Gigs from Abroad Part 28 – Luxembourg

In March 2025 we headed off on the lad’s trip version XVII with the chosen destination this time being Luxembourg. It is the seventh smallest country in Europe, measuring only 50 miles at its longest point (population approx. 700k) but is a rich and reasonably influential country with its own Luxembougish (Germanic) language and the Court of Justice of the European Union being located there.

It has had several rulers after initially being established in the 11th century before gaining ongoing independence from 1867. We lodged in the historical capital Luxembourg city which was declared a UNESCO World heritage site status in 1994. In 2020, they set an unusual precedent of becoming the first country in the world to provide free public transport nationally, a generous and welcome scenario that we took full advantage of!  

Luxembourg city. Image Credit statrip.blogspot.com

The city has the accolade of being the only place to be named European Capital of Culture twice and they have won the Eurovision Song Contest five times. They also have the second highest total of Michelin-starred restaurants per capita, behind Japan.

Famous residents include the EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, champion skier Marc Girardelli and the cycling Schleck brothers. Also of Luxembourg descent was the Academy Award winning actress Loretta Young.

Additionally, there was Radio Luxembourg which was one of the very earliest commercial stations which ran from 1933 to 1992, and like many of my generation I used to listen to the scratchy long wave 208 frequency broadcast, under the covers late at night on my transistor radio!  Long wave was subsequently used by Atlantic 252 and RTE Radio 1 before the mast was finally demolished in July 2023.   

Radio Luxembourg flyer. Image Credit nostalgiacentral.com

We landed on the Friday and jumped on the free bus to commute to our hotel which was positioned above street level and only accessible via a lift. That evening we headed into the city on a bar crawl and grabbed some tea in the old town.

Luxembourg is landlocked and bordered by three separate countries and the one we chose not to visit on this trip was Belgium. On the Saturday morning, we mulched down to the main train station and as we were undertaking a border crossing there were some lengthy shenanigans when purchasing our tickets.  

Our destination was the Northeastern French city of Metz, nicknamed the green city due to a plethora of open areas and public gardens. The gothic Saint Stephen Cathedral was a spectacular sight and the finest house of worship I have encountered thus far, even Jason was enthralled by it! It apparently contains the largest expanse of stained glass windows in the world.

We found a lively square in the sunshine where we ensconced for a couple of hours and witnessed a large protest traversing by whilst munching on our pizzas. We then encountered a stroppy bar owner which encouraged us to return to our base camp.

In advance of our trip we had scoured for any gigs thereby discovering Skunk Anansie were playing in the city but unfortunately, we then discovered it was already completely sold out. As an alternate we headed to a local bar to watch Luxembourg unexpectedly defeat Sweden 1-0 in a friendly international football match. Afterwards, we played some woeful darts as Luke Littler we were not!

Nearby in the Gare area we visited Luxembourg Crossfire Nordic Bar, which was a homely little sports bar with craft beers and has a loft for hire for private parties. Whilst in residence there was a local act called Blue-ish performing. Next door to there was a strange establishment that our general consensus after departing was that it was potentially a ‘knocking shop’!

The Crossfire Bar. Image Credit tripadvisor.com

After a group breakfast on Sunday, we headed out to the bonny city of Trier, which is the oldest German city after being founded by the Romans back in the 1st century BC. General Charles de Gaulle was stationed in the city during the French occupation of Rhineland, and the philosopher Karl Marx was born there in 1918 when it was under Prussian rule.  

We visited the hugely impressive Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate), a large Roman city gate built in the 2nd century AD. In the centre we found a busy civilised Kolsch beer bar before Schnitzel munchies kicked in and a local restaurant was visited.   

Later in the evening we returned to Luxembourg and jumped on a bus to head to a couple of bars in the lower area of the old town. Thus, at closing time we were potentially stranded at the bottom of a steep hill which was our route home, this presented difficulties to some members of our group who either had mobility issues or were plain idle!  

A taxi seemed an absurd approach considering the free transport, but the last bus had already departed. We asked in the bar and in a throwaway final comment the bar maid said, ‘you could always go up in the lift’, which was music to our ears. Directions led us into a tunnel and there was indeed an elevator complete with adjoining lavatories, it would appear the Luxembourgers think of every scenario!

Manchester Venue 216 – Grafton Arms

Around eighteen months ago Gill had to undergo an unexpected major operation, but mercifully it went as well as could be expected and after a lengthy convalescent period she is now back fighting fit. One by product of this fraught period is that I gained unwanted but extensive knowledge of Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI).

