The Stranglers

The Stranglers at Transbordeur

At Transbordeur, we are delighted to welcome The Stranglers, a band whose unmistakable sound has shaped generations of rock audiences and continues to draw new listeners into their orbit. From our main hall in Villeurbanne, just outside central Lyon, we pride ourselves on hosting artists who have both a storied past and a vivid present, and The Stranglers embody that balance. As they mark five decades on the road with the powerful momentum of their recent creative period, the group arrives with the poise of seasoned performers and the curiosity of musicians still pushing forward. With JJ Burnel’s commanding bass lines, Baz Warne’s guitar bite and voice, Jim Macaulay’s precision behind the kit, and Toby Hounsham’s deft keyboard work carrying the torch of the band’s signature textures, this concert promises the kind of muscular musicianship and dramatic dynamics our stage was built to amplify.

What to expect on the night

This is a room designed for impact and clarity, and The Stranglers’ set thrives in spaces like ours: tight low end, sharp transients, and vivid keyboards cutting through the mix. Expect a setlist that celebrates landmark tracks alongside recent standouts, shifting from brooding atmospheres to high-tempo surges without losing cohesion. Our audience knows the electricity that erupts when a classic drops—whether it’s the hypnotic swing of Golden Brown, the punch of No More Heroes, the sardonic swagger of Peaches, or the luminous uplift of Always the Sun—and we’ve tuned our room to let those songs breathe with detail and muscle. Just as vital are the newer cuts from Dark Matters, including And If You Should See Dave..., This Song, If Something’s Gonna Kill Me (It Might as Well Be Love), and The Lines, pieces that show the band’s modern edge and lyrical resonance. With immersive lighting, crisp sightlines, and efficient flow between entrance, bar, and merch, we aim to match the band’s intensity with a seamless experience from the moment doors open.

Artistically, The Stranglers remain in motion. The power of their 2021 album continues to reverberate through European stages, and their ongoing anniversary run underscores a living catalog that invites reinterpretation rather than nostalgia. On our stage, arrangements are tightened and reimagined: synth lines rise with fresh urgency, rhythm sections hit with locomotive focus, and vocals carry both bite and hard-won warmth. We’ve hosted them through different eras; each return brings new contours—tempos nudged, harmonies sharpened, gritty textures polished without losing their feral spark. For us, presenting The Stranglers at Transbordeur means aligning a band’s onstage narrative with a room designed to tell it clearly: bold PA headroom that preserves dynamics, lighting rigs that sculpt the drama of quiet introductions and explosive codas, and a crowd close enough to feel every shift from menace to melody. Whether you come for the iconic anthems or the recent material that has reinvigorated their set, this night promises a performance that binds history to the present—exactly the kind of conversation between artist and audience our venue exists to host.