The Bucharest club Control, one of the most important promoters of live music and a pioneer of Romania’s alternative culture, is celebrating 18 years of existence with a weekend of concerts. Avant garde project Liars (USA/Australia) and Berlin based art rockers Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys return to Bucharest on Friday, October 2, while Opus Kink (jazz punk, UK) will perform at Control for the first time on Saturday, October 3.
Tickets are available through the Eventbook network.
Liars: Every Album, a New Territory
On Friday, October 2, Liars return to Bucharest in the format built around Australian composer, producer and performer Angus Andrew. Over the years, the project has been associated with post punk, art rock, noise and experimental electronic music, making reinvention one of its defining constants.
Liars arrive in Bucharest in the context of their upcoming release, A Ban on Plastic Bag Bans, the project’s 11th studio album, scheduled for release in March 2027 via Mute Records. The album explores the way injustice can become part of the everyday background and the exhaustion produced by confronting forces that seem impossible to move. The title comes from a real law in Michigan that prevents local authorities from banning single use plastic bags.
Live, Angus Andrew works with an ensemble that reshapes the material through instrumentation and improvisation, turning each live appearance into an extension of the composition process.
Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys: Between a Whisper and an Outburst
The same evening, the Control stage welcomes Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys, the project formed in 2015 by South African born singer, songwriter and guitarist Lucy Kruger. After the artist moved to Berlin in 2018, the project found its current form and developed its art pop / tender noise identity.
The band’s music is built between the restraint of introspection and the intensity of release. Kruger’s voice can move from a whisper to guttural invocations, traversing a spectral post punk landscape. The live lineup is completed by Liú Mottes on guitar, Jean Louise Parker on viola, Gidon Carmel on drums and Andreas Bonkowski on bass, while their concerts have a strong physical and emotional dimension.
The band’s discography includes Tapes Trilogy (2019 to 2022), Heaving (2023) and A Human Home (2024), while in 2026 the band released and toured its seventh studio album, Pale Bloom. The press has described their universe as a combination of gothic art pop, slow and dark grunge, folk, ambient and noise, with references to Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Low and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Opus Kink: Punk, Jazz, Country, Cabaret and “Witch Disco”
On Saturday, October 3, Opus Kink will perform in Bucharest for the first time, as part of the CTRL 18 anniversary series. Formed in Brighton in 2017, the British band has built a reputation for intense and unpredictable live shows and for a musical blend that resists a simple definition: punk with jazz and country influences, driven by a horn section and the rough, sardonic vocals of Angus Rogers.
Their music brings together echoes of post punk and no wave, as well as folk, country, Latin music, choral influences and cabaret. Following two EPs, ’Til The Stream Runs Dry (2021) and My Eyes, Brother! (2022), and several singles, Opus Kink recorded their debut album, The Sweet Goodbye, with Grammy Award winning producer Craig Silvey, who softened their initial rough edges without eliminating the band’s unpredictable character. Opus Kink have described this new sonic territory as witch disco or chainsaw pop.
The concerts by Liars, Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys and Opus Kink are organised by Control Club, with the support of OneDay.
Since its founding in 2008, Control Club has hosted thousands of concerts by Romanian and international bands, from emerging acts to legendary artists, and is considered one of the most important promoters of live music and alternative culture in Bucharest and across Romania.
During the autumn 2026 season, Control Club will also host: Holy Fuck (electronic rock, Canada) on October 10, The Underground Youth (post punk, UK/Germany) on October 24, Jozef Van Wissem (neo classical, dark ambient, Netherlands) on October 29, The Veils (indie rock, New Zealand) on November 6, Imarhan (desert rock, Algeria) on November 7, Horse Jumper of Love (indie rock, USA) on November 17, The Notwist (indietronica, Germany) on November 21, Arab Strap (indie rock, UK) on November 26, DELUXE (electro funk, France) on November 28, The KVB (post punk, UK) on December 12 and many others.
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