So a few weeks ago, I travelled to Paris courtesy of Eurostar and We Are Social where I went to the Rock en Seine festival. You can see the full report here. Now the same nice people are kindly offering a Nialler9 reader a free pair of Eurostar tickets to either Paris, Brussels or Lille. Your choice. It’s all part of their Little Break Big Difference campaign.
Once you get to your destination, you can do anything you like or travel a bit further afield. In the more, I’ve compiled a list of gigs taking place in each city which includes shows from Pixies, Phoenix, Boys Noize, Fuck Buttons, Massive Attack, Andrew Bird, Grizzly Bear, Sonic Youth and loads more. Or you can just chill in the city for the duration of your stay. More ideas here .
If you’re based in Ireland, you’ll still have to make your own way to St. Pancras station in London (a cheap return flight does the job) but the offer is open to UK readers as well of course. Other terms and conditions: Entrants must be over 18 / Tickets are available for travel between now and the 15th November / Entrants must be able to make their own way to St Pancras / Avaliable to UK and Ireland participants only. Competition closes on the 6th of October at 9am.
Here’s how you enter:
Leave a comment below outlining what you’d like to use the tickets for.
The best answer will win the tickets.
* Photo above taken from Vice’s photos from Rock en Seine, taken by Gareth with thanks to Alice’s dad Paul. It’s the tunnel on the way to the festival.
Paris
Oct 14 – Baddies – Nouveau Casino
Oct 15/16 – Pixies – Zenith
Oct 16 – Camera Obscura – La Maroquinerie
Oct 17 – Fleetwood Mac – Zenith
Oct 19 – Phoenix and Chairlift – Zenith
Oct 22 – Chase & Status Launch Party with DJ Hype, N-Type – Elysée Montmartre
Oct 23 – Boys Noize (with DJ Mehdi, Housemeister, Jackson) – Bataclan
Oct 23 – Fuck Buttons – Nouveau Casino
Oct 25 – Sonic Youth – Palais de Congress
Oct 28 – The Dead Weather – Olympia
Oct 28 – Jay Reatard – La Maroquinerie
Nov 5 – Arctic Monkeys – Zenith
Nov 6 – The Big Pink – La Cigale
Nov 7 – Passion Pit – La Cigale
Nov 9 – Antipop Consortium – La Maroquinerie
Nov 10/11 – Massive Attack – Zenith
Nov 12 – Morrissey -Zenith
Nov 13 – Andrew Bird – Casino de Paris
Lille
Oct 16 – Phoenix & Chairlift – Aeronef
Oct 30 – Placebo – Zenith
Nov 5 – The Big Pink – Aeronef
Nov 6 – Passion Pit – Aeronef
Nov 10 – Morrissey – Aeronef
Nov 13 – Rodrigo y Gabriela – Aeronef
Brussels
Oct 10 – Patrick Wolf – Orangerie
Oct 14 – Pixies – Forest National
Oct 15 – Baddies – Le Botanique
Oct 16 – Fuck Buttons – Botanique/Rotunde
Oct 19 – Camera Obscura – Ancienne Belgique
Oct 22 – Sonic Youth – Ancienne Belgique
Oct 29 – White Lies – AB Box
Oct 31 – The Horrors – Le Botanique
Nov 3 – The Big Pink – AB Box
Nov 6 – Wilco -Cirque Royal
Nov 8 – Grizzly Bear, St. Vincent – Cirque Royal
Nov 8 – Sam Amidon – AB Box
Nov 8 – Jay Reatard – Botanique/Rotunde
Nov 9 – Flaming Lips – Ancienne Belgique
Nov 10 – Miike Snow – Le Botanique
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
We had a little girl last year and spare time has shrunk to a minimum of minimums, especially for distant late night music gigs. We have only been to a gig once, since pregnancy and birth and the missis chose to take us to see Feeder at Peterborough. It was not good and not full either, please help us to regain something not felt for a lifetime so we may pass this knowledge on to next generation 🙂 It’s one of those circle of life things 🙂
Hello. I would go to Paris to see my Parisian housemate who has just moved out there… I would go for the sake of my unpaid and nearly bankrupt video blog http://www.ohdearyme.com go to a gig and film it. I would use the ticket as the next journey on my ladder. I would also go to meet this guy http://vainzine.blogspot.com/ who is another blogger I have never met, who is also struggling with his passion and who lives in Paris. I would meet him finally and get him to show me the great music venues out there.
I would use the ticket – as my next blogging adventure.
Thanks
Becki B. x
I would go down into the paris catacombs with my band mate Ian, where we would proceed to write a haunting ambient album over the course of a couple of days using laptops, ipods, guitars and glockenspeils.
It will be called underneath the tower and we will send you a copy!
