Lambrini Girls bring mid-week energy to Luxembourg

It's not every night that a full house of punk-loving fans fill Rotondes for an evening of raucous yelling, moshing, and music, but that's exactly what happened Wednesday night in Rotondes.

Making their way to Luxembourg between shows in Germany and France as part of a European tour behind their first album Who Let the Dogs Out, the Lambrini Girls wasted no time in injecting the jam-packed hall with energy from the get go.

"Luxembourg!" lead singer Phoebe Lunny screamed. "Are you ready to f***?"

A slightly taken-aback crowd murmured in response.

"Sounds like a maybe," Lunny observed before trying again.

The next time the crowd roared back; the scene was set, and there was no going back.

Political fury

The Lambrini girls – Lunny and bassist Lilly Macieira – have always been inherently political in their lyrics, their activism, and their performances. As angry as it is uplifting, the crowd work which sandwiched every song from their early but growing discography began immediately:

"Raise your hand if you're queer," Lunny demanded, picking out queer-identifying audience members, asking for their names, and introducing them as 'queer legends'.

Speaking to a largely male audience as they performed their hits like No Homo, Lads Lads Lads and God's Country, the Lambrini Girls presented hot topics of today without holding back: Palestine, sexual assault, and police corruption.

Drawing applause and support for the crowd, Lunny pointed out the importance of believing victims, using their hometown Brighton as an example.

"It's a very lovely, inclusive, seaside town with a bustling music scene. But we do have a problem in Brighton: sexual assault and abuse in our music scene," Lunny said.

Chiding the men who answered 'no' when she asked if similar problems existed in Luxembourg, she continued: "Everyone thinks their music scene is safe. And everyone thinks, oh, there's not a problem, but you can't look outside the scope of your own privilege – and I'm not just talking about the men, I'm talking about myself."

The way to change this? First and foremost, Lunny said, is to believe victims when they come forward. "Believe anyone that approaches you and tells you that something has happened to them. And if your friend was the perpetrator, call them out on it, alright?"

"No one wants confrontation," she continued. "It's really f*cking scary. But it's the only way to change things and make sure that people don't feel invisible."

© Nicole Osrin via den Atelier

Ending on an ambivalent high

While the audience was game for universal themes such as believing victims and supporting women, Lunny's questions on attitudes to the government were largely met with indifference. Attempting to rally the crowd in a chant against Luxembourg's prime minister and police after calling out her own country's counterparts and the problems they present, the vibe in the room was painfully tepid – this bit of crowd work would most certainly have fared better among French and German crowds.

"They're ok, we don't really mind [the police and prime minister]," one audience member shrugged.

The crowd was equally uncertain in responding to a call for anti-British chants, a position that has seen the Lambrini Girls featured in UK tabloids the Sun and Telegraph recently.

But for any uncertainty, the raging moshpit and encouraged stage diving more than made up for it - ultimately there was no doubt that the crowd was to a large extent thoroughly entertained, endeared, enraged, and inspired.

One fan Maxime, who was among those invited on stage for a stage dive, was brimming with energy after the concert.

"It was just great. And this is all the point of a concert, like in the old times – I loved it because we've missed that," said Maxime. "And these girls – it was just magnificent!"