Music for all at the REMIX Opening!

19 concerts across 4 stages
Esch2022, European Capital of Culture will launch in a few days with the REMIX Opening, which will take place on Saturday 26 February in Esch-Centre (16.30–23.00) and Esch-Belval (17.00–23.00). In the evening, the city centre of Esch will transform into a space mission control room, while the university district of Esch-Belval will act as a launch pad for a virtual rocket. Join this unique immersive and festive event for all with live music, DJ sets, movement workshops, video mapping and numerous live performances!

On this extraordinary night, you will be able to attend 19 concerts on four large stages. Discover a wide variety of music styles performed by artists from Luxembourg, France, the Greater Region and the two twin European Capitals of Culture, Kaunas in Lithuania and Novi Sad in Serbia. At the Rockhal, the musicians selected to take part in the Future Frequencies workshops, under the artistic leadership of Frank Wiedemann and Matthew Herbert, will unveil their production ‘The Sound of Europe’ live on stage!

Mission Control (Town Hall)
As its name suggests, SAXITUDE is all about sax and attitude! And about talent, of course. Founded in 2004 by the saxophonist and composer Robi Arend, these four accomplished musicians from France and Luxembourg are a vibrant combo whose joy, energy and fun are infectious.

In the decade since their founding, the Luxembourg band Seed to Tree has become a staple of the indie-pop music scene. With tunes reminiscent of Bombay Bicycle Club and Ben Howard, they take audiences on a journey into the world of indie guitars, synth pop and afrobeats. ‘Proportions’ (2019), their second studio album, has reached over a million streams on Spotify.

On to Africa with Grupo Pilon, one of Luxembourg’s first Cape Verdean bands. In 1986, a group of teenagers arriving from Cape Verde started spending their afternoons singing and dancing at the local Cape Verdean community centre, near Luxembourg’s Main Station. In just a few years, they established themselves as the Cape Verdean music group of reference in the country and beyond. Their success was confirmed in 2019 when they were spotted by the New York-based record company Ostinato Records, who reissued a compilation of three of their albums from the 1990s, ‘Leite Quente Funaná de Cabo Verde’.

Place de la Résistance
Discover the Lithuanian groups Color of Bubbles and Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio dantys, two gems coming to you straight from one of our partner Capitals of Culture, Kaunas 2022. Head for America with Zero Point Five, one of Luxembourg’s most authentic pop, folk and country bands! Banjos, mandolins and fiddles will take you to Tennessee, or even to Honolulu…
The Jahrdiniers cultivate a lush musical garden steeped in rock, country, funk, disco, wave, lo-fi, reggae… An eclectic mix shot through with humour.

Rockhall
Future Frequencies, a project launched by Esch2022 under the artistic direction of Matthew Herbert and Frank Wiedemann, has brought together twelve amateur musicians from various musical backgrounds to create the concert ‘Sound of Europe’. Across a series of workshops, the musicians, who were selected from the Esch2022 region, created a unique 45-minute sound and light show that will premiere on the main stage of the Rockhal. They will be accompanied by more than a hundred musicians from the Harmony Orchestra of the Esch/Alzette Conservatory of Music, the Municipal Plectrum Ensemble of Esch/Alzette and a pop choir conducted by Priscila da Costa.

Concluding the evening, the deejaying and electronic music goddess Miss Sappho will take to the decks and artfully blend her singing with deep house, tech house and all kinds of acid sounds.

LaunchPad (Belval)
The high-energy Serbian rock duo Short Reports, ambassadors of our partner Capital of Culture Novi Sad 2022, is composed of Nikolette (drums) and Nemanja (guitar, vocals). An advocate of ‘less is more’, this minimalist duo likes to explore themes invented on the spot. Their first album, ‘Cats Versus Dogs’, sums up their philosophy: how to fill the sound space with only two instruments?

Spotlight on two young upcoming Luxembourg artists, spotted at the Screaming Fields Festival. Born in Luxembourg to a Hungarian mother, Maz is a young rapper to watch out for. With engaging simplicity, he sets himself apart from the often clichéd world of rap. CHAiLD (pronounced ‘Child’) is an emerging electro-pop artist from Luxembourg. A generational voice for queer youth who want to express themselves, his melancholy universe combines Italian and Portuguese musical influences. Meanwhile, Ryvage, the solo project of the Luxembourgish electronic music musician and producer Samuel Reinard, will take the audience on a musical journey marked by 1980s science fiction, industrial and electro-pop music, literature and immersive installations. The Franco-Finnish electronic music group The Penelopes, composed of Axel Basquiat (composition, bass, vocals) and Vincent Trémel (production, keyboards), combine indie-pop and dream-pop-inspired keyboard and guitar textures and melodies with the hard-hitting grooves of disco and electronic music. Among other things, the London-based duo is credited with rekindling the flame of the New Wave (Depeche Mode, New Order, The Cure…).