the Exo 7 concert hall is being demolished
The former Les Chartreux cinema in Petit-Quevilly (Seine-Maritime), transformed into a nightclub and concert hall under the names of Studio 44 then Exo 7, has seen dozens of internationally renowned artists and groups. The building is being demolished for a real estate project.
It was a neighborhood cinema built in the early fifties on the edge of a large square located a few hundred meters from Rouen: the Place des Chartreux in Petit-Quevilly.
“Le Chartreux” was the name Michel Cavelier gave to his modern cinema.
Under the sign, we discovered a large glazed hall with a cashier in the center. The room was large, without a balcony, with a capacity of 700 seats. The red velvet armchairs sloped down gently to the screen at the foot produced is a small rounded stage.
Shock at the cinema
At the end of the 1970s, faced with the decline in the number of spectators, Michel Cavelier agreed to rent his cinema hall to one of the organizers of rock concerts in the Rouen region. A certain Jacques Hupine, who could not find a venue in Rouen, was looking for a venue for a new English group soon on tour.
This is how on April 26, 1977 Les Clash made their first concert in France at Place des Chartreux!
Studio 44 temple of disco and rock
After the Clash concert in 1977, other rock concerts took place in the movie theater until 1979.
A year when a Sunday in July, and as in the song of Eddy Mitchell, Michel Cavelier cries on the day of the last screening of his cinema. That day, in addition to the 7 spectators who came to see the Kungfu film “The five fingers of death” Hervé Duprey, the new owner of the premises, explains to Stéphane Chandelier and the author of this article what is going on. do as work in the room …
Hervé Duprey, a Rouen merchant specializing in HIFI and nightclub equipment with light and sound, took over the cinema for the transformer into the largest disco club in Normandy, on the model of which he had seen during a trip in New York: the famous Studio 54. After several months of construction, the Le Chartreux cinema became Studio 44.
Two disc jockeys in white overalls and hard hats, state-of-the-art sound systems (even with special speakers for earthquake effect), bright lighting with bubble machine and one of the most powerful lasers in France, funk music and more US hits, giant bar and mezzanine balcony: Studio 44 was, in the middle of the disco period, a huge success.
duration of the video: 06 min 35
VIDEO – Souvenirs (in 1991) of concerts at Exo 7 and Studio 44 in Rouen-Petit-Quevilly
A stage and dressing rooms having been fitted out, Studio 44, in addition to the disco activity, was also a concert hall where producers and turners, including Bernard Maillard and Jacques Hupine, began from the first months of the Studio to program groups. renowned. Trust, Bashung, The Cure, Cramps, Jo Jackson, Madness, Little Bob, Costello, Dogs, Jam, Toots and the Maytals …
The legendary Exo 7
In 1983, the nightclub closed. Jacques Hupine takes over the business, rearranges the room into a club rock and hangs a new sign on the storefront: the Exo 7.
The concerts are linked, more than 300 the first ten years. Metal, reggae, rock: artists and the public are in favor of this room, neither too small nor too large, with perfect acoustics. The local groups and musicians start there by making the first parts of the headliners. In the boxes, like a sort of guest book for the room, the groups write their names on the walls, in memory of their passage.
A room that disappears
In competition with the opening of Hangar 106 (the contemporary music room of the Rouen metropolis), the Exo 7, faced with administrative problems and not supported by local elected officials, was forced to close in spring 2010.
Before and after photos: move the arrow from left to right
The city of Petit-Quevilly then decides to demolish the Exo7 and build there instead of housing.
On August 18, 2021, the room became closed to all visits with the start of asbestos removal work.
On September 28, an excavator began the demolition of the building by tearing off the storefront and the doors …
video length: 165 h min
VIDEO – August 18, 2021: last visit of the Exo 7 before the start of the asbestos removal and demolition work
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© France Televisions
During the month of October, Jacques Hupine intends to organize a “happening” so as not to forget all these evenings spent at Exo 7 and all the big names that have performed here.