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03.02.2023 #festival #music #pop rock #showcase

Throwback to |lx finest - Sounds from Luxembourg at ESNS23

© Zach Glavan

And that’s a wrap on ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) 2023!  MAZ, Francis of Delirium, and TUYS, all made Luxembourg proud through their performances throughout the Groningen, Netherlands-based showcase festival. For Francis of Delirium and TUYS, this was their first live-and-in-person event at ESNS after being presented digitally the past two years due to the pandemic. MAZ on the other-hand (selected with Luxembourg’s public service radio station 100,7) made his ESNS debut. 

“It was an honour to be at Eurosonic this year,” said MAZ. “I’ve played a lot of showcases around Europe over the years, yet everywhere you go, ESNS is always talked about as ‘the spot to be,’ so I was really glad I was chosen to perform.”

We kicked off the festival week on Wednesday, January 18th with a late-night News Café session featuring psych-pop band TUYS, who have been part of the ESNS Exchange program for a couple of years now. Playing at ESNS not only means playing at the festival in January. Acts that played at the festival also are a part of the ESNS Exchange programme. ESNS Exchange, the European Talent Exchange Programme, was introduced in 2003 to make the ‘exchange’ of European artists across Europe possible on a greater scale than ever before. An initiative of ESNS, ESNS Exchange facilitates the bookings of European acts on festivals outside their home countries and generates extensive media exposure for these artists in cooperation with Euroradio, export offices and local media (our local media partner is 100,7). This way, ESNS Exchange aims to give a boost to the international careers of European artists.

Yann Gengler (Bass and singer) of the band mentioned they “had the chance to play at least three ESNS Exchange festivals last year through the program (Iceland Airwaves, FOCUS Wales, and Reeperbahn Festival). It was an amazing experience to perform shows and get to meet new artists and professionals in various markets.”

We continued on Friday with three more shows. Francis of Delirium performed a few songs to a packed Plato Records Store performance in the afternoon followed by their official ESNS showcase at the mythical and sold out VERA. The band’s two shows arrived off the back of their live performance last year at ESNS’s Music Moves Europe Talent Awards, of which the band was nominated. 

“We got to come up to Groningen to perform at the awards ceremony, however due to the pandemic the city was completely shut down, so we didn’t get to perform in front of an audience.” Lead singer and guitarist Jana Bahrich mentioned. “So it was really exciting to be at ESNS23 this year and to see the city buzzing with the eclectic mix of acts playing around the city.”

MAZ finished the musical portion of the week with a full house of fans and delegates at the Grand Theatre Main, a strong performance that Dutch public broadcasting company, RTV Noord, gave an “11/10 (!).”

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WHAT THE MEDIA ARE SAYING

“It’s the weekend and everyone feels [the enthusiasm], because there is plenty of dancing and jumping. Also by this reviewer.’ His verdict: 11/10 (!).” – RTV Noord

“Francis of Delirium ripped through an impressive show of 90s inflected alt-rock with all the fervour and grit of a teenage nightmare.” – The Line Of Best Fit

“…[Francis of Delirium] showed some real emotion in ‘Quit Fucking Around’ that really clicked. Bahrich is only 21, there is still room for growth. What she has already said makes us look forward to more.” – HUMO

“At the Grand Theatre, MAZ delivered an energetic show and wowed the room with an epic performance. His rhymes came as if from the flint. His stylistic jumps from rap to metal to emo kept one on edge. We are curious how things will continue for our famous rapper.” – 100,7