyson to the Blue Fridays. A portrait of the collective with the grandma name, its springboard label Paco Tyson Records, and the most open party in the Nantes scene.
Contents
🎚️ Who they are
Paco Tyson is, first of all, a name that sounds like nothing the scene usually produces. No techno reference, no rave code: a grandma saying turned sideways ("Noël au balcon, Pâques au tison"), picked by founders who, in their own words, didn't want "a cold techno name or yet another 90s name". The joke is fully owned. It even works as positioning: staying light in a scene that often takes itself very seriously.
Behind the joke, two heads. Julien Laffeach, aka C.H.I.C.H.I., already the instigator of the Chronic and Discord parties of the Sweatlodge association, and Nicolas Viande, aka Sweat Lodge. They launched Paco Tyson in 2017 under a big top at La Chantrerie: 13,000 festival-goers in the first edition, up to 20,000 across the format's three years. The festival then shifted to a free open air summer season at Station Nuage, on Île Forget in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, and became the great unifier of the Nantes scene.
🔊 The sound
Their line claims every electronic aesthetic: techno, house, trance, hardcore, drum and bass, all the way to ambient. That is broader than the techno and hard spectrum we stand for on calrave, let's be upfront about it. If you come for the heavy stuff, aim for the techno, trance or hardcore slots on their bills: between a Mac Declos or a SHDW guesting at Station Nuage and Lacchesi or Maara at Parc O Tyson, you are covered.
The other pillar is the label. Paco Tyson Records, created in 2020, works as a springboard for DJs and producers from Nantes and its region. And the policy shows on stage from day one: warm-ups are always handled by local artists. Not filler for the early hours; a rule they have held since 2017, edition after edition.
🏛️ The fixtures
The Paco Tyson calendar comes down to a few markers, from the free Friday night to the co-organised festival.
Parc O Tyson, the XXL open air
Launched in 2019, Parc O Tyson is the biggest open-air dancefloor in the Nantes area: up to 5,000 people at Station Nuage, for free. The 2025 edition lined up Lacchesi, Maara, Spray, C.H.I.C.H.I. and Alan.D. The date moves every summer; the 2026 one had not been published at the time of writing.
Blue Friday, Station Nuage's Fridays
Free early-evening open airs on Fridays, from April to the end of summer. The springboard in action: locals first (Bambi, Subsism, Chat Manik), b2b sets, and every now and then a big name passing through, like SHDW. You come straight from work, it costs nothing, and the dancefloor looks out on the Loire.
Into the City, 36 hours in the city
In 2022, the collective staged Into the City: a 36-hour open air on Rue du Sénégal, on the Île de Nantes, afters at the Warehouse included. Occupying urban public space for that long, non-stop, almost no other Nantes collective has done it. The move extended the 2019 itinerant edition, which already closed at the Warehouse.
Euphoria Nantes, the co-organised big format
Since 2025, Paco Tyson has co-organised Euphoria Nantes Festival at MIN de Rien, on the Île de Nantes. Its night at the 2025 edition billed Ellen Allien, Cassius, Mac Declos and Pureblast. The big-stage register, without letting go of the local anchor.
📍 Where to catch them
At Station Nuage for most of the warm season, for free. Dates drop as they come on the collective's Instagram and on pacotyson.fr; the Paco Tyson agenda on calrave follows. The label plays on SoundCloud and Bandcamp.
And if your thing is hard music in a club format, the city has the exact counterpart: Nantes Rave Techno at the Warehouse, ticketed, 360° stage, industrial kicks. Two complementary takes on the same city: Paco Tyson gathers the whole Nantes electronic community, NRT concentrates the hard ravers.