"The beginnings were really rock 'n' roll"

15 years of Rocas, ten years of Beim Renert, and now ten years of De Gudde Wëllen … The capital is celebrating these days. If you want to be part of it all, you'll need a good stamina, especially as the three cafés mentioned, which are only a short distance apart, sometimes appeal to the same clientele. While the first two bistros have already had their respective birthday parties, De Gudde Wëllen, which is the subject of this article, is celebrating its first decade this weekend.

As we've been travelling the capital's nightlife scene for as long as we can remember, we can even remember the predecessors of the current birthday boy at number 17 on Rue du Saint-Esprit: Subterrania, Péché Mignon and d:qliq, which then briefly became Serge – a kind of cocktail bar that fortunately didn't work out, otherwise De Gudde Wëllen would hardly be able to celebrate its tenth birthday this weekend. And it's doing so with an electronic club night on Friday, where you can dance on three floors, including the legendary cellar, and on Saturday with a kind of mini-festival featuring bands and artists that are particularly close to the hearts of the club owners.

If you're lucky, you can sometimes even discover groups or artists at Gudde Wëllen who go through the roof internationally shortly afterwards. Luka Heindrichs, one of the club's founding fathers, who was also previously the brains behind the now defunct Food for Your Senses festival and with whom we spoke on the occasion of his club's anniversary, mentions Irish post-punkers Fontaines D.C. first and foremost in this context: "The fact that they played with us five years ago before they became really famous is of course a stroke of luck. We've also had Khruangbin, who played in front of 50 people on All Saints' Day in 2016, and who now play in front of 10,000 people. Of course, you're kind of happy about that."

Heindrichs also reveals that the German magic duo Siegfried & Joy, who reach an audience of millions on TikTok and Instagram and have also performed in Las Vegas, had their first show at Gudde Wëllen. To better categorise: these are the two comical magicians who usually work with a large golden cloth, behind which they then make each other disappear to the music of Celine Dion.