Words and photos by Holly Raeburn
Brighton’s Lambrini Girls, Phoebe Lunny (vocals/guitar) and Lilly Macieira (bass), are intelligent powerhouses, and I will go as far as saying they are the most relevant band in Britain today. But not ‘Great’ Britain, because they wouldn’t agree with that.
It’s impossible to review their gig as a gig – it would be like reviewing a pivotal life-changing moment. They are an experience like no other. They wake you up, the Lambrini Girls do. One of the loudest bands I have heard since I last saw them, and this time it was amplified by being in London’s tiny gem of a venue MOTH Club.
Their arresting show is non stop energy, one minute we are instructed to crouch down, then Phoebe is hanging off the ceiling, stage diving, moshing, or standing like the leader we all need to listen to with unwavering confidence as we hang onto their every word. They are teachers, teaching us to be good to each other, to demand better, to not be bystanders to hatred. It should be on the curriculum that everyone is to experience a Lambrini Girls show.
The space they create makes me feel safe, heard, and validated. They are totally in control of what’s going on around them – despite a few knocks on the heads of the audience from their guitars (I like to think we take it as some kind of punk kiss).
With the 300 person capacity this evening (and a waiting list of around 600 people wanting to get in) I feel I’ve just witnessed a festival headline show, yet I’m acutely aware of the privilege of seeing them in such a small place because they won’t be playing tiny spaces much longer. They have got to get huge. HUGE. Their message is gargantuan and needs to be heard by everybody. Their zero tolerance to bigotry, transphobia, sexism and misogyny is vital. They live, breathe, embody, and preach their beliefs with an unwavering authentic rage; rage we must collectively agree is necessary, but the tragedy of the reality we live in is that we have such societal battles in our lives. Riling up the audience to chants of ‘who hates JK Rowling’ before playing ‘Terf Wars’ was powerful, yet poignant. We need to be better allies, all of us. We all need to do more, do better, be louder.
Anti-Tory chants and passionate cheers of support to end the horrors in Palestine unify the audience like a political rally. Solidarity is a powerful thing. So powerful, in fact, that they quite literally set the stage on fire. An electrical wire starts smoking near the end of their set, with an electrical extinguisher promptly finding it’s way to the stage with the evening ending soon after one last song.
You should never expect anything less than a smoking stage at a Lambrini Girls show. If any band are going to set the world, your ears, and a stage on fire it’s them. Can we now please burn the patriarchy for good.