L'Oasis

L'Oasis is Superforma's largest concert hall, located in the heart of the Centre des Expositions du Mans (1 avenue du Parc des Expositions). With a capacity of 1,200, it is the association's biggest venue, dedicated to the most current music. It hosts renowned artists and groups, both established names and those making a buzz, across a wide range of genres from metal to rap/hip-hop, as well as pop, rock, blues and chanson.

Its wooden structure, shaped like an inverted trapezoid, was designed to deliver even sound to the whole audience, fostering the close connection between stage and audience that visitors appreciate. Depending on the night, the mood ranges from intimate atmospheres (pop, soul, jazz, world music) to more energetic waves (ska, reggae, funk, rap, rock, metal).

L'Oasis only opens on concert nights, with doors generally opening between thirty minutes and an hour and a half before the show. It is served by bus line 5 (“Oasis” stop) and has a parking lot on the Parc des Expositions site. It is part of the network of venues run or affiliated with Superforma, alongside Le Silo, Les Saulnières, L'Alambik, the Péniche Excelsior and the Jean Carmet hall.

A bit of history

The Oasis hall was built and opened in 1998 within the Centre des Expositions du Mans, as a contemporary music venue with a capacity of 1,200. Since January 2012, its management has been entrusted to the association Bebop (Le Mans). Over the decades, L'Oasis has served as a springboard for many artists who have since become major figures on the French music scene, including Calogero, Bénabar, Kyo, Corneille, Raphaël, Diam's and Christophe Maé.

On December 18, 2014, the association Bebop joined four other cultural organizations in Le Mans (the public institution Excelsior in Allonnes, the Maison des Loisirs et de la Culture Les Saulnières, a local public service of the City of Le Mans, the association Le Silo and the association MJC Ronceray) to found Superforma. It was registered with the Sarthe prefecture on December 19, 2014 and published in the Journal officiel on January 3, 2015. The goal of this collective of six venues, including L'Oasis, is to pool programming, production and cultural outreach resources for contemporary music across the Le Mans area and the Sarthe department.

On November 19, 2019, five years after its creation, Superforma received the “Scène de musiques actuelles” (SMAC) label from the Ministry of Culture, becoming the first SMAC in the Sarthe and the seventh in the Pays de la Loire region. The label now applies to the whole network of venues that includes L'Oasis.