“The final decision has not yet been made, but we are indeed asking ourselves the question of whether we should organize this festival in 2025,” Michel Welter, director of the Workshop, explained to us at the start of the week. It’s now official: Siren’s Call will not take place next year. This is what the public radio station reports 100,7.
We learn that both the Atelier and the Neimënster Cultural Center have given up on the 2025 edition for budgetary reasons.
Siren’s Call had already literally fallen through the cracks in 2024. © PHOTO: Noëllia Alvarez/Archives
“Commercially, it has always been complicated. We often had to go out of our own pocket,” Michel Welter already underlined a few days ago. Added to this are many “other little things”. So, given the number of artists performing in a single day, the logistics were quite significant. Without forgetting that the last edition, in June 2024, was seriously disrupted by the weather, a strong storm having forced the organizers to modify the festival over time, to adapt it to the climatic conditions.
Added to this is the loss of two grants for a possible 2025 edition, from the Ministry of Culture and “Visit Luxembourg”, the Luxembourg for Tourism brand.
“It’s not just about money. It is perhaps more of a strategic, even philosophical, question. Is it really our role to organize such an event? What’s more, at a time of the season when we are already present on many other fronts (five concerts in Neumünster and five others in the Luxexpo parking lot in 18 days, Editor’s note). Shouldn’t we rather be careful not to endanger our business?” added the director of the Workshop.
Possible deletion of another festival
Since its first edition in 2017, the Siren’s Call festival has become an unmissable event for all fans of independent music in the country (and surrounding areas). Every year, at the end of June, they met on the esplanade of Neimënster Abbey to let themselves be lulled by indie sounds.
It’s not just about money. It is perhaps more of a strategic, even philosophical, question.
Michel Welter
Workshop Director
We have already seen artists like Phoenix, The Hives, Nothing but Thieves, MGMT and Oscar & The Wolf there. The rockers from Idles, the Polish virtuoso pianist Hania Rani and the British composer Nilüfer Yanya also performed in Luxembourg during Siren’s Call. Not to mention that the festival is also a must-see calendar event for local and regional music creators.
Will Siren’s Call take place in the future? This question is still pending. What is certain is that after Food for your Senses, Luxembourg would lose another alternative music festival.
However, as explained 100,7the collaboration between the Atelier and Neimënster Abbey would be maintained. Finally, a few concerts are still planned at the Grund during the summer of 2025, such as MEUTE and Fontaines DC
This article was originally published on the website of Luxembourg word.
Adaptation: Simon Martin
