The pack of friends roams in the 5th near the Pantheon like a pirate scouring the seas, in search of a new adventure. Go where ? They don’t know it themselves. At two o’clock in the morning, there is not much open, even in the capital. But that’s also what it is at night: walking who knows where, until who knows when, to do who knows what. Just the pleasure for these twenty-somethings to prolong the evening a little longer in the infinity of possibilities. Exchanging a last laugh, throwing a final spade, remaking the world once again or stranding yourself in an unknown bar that will have had the good idea not to have closed its doors.
“Freedom”, summarizes Sarah, unofficial leader of the band. His troops know it, it is a luxury to choose when the evening stops. During what was to be the “prime” of their youth, the night was confiscated. Worse yet, regulated. In Ile-de-France, as in six other regions, the curfew began on October 17, 2020 and ended… on June 20, 2021. Eight consecutive months of seeing life stop when the sun goes down. Three hundred and one days in total, if we add the 55 of the first confinement. Compile the additional months to endure closed bars, restricted terraces, prohibited nightclubs, and you get two years where youth was deprived of its favorite playground.
“University without parties and bars is 90% less interesting”
“My last two years of license”, plague Sarah even more bitter than the pints of IPA threaded a few hours ago. “University without parties and bars is 90% less interesting. It’s nice the socio huh but still…” No party at the pub to celebrate the diploma, no barathon on Thursday evenings while crawling to the bench of the university the next morning, no Freed from Desire or of Connemara Lakes, not even the smallest meter of shot to slip down your throat on birthdays (to be consumed in moderation darlings, thank you very much). And they are aware of it, “lost time can’t be made up for anymore”, as the other sang.
The ban was so long that between two self-exit certificates and washing the shopping with bleach, doubt arose. What if the party never returned to the next world? Politicians repeated it themselves at will, as much as a health advice as a morality of propriety: the bamboche, it’s over.
The same bars, the same friends, the same rites
Spoiler for 2023: the so-promised world after has furious similarities with the world before, both in its faults and in its pleasures. “As soon as the bars reopened, we threw ourselves into them starving to death”, skull Léo, who takes his role as the group’s comedian very seriously. For him, partying and happiness is like riding a bike: you can’t forget it. “The recovery was automatic. We hadn’t lost any of our habits, our drinking games or our laughter. The same bars, the same friends, the same rites,” he smiles. Sarah adds: “We just had to reinvest our lost territory. But no worries or difficulties. When freedom is in front of us, we seize it. »
The bamboche never really ended, it was just put on hold. Or rather, under respiratory assistance. “We were partying but less well,” recalls Sarah. Aperitif zoom, beer on the floor before the curfew rings, and they confess now that it’s been two years: certain unofficial evenings at each other’s homes by evading health restrictions. But as soon as the outside was liberated, delivered, “there was no hesitation,” says Léo. “Covid aperitifs and everything, compared to our real evenings, it’s the Pro A [championnat de basket en France] compared to the NBA. »
An increased monopoly on the night
Whatever the student thinks, some preferred to stay in the comfort of their homes, even after the restrictions were lifted. “People over 55 consume less out of home than before the Covid, notes Julien Veyron, director of customer solutions at CGA-France. For them, there is a real break, and the habit has not been resumed. “You will have understood, the youth, it leaves strong on the flowerbeds:” There is a big consumption outside the home, of purchases pleasure, in spite of inflation and the crises. »
Within a group, everyone has a more or less avowed role and character. So let’s move on to the introvert, Natacha. Even his eyes constantly fixed on his Air Jordans have noticed: not only is the night theirs again, but they have increased their monopoly on it. “It’s true that compared to 2019, there are fewer old people outside” – knowing that when you are 20 years old, the term quickly designates anyone over their thirties. As a result, “the bars offer more cocktails for us and less wine for example. They understood that we were the only permanent clientele. At first, I was still a little hesitant, especially to appear in public as before, ”she recalls the return of bars in the summer of 2021. “Then the playlist started, I watched all around in the bar, there were no old people, only people like us. And we started dancing again…”
The night, “a metaphor for society”
No wonder young people reinvest the evenings so easily, as “they remain an initiatory rite”, analyzes Jérémie Peltier, director of studies at the Jean-Jaurès Foundation and author of The party is over ? (ed. of the Observatory, 2021). First somewhat transgressive moments without the parents, place of unavoidable meetings, romantic or friendly, and even a “metaphor of society, with its rules, its moments, its form of competition too: who is invited, who is not ; who is popular, who is not. In short, the hard laws of active life and the adult world, alcohol and dance floor version.
“We saw two years of our life sacrificed. We had to catch up, ”says Sarah, who plays it more In Search of Lost Time that journey to the Edge of the Night. The exterior is also undergoing a real return to hype, according to Jérémie Peltier: “We are coming to the end of our solitary and isolated lifestyles, and there is a need for sociability and conviviality. If loneliness and a sedentary lifestyle have been chosen lifestyles, individuals realize that it is often a creator of malaise, anxiety and depression. »
There’s no depression here, but in front of yet another closed bar door and the saving perspective of the last metro, the band reasonably decides to part ways after a final fiery declaration of friendship that smells like four grams of alcohol. Sometimes the promises of the night’s infinity pale in comparison to the good idea of avoiding an Uber or taxi bill. Do not panic, tomorrow is Saturday, and the band is determined to chain a new evening. And even to see each other for a post-hangover McDonald’s at noon. “We are not just thirsty people, defends Leo, we also like to see each other during the day. Simply put, when you’re 20, you learn to cherish the day only after celebrating the night.