LOUD WOMEN Fest Hamburg: live review and photo galleries

It’s taken me a little while to get around to writing about LOUD WOMEN Fest Hamburg, partly because the weeks since have been a blur of travel, gigs and life — but also because it was such an amazing event that it deserves a proper moment to reflect on. And first things first: eternal gratitude to Mara from Hafenklang, who made the whole thing happen. She booked the bands, sold the hell out of the show, and ran everything brilliantly on the day. Absolute hero behaviour.

A word on the venue too — because Hafenklang is an absolute gem. The festival took place across the legendary punk venue downstairs and the equally cool Goldener Salon upstairs. In time-honoured LOUD WOMEN Fest style, bands alternated between the two stages, meaning we spent the entire day happily skipping up and down the stairs, never missing a moment and constantly discovering another brilliant band.

The crowd? Honestly, some of the loveliest people ever. The event had already sold out ahead of time, with 50 tickets held back for the door — and local scenesters were queueing down the road from early in the day to grab them. From the moment the doors opened there was this beautiful sense of community and celebration. Exactly what LOUD WOMEN is all about.

Isabella opened the day in style, and by the end of the night she was dancing with us at the afterparty — a perfect bookend to the day and a total legend.

Maneuvreputs, Mara’s own project, delivered heart-stopping solo punk songs with the effortless cool and nonchalance of someone who has somehow managed to organise the coolest festival in Hamburg while also being one of its standout performers.

The Croax, a Hamburg four-piece proudly flying the grrrl-punk flag, brought raw energy and unapologetic attitude that had the crowd locked in from the first chord.

Me and My Two Horses easily win the award for best band name of the day, and their performance was every bit as cool as the name suggests.

Matrone followed with a ferocious mix of sludgecore, metal, punk, flamenco and rock’n’roll — a wild genre collision that somehow made perfect sense on stage, heavy, hypnotic and totally gripping.

SLIP were a last-minute addition — they just slipped in there — and we’re so glad they did. Huge tunes and a perfect fit for the lineup.

The Funeral Crankies delivered their unique blend of soft grunge, doom and garage rock revival, proudly living up to their motto of putting the “fun” in funeral.

Mara from Mars brought a burst of spontaneous freestyle improvisation — wild, creative and completely in the spirit of the day.

Gute Katze Böse Katze were enormous fun — a queer feminist punk trio from Hamburg who describe themselves as “cuddle punk”, which basically means joyful, punchy, anarchic songs that had everyone smiling.

I, Doris — yes, that’s my band — were lucky enough to be part of it too, and we absolutely loved every second. Once again we were joined by Jules, the drummer from Lady Lazarus (now officially known as Doris, and honestly we’d keep her forever if we could). It might genuinely have been one of my favourite sets we’ve ever played — the crowd, the energy, the reaction… one of those pinch-me moments.

Die Störung followed with cool, driving, dreamy pop-punk that felt both powerful and hypnotic live.

Welpe brought dark riffs and gritty, honest lyrics straight out of the DIY punk tradition — raw, intense and deeply compelling.

Bullshit Boy instantly became our new best friends. Such a ridiculously fun live band — they had us completely won over at “stage flamingoes”.

No Sugar were an absolute powerhouse, driven by an incredible drummer who had the whole room locked in. (Apologies for the overexcited Dorisses who followed their set — ever on the hunt for our forever drummer we may have attempted another recruitment drive…)

And finally Lady Lazarus closed the night with a headline set that sealed the deal. It felt incredibly special seeing them again for the second weekend in a row — this is a band on a world-smashing mission and we’re so proud to have them in the LOUD WOMEN family. We’ll be welcoming them to the UK this summer when they play the LOUD WOMEN stage at Rebellion Festival.

Huge love also to Team LOUD WOMEN’s Anastasiia and Olga, who made the journey to Hamburg to help out on the day and brought their usual sunshine, positivity and brilliant energy to everything. LOUD WOMEN family forever.

By the end of the night we had sold every scrap of merch, made a million new friends, and were already talking about the next time we come back.

Hamburg, we love you.
We’re still nursing the hangover.
And we’ll be back as soon as possible.