A show "never before seen in Luxembourg"

It's no longer a secret. On 3 October 2025, in just a few days' time, Grand Duke Henri will make way for Hereditary Grand Duke William in a ceremony to be held at the Grand Ducal Palace under the name Trounwiessel. A new head under the crown means a celebration – and a celebration means Dem Grand-Duc seng feierlech Tournée – a nationwide party. Never before seen in this country.

With 3 weeks to go before this tour, a small office on the 9th floor of the Forum Royal in Luxembourg City is overheating. Four rooms, two desks, a view of the downtown Luxembourg… and a brick of posters, ready to be distributed. They contain the names of the Grand Duchy's best-known contemporary artists. "It's still confidential, " says the man who designed them. "It won't be out for another week.”

Despite the small surface area of the offices, the few people in them are running around. Calls are coming in, keyboards are clicking and the coffee machine is humming. These are the members of the team organising the Feierlech Tour on 4 October… which is none other than den Atelier. Despite the stress and the fast-approaching deadline, they're taking the time to talk about it.

However, we are not in the offices of den Atelier. These are the offices of their appointed external graphic designer. "We could have done this in our office, but we've made this office our homebase. The chaos, the meetings, the doodles… This is where it's all been happening, for over 6 months", they explain. However, what they are preparing is not to be confused with the size of the premises: "This is the biggest show of Luxembourg artists that has ever been done in Luxembourg."

Dem Grand-Duc seng feierlech Tour

Enough teased. "October 4 will be a day of celebration. But we won't just be celebrating the new monarch; it will be a celebration with the common people." During the day, Grand Duke Guillaume will visit five stations. Accompanied by one or more well-known godparents, he will see it as a celebration of the country. "People will be showing off their prowess, what they can do. The day will have the feel of a national festival.”

About an hour will be devoted to each station. "Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less During the Grand Duke's presence, a happening will take place. Of course, there will be smaller stations, such as Grevenmacher and Steinfort, larger ones, such as Wiltz and Dudelange, and then the grand finale, in Luxembourg City. "Each stage will also have a title, a value of the country, that we have chosen."

In Grevenmacher, Grand Duke Guillaume will arrive accompanied by professional tennis player Anne Kremer, at a stadium where he will watch a youth football training session. "The value here is commitment. For a sports club, for example. Team spirit.” He will meet the participants.

Later in the morning, at his second stop in Wiltz, the Grand Duke will arrive at an amphitheatre. "To begin with, he will attend a theatrical performance followed by a video show." Under the theme of living together, a box full of cameras has been open to passers-by in the village for several months. People could enter it and leave a message for the Grand Duke. "It will take the form of a mosaic, in X languages, on a giant screen. We wanted to show the social cohesion within multicultural Luxembourg. Afterwards, there will be a funk, soul and RnB concert with a classical choir of children from the conservatoire. On the bill, Naomi Ayé is a familiar name from Eurovision" All this, accompanied this time by table tennis player and two-time world champion Ni Xialian, and Mike McQuaide, better known on the internet as American in Luxembourg.

Steinfort will be quieter again: "More intimate, the Grand Duke will visit the intercommunal hospital. He will meet the doctors and nurses. It will be authentic and moving Resilience will be the key word on this third stage, whose patron will be Michelin-starred chef Léa Linster.

"In the afternoon, Dudelange will be a giant party. A concert, a dance show. A mix of dancers, circus people, acrobats and classical musicians performing a wandering show in the middle of the Neischmelz district." Actor Jules Verner and sprinter Patrizia Van der Weken, alongside the new Grand Duke, won't miss a beat. "Silvia Camarda, David Galassi, De Läb, Edsun, Joel Marques and plenty of others to tell the story of Dudelange: a working-class town where Italians once found a home, transformed into what is now one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the country."

By this time, after the big Dudelange show, it will be almost 7pm. The Grand Duke will then climb into his car to drive to the next and last station. The one in the capital where something unprecedented will take place. "A monster show And double. "A reminder of transitions, but in tune with the times

The tram and the Roud Bréck in the middle of the festivities

Tradition and modernity, that's what a collaboration between Maison Grand-Ducale and den Atelier promises at first glance. L'Atelier is the only organisation in Luxembourg with the capacity, know-how and resources to organise such an event, which is almost a full-day festival.