Images of the Catacombs here http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=b5cfa0a48657bcf270f8722d70e03a52&t=36969
My friend and I have recently lost our job, and rather than panicking about the doom and gloom and the state of our nation (+ as graduates of Limerick School of Art Design, the likely hood of finding a job even if the country was in full celtic swing would be quite rare) we’ve decided to pack up and travel europe on as little money as physically possible and with as much help from the lovely people of the we can get.
We will use this ticket as hopefully one of many donations that will assist our travels.
cheers
Mikey
I love the fact that eurostar is carbon neutral. I’d use the tickets to go to Brussels and lobby my MEPs, the European Commission and others for strong action on climate change this year. Final negotiations on what will happen post-Kyoto take place in December, so the timing would be perfect. And if we can include aviation this time, then all the better for train travel and green weekend breaks!
Well , I think I should get the tickets as I’m Great – in Fact I should get both the tickets, just in case one doesn’t work.
Is plagiarism going to work against me here?- If that doesn’t work I can show you a picture, I drew of me walking the dog in the nip! In fact I think I’ll show you anyways – cant hurt my odds
Let’s go to… Brussels!
Moule and frites with a local beer. Oh, and a Grizzly Bear gig to top it off. Can’t beat that!
Pick me, pick me, pick me pretty please (S’il vous plait)…..
I’d love to brush up on my francais, show my beau the sights of gay paris.. and fit in a music gig or two..
merci..
A train to Bruxelles? surely that’s the Luas….
Whaddya mean it’s a country? no way.
I’ll take the ticket to go and see for myself (and prove ya wrong! wrong i tells ya…)
I would like the tickets because I had a baby recently and although it was very tasty, it was not filling so I would like another one. I would also like to see the inside of the pancreas. i didn’t know it was a train station. I thought it was a body part. Also i have friends in Belgium I would like to visit. And a sore knee. I have a sore knee also.
I would go to Paris to track down the coolest music venue I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.
I stumbled across it one rainy autumn evening some years ago as a group of us on a weekend break were walking down the Rue de Rivoli after a couple of drinks. Thinking it was a regular bar we went down to grab a nightcap, only to find a Napoleonic vaulted cellar with fantastic French Hip hop courtesy of three deck mixing and surreal breakdancing on the polished marble floors. Needless to say we stayed until the money ran out.
I would also take my ticket stub with me as I have since learnt that “bonne pour un consummation” (sp.?) meant that I could have claimed a free drink!
here is my story:
a few days ago i was sitting at work and suddenly had a thought of Paris. That thought transformed in a strong desire to go to Paris at least for a few days – even if it was just a weekend trip. I dropped everything i was doing at the time and started looking for tickets Vancouver-Paris. Unfortunately, there was nothing less than 1000$! And that was way above my budget. I was about to give up on my sudden idea when next day i went grocery shopping and saw a contest that promised a winner a trip to Paris for two. And suddenly i felt like that there was a reason for that original thought – it was more meaningful that just a regular day dream…
There is a reason why i have to go to Paris.
I don’t know this reason yet – maybe it is to meet somebody that will change my life; maybe it’s to get inspired and create an amazing work of art (I paint); maybe it’s just to get out of my own environment and save me from boredom. I really don’t know why but Universe wants me to go there. So this morning I went online and googled “win tickets to Paris” and found this website…and since i don’t believe in coincidences – I think that even though my comment is very different from every other one here, I might be chosen and win those tickets. then i can come back and tell you WHY i had to go and what happened.
Go to London – get bent – party on the Eurostar, get to Brussels – hit Fuck Buttons – loving the new album – get bendier, abuse some Brussels, kiss the pissing baby and get back in time for work on Monday
The recession is hitting this currently unemployed giggirl badly. I make it my business to try and travel once a year to see a band I’ve never seen live before, in a new venue, and preferably a new city. Massive Attack in Paris would be three firsts in one go! But what an even bigger thrill to get there by Eurostar. I’d catch a cheapy flying bus to London, hop on the Eurostar and get picked up by some impossibly chic Parisian friends (when I make some!) in their impossibly small city car. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Come on Nialler9 – be my Eurostar and help make a poor broke giggirl’s dream come true!
I just need a holiday!
A winner has been picked by the judges. Congrats Rob!
WHAAAT.. you better make a good track Rob!! 😛
No. Well done.
The big problem is going to be finding a way into the catacombs, we’ve got some ideas for what to record when we’re down there. Acoustics should be great!Thanks again Niall, i’ll get some dates to you when we’ve settled on a date tonight!
i’d head off and catch some electro.
thats it.
um , give me the tickets cause i want them . DAZ
Travelling by Eurostar to Paris, to stroll in Jardin du Luxemborg, and eat croissants with my boyfriend, as the sun rises, is rock and roll to me. Moh