Lambrini Girls Storm The O2 Ritz Manchester, With A Slice Of Fresh, Defiant Punk
- Michael Bond
- 8 hours ago
- 5 min read
Manchester O2 Ritz 29th November 2025
WORDS / IMAGES MICHAEL BOND
Manchester’s O2 Ritz swells with anticipation as Lambrini Girls bring their riotous punk energy. Fresh from a run of explosive festival sets and chaotic headline shows, the Brighton trio arrive riding a wave of momentum. The atmosphere inside the Ritz feels electric long before anyone steps on stage. What follows is loud and wildly funny, turning the venue into a sweaty celebration of punk defiance.
Shelf Lives stride onto the stage first, to a room already humming with anticipation. It’s a cold Manchester evening outside, but inside there’s an unmistakable sense that nobody here is planning to take it easy. With razor-sharp intent, the room jolts awake.
Their industrial pop-punk pulse hits hard, each beat vibrating through the crowd as Sabrina stalks the stage with fierce, restless energy. Jon’s riffs slice cleanly through the mix, creating a wiry tension that never lets up. The duo command attention, turning support-slot minutes into a tightly coiled spectacle. The audience, here for Lambrini Girls, quickly surrenders to the hooks and glitchy swagger. By the final track, the room feels fully theirs, the set landing like a shockwave, brief, breathless, and brilliant.
By the time the changeover ends and the lights drop, the venue is properly packed. The pit tightens instantly, the balcony railings fill two deep, and there’s a ripple of glee that breaks into a roar as Lambrini Girls burst onto the stage. There’s no easing in as they hit immediately with “Bad Apple”, the opener on tonight’s setlist and a fan favourite that has turned their recent festival appearances into the thing of legend. It’s loud, messy in the best possible way, and delivered with a kind of chaotic precision that only a band this tight can manage.
“Company Culture” follows without a break. The vocals are sharp, defiant, and gorgeously unpolished, the sort of delivery that feels like it’s coming from someone stood right next to you, rather than on stage beneath a spotlight. The crowd scream every lyric back and the band feed off their noise. The political edge to the song hits hard and there’s a collective sense that these themes are lived realities, not abstract thoughts and ideas.
When the opening line of “Help Me I’m Gay” lands, the front of the room collapses into delighted mayhem. It’s one of those tracks that has already become a punk anthem, and hearing it live feels almost communal, like a rallying cry disguised as a three-minute banger, as people crowd surf over the top, helped along by strangers who instantly become temporary comrades. Part way through the song, lead singer Phoebe Lunny climbs down from the stage and over the barrier into the crowd, parting them like the Red Sea and standing strong in the middle of a circle of fans riling them up.
From here on out, the set darts through their catalogue with the kind of pace that leaves no oxygen in the room. “God’s Country” snarls its way forward, with its sharp sarcasm, before “Mr Lovebomb” begins to play, which sees Lunny once again climb into the pit, but this time sees her climb onto the barrier, drop on to the raised hands of the fans and crowd surf from the front to the back of the venue.
There’s an unshakeable sense that they’re in complete command, but never distant; they chat between songs about trans rights, misogyny and abuse within the industry, in the same tone you’d hear from them leaning on the venue’s smoking-area barrier. “You’re Not From Around Here” and “Lads Lads Lads” arrive back-to-back, both sparking mass pogoing and mosh pits across the centre of the floor. The Ritz’s famously springy dancefloor moves underfoot, bouncing with the crowd as though joining in. You can feel it in your knees and your chest. The band has been gathering a reputation for turning their shows into miniature cultural earthquakes, and tonight is no exception.
As “Filthy Rich Nepo Baby” rolls out, it becomes clear how sharply the audience responds to the band’s humour. Every pointed jab lands, and every sarcastic comment draws huge cheers. There is an art to being both fiercely political and outrageously fun, and Lambrini Girls manage it with ease. The track ends and the noise bleeds perfectly into the gentler opening of “Love”, which gives the room a rare moment to catch its breath before exploding into a shouted chorus.
The middle stretch of the set, “Special Different”, “Boys in the Band”, and “No Homo”, hits like a triple punch. Each track ramps the energy up another notch, and by this point, the crowd is locked in a state of sweaty, joyful anarchy. The band’s stagecraft has grown noticeably over the past year, with every transition tight, every shout-out perfectly timed, and every drop into the pit greeted with delighted screams.
The main set barrels toward its end with “Craig David”, a track that somehow manages to be both a piss-take and a banger, followed by the deliciously confrontational “Cuntology 101”. This closer has become one of their signature live explosions, and tonight it absolutely tears through the room. With people shouting the title with gleeful abandon, fists in the air. The band finishes the track at full throttle and storms off the stage, leaving the crowd roaring for more.
The encore, of course, is inevitable. It takes only moments of stomping and chanting before the band reappear, launching into “Big Dick Energy”, the room detonates for one last time. It’s one of those closers that feels engineered to wring out every last bit of adrenaline, and the audience obliges. A final wave of crowd surfers goes up, and the balcony crowd shouts themselves hoarse. When the last note lands, a raw from the crowd like thunder, shakes the rafters.
As the house lights rise and people stagger towards the exits, it’s clear why Lambrini Girls are becoming one of the most beloved live bands in the country. They offer laughter, fury and joy, all wrapped up in breakneck punk that refuses to apologise for anything. Tonight, at the Ritz, they don’t just perform; they threw a party, started a riot, and built a community, and all in under ninety minutes.
SET LIST
1. Bad Apple
2. Company Culture
Help Me I'm Gay
4. God's Country
5. Mr Lovebomb
6. You’re Not From Around Here
7. Lads Lads Lads
8. Filthy Rich Nepo Baby
9. Love
10. Special Different
11. Boys in the Band
12. No Homo
13. Craig David
14. Cuntology 101
Encore:
1. Big Dick Energy
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