While the schedule revealed so far will already impress many, this is only the beginning. In the evening, the capital will play host to a combined show of flash mobs and a memorable concert, strongly reminiscent of the Paris Olympic Games ceremony… and not by chance. The event's management includes people who took part in the 2024 Olympics show.

This show, then. "It all starts with the Roud Bréck. The Grand Duke will set off from Kirchberg and descend it on foot, together with the Grand Duchess Stéphanie." And Andy Schleck, winner of the 2010 Tour de France and patron of the stage. "As they walk, eight trams will appear. One by one, they will stop at their height and people will get out." 200 people per tram, 1,600 in all, who will perform a choreography lasting just over an hour.

As with the stations, each tram will have its own theme. "The first tram represents living together. It will carry people from Bazar International, Rosa Lëtzebuerg and other institutions that make Luxembourg an open-minded country where everyone is welcome and safe." In addition to the associations, the country's cafe owners. "They'll be arriving with tables and chairs, a piano and bar decorations. A bottle of crémant will be uncorked. The idea is for them to sit down and have a drink."

"The second tram will be about sport; there will be karate fights, fencing… Number three will be a bit more serious. It will pay tribute to healthcare, the police, the army." Services. Before the fourth tram, which will be "one of the coolest". The resources tram: "The environment, what the land has to offer. Farmers, beekeepers and winegrowers will get out of the tram and build a kind of meadow using real trees and boxes filled with apples"

The fifth tram will focus on culture. "We'll be putting up a giant canvas on which artists will create spontaneous works. Sumo graffiti, for example, but also lots of other things." Tram number 6 will be the business tram: "The entrepreneurial spirit tram. But it won't just be the 'white collar people'. The whole of the private sector, from bosses to workers, will be present to highlight the positive aspects of the economy for our society." The seventh theme will be the prospects for young people.

Finally, the eighth and last tram will be the showdown. "The institutions, but above all the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. 80 people accompanied by their instruments, percussion and double bass, on the Roud Bréck to play a grand finale. Alongside Francesco Tristano, a Luxembourg pianist, somewhere between Bach and classical techno, seated at the end of the bridge, who will have accompanied the Grand Duke's entire descent with his music. It's going to be a crazy mix

A Luxembourg concert for Luxembourg

From there, the red bridge will pass the baton to the Glacis, Andy Schleck will pass the baton to the latest godmother, Désirée Nosbusch, and godfather, the journalist with multiple languages, Philippe Crowther, and the choreography will pass the baton to a music concert awaiting a crowd of 10,000 Luxembourgers who, as the icing on the cake, won't even have to pay for their ticket, the show being free to all.

Adriano Selva, Edsun, Faux Real, Francis of Delirium, Laura Thorn, Maz, Nosi, Tali, Tuys and many more… "An hour and a half concert where bands and artists pass the baton. Genres drifting from one to another. From Indie to Indiepop, Electro to Jazz and Opera, Metal to Hip-Hop. It's going to be awesome On a round stage in the middle of the car park. The aim: "To show how cool our bands are. How cool our filmmakers are. Our artists too."

The reason cinema is on the agenda is that to prepare for this day full of surprises, den Atelier has also pulled out all the stops with a campaign of five short films produced by Luxembourg director Max Jacoby. "The teaser tells the fictional story of a Palace chauffeur who drives the day's godparents to their station

These ads, which have been shown for a fortnight before each film in Kinepolis cinemas in the Grand Duchy, tell this story, but not just that. "They also pay tribute to Luxembourg cinema, containing a fairly quick montage of a number of Luxembourgish films, with extracts that are sometimes funny, sometimes poetic." In line with the event, the teaser focuses on Luxembourg and its know-how.

"Dem Grand-Duc seng feierlech Tournée youth project that shows what we have achieved and what awaits us in the future." While supporting him: "98% of the expenditure goes back into the Luxembourg economy, to the country's artists. This too has never been done before. We're proud to display them. There's no need to look elsewhere

Audiences can therefore look forward to a show that proves that in 2025, Luxembourg can finally put aside any inferiority complex. "It could have been a project giving a nostalgic and positive look at the past, but it's not."

"Luxembourg is a country on the move, constantly reinventing itself." Just like its artists.