A few years ago, they closed a suite of the outlying suburb establishments such as Pendlebury and Booth Hall hospitals and created a giant central hub. This behemoth of a site contains the aforementioned MRI, Manchester Royal Eye hospital, St Marys hospital and the Royal Manchester Children’s hospital and other education and research facilities.

It is situated within the Chorlton and Medlock suburb between Oxford Road and Upper Brook Street (A34), just beyond the Academy venues and lies opposite Whitworth Park. It is a mile long, and I know that as I have measured it when driving in! It contains two large car parks with commendable staff parking spaces available from the third floor upwards, though it can be a conundrum to obtain a public spot during visiting hours.   

Manchester hospital grounds. Image Credit curtismoore.co.uk

There is also a McDonalds, Starbucks and even an M&S Simply Food there. Several buses weave their way through, and it could be a mini country itself, in the mould of Vatican City! On a musical front the local Lime Art Studio undertake a lunchtime concert series which takes place in the Eye Hospital Atrium. They stage around 100 gigs annually with performances from jazz, classical and world artists.

As you depart the more northerly car park your eyes land on the MRI social club which is for staff members only with a £3 annual subscription. They have live sports and in a rather quaint throwback style they have a DJ (quite often DJ Billko based on their websites) on Payday Friday. Though as I wandered past I did wonder if they have ever had bash em up bands performing live there.

The club is now based in the hospital grounds but has had previous different locations and they also had a football team affiliated to them back in the 1970’s who staged their matches at the allegedly haunted and long closed Barnes Hospital in Cheadle. This was previously a mental asylum which always invokes memories for me of Arkham Asylum in Batman’s Gotham city, an establishment I would not have even sent my worst enemies to!

It was also once the setting for a co-produced Italian/Spanish 1974 zombie B movie called ‘Let Sleeping Corpses Lie’ known locally as ‘Don’t Open The Window’. As ever art then later imitated life with a portion of the film dialogue featuring in the 1997 ‘Wizard in Black’ track by Electric Wizard and Carcass had a song in 2020 called ‘‘The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue’ which matched another alternative English title of the movie.  

Barnes Hospital. Image Credit mark-davis-photography.com

Many hospitals now have a Discharge lounge to provide a waiting area to receive final medication and to await transport home. We were ensconced there for three hours, and it was a remarkable place resembling nothing less than a soap opera.

There was an Asian elder woman shouting out for bespoke service in a foreign language but in the main being roundly ignored, numerous malady discussions and a regular trip advisor chap who was providing extensive reviews of the soup and sandwich options on the wards, sounding not unlike a Half Man Half Biscuit track! There were also exceedingly weatherworn but patient staff, a piano in the corner and then to put the cherry on top the priest wandered in….

Just outside the hospital grounds is the Manchester Grafton Arms public house, which has had the same name since the 1950’s and in those days, it had a reputation as a rough house street corner boozer. It has been a long standing Holts Brewery hostelry, who in 1984, demolished the original and turned it into a much larger establishment.   

It has various music icon murals on the walls within, and they have ‘Jammin’ Thursdays and open mic nights and have also staged ‘Grafton-bury’ live events. I am not a regular frequenter and have never really seen it particularly busy despite its student based location, but for obvious reasons the mention of live music has always intrigued me.

Grafton Arms. Image Credit whatpub.com

I quite often pass on the way home to the bus stop after gigs at the Academy complex and on such occasion after a Slowdive show, I could hear tuneage so wandered in. Alongside a silent TV showing Blackburn playing in the extra time of an FA Cup tie there was a chap called Davie B performing.   

My other visit thus far was in May 2025, again after another gig. Now this was an interesting one as I caught the last three tracks of Pist. I wasn’t previously aware of them but researching on the bus home informed me that they derived from Connecticut and were quite legendary in the punk pantheon. They were on the circuit initially between 1993 and 1996 and reformed in 2023. It seemed a slightly incongruous venue for them, but they were excellent.

Their driving force was Bill Chamberlain who was the guitarist and chief songwriter. I have just rather sadly read that Bill passed away last year and their final ever gig was at the Cowley Club in Brighton, so it appears I witnessed them on their concluding tour. They reminded me of Black Flag, and their last single was ‘Right to Choose’ which exemplified their hardcore sound.