Rewire Festival: “a timeless and necessary off-ramp from the status quo of music consumption“
In an age of manufactured consent in music discovery, curated multi-venue festivals have become more important than ever. Pair that with the endless possibilities of listening to as much music as you like, wherever you are, and the fact that at a live event you are only really focused on what’s in front of you, and you start to understand why going to an event like Rewire in The Hague presents a timeless and necessary off-ramp from the status quo of music consumption.
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And so, just like last year, I once again have the pleasure of reviewing my visit to Rewire (my third time attending) with very little doubt that I’ll be back again next year. By now, it has become something of an obligatory visit, offering a near-perfect overview of contemporary experimental music in all its forms: drone, harsh noise, free jazz, rap—the list goes on.
Trying to summarise more than 20 sets is, inevitably, a bit of a losing battle, but I want to do the consistently high level of music some justice and talk about what I witnessed. More than anything, this is a subjective account. At a festival like Rewire, everyone ends up crafting their own version of it, often with surprisingly little overlap, and few festivals of this size offer such a wide range of possibilities. So let me take you through mine.
While Rewire did start for me on Friday afternoon, I have been told the two Caterina Barbieri performances on Thursday (one with the Orchestra of New Musical Creation and one with the A/V artist MFO) were beautiful – and followed by a somewhat only mixed set by Actress & Suzanne Ciani.
First on my list was Raisa K (known as a member of Good Sad Happy Bad alongside Mica Levi), who presented her 2025 album “Affectionately” in a dubby, full-band setup. It probably would have made more sense on a smaller stage, but it’s good to see all shows being well attended and acts being able to play bigger shows than they otherwise would.
At a festival like Rewire, it makes sense to ask yourself whether it’s worth seeing an already established band instead of taking a chance on something unknown. As a longtime fan of Tortoise, I still decided to fully immerse myself in their set. It started a little too playful for my taste, but it was hard not to appreciate how much fun they were having, including some dancing, while still eschewing any clear categorisation and occupying their own space somewhere between jazz and rock. Once the familiar xylophone sound came in, it clicked. I was brought back to the Tortoise I had loved for years and fully reconciled when they closed with “Crest” from the 2004 album “It’s All Around You”.
Next up was Amsterdam’s Bby Eco, whose very boyband-looking, strobe-light-heavy ambient pop set worked really well live (something that isn’t always a given with very internet-coded contemporary music).
Ireland’s Milkweed drew a larger crowd, and after some initial queuing, I made it inside to catch their far-ranging set, somewhere between spoken word, Irish folk, and straight-up noise. Next up, AD93 signee Tracey played a very playful and accessible mix of contemporary dance and pop influences.
In the room next door, Armand Hammer played a stage that felt almost too small for them. billy woods, one half of the duo, returned to The Hague after being one of the most applauded artists at last year’s edition. I only caught about ten minutes of their energetic set before heading to see a rare performance by New York-based free-jazz/rap act WRENS, featuring Elias Stemeseder on electronics.
Their album “Half of What You See” was one of my favourite jazz records of 2025. It was a truly wild and inspiring set, lifting my spirits just in time for the festival headliner Oneohtrix Point Never. His 2024 closing set had already set the bar extremely high, but he took no safe route here. With an impressive A/V show by Freeka Tet and a set that largely avoided his most recognisable material, it was a reminder that few artists at his level still manage to surprise rather than rely on their already impeccable oeuvre.
Oneohtrix Point Never & Freeka Tet (Photo: Anton Teichmann)
Suzan Peeters (Photo: Anton Teichmann)
Saturday started with another highlight: a droning accordion set by Suzan Peeters in a church. After that, I went to catch part of Purelink’s set with Mika Oki, which had already been a highlight at last year’s Atonal Festival in Berlin.
Purelink (Photo: Anton Teichmann)
To counter their moody, haze-filled ambient sound, I went to see Elias Stemeseder again, this time in a free jazz duo with Christian Lillinger, followed by noise legend Aaron Dilloway. He played a challenging set to a large audience, once again showing how the festival continues to offer space to both emerging and established artists in their field.
The day continued with an absolutely bombastic set by SUMAC featuring Moor Mother, who appeared three times at the festival in different formats. I had no idea the combination of Aaron Turner and Moor Mother would work this well, but it turned out to be one of the most challenging sets of the weekend—an extremely loud performance at Amare Concertzaal, the festival’s largest stage. Moor Mother emerged here as a true metal vocalist, including some cheeky audience antagonism about the crowd being a bit too far away and too quiet, her voice cutting through the density of the sound and pairing perfectly with the band’s heavy backdrop.
Even with ear protection, I eventually had to leave just to stay sane. I went upstairs to catch parts of the eight-hour multidisciplinary performance by Chen Tianzhuo, the artist behind ASIAN DOPE BOYS, which also included a secret set within the set by Gabber Modus Operandi later in the night.
Tired of walking, queuing, and constantly checking the timetable to figure out what I wanted to see next (exhausting with such a big offering), I spent the rest of the night at Paard and its two stages (and bar area!). That finally gave me the chance to see Los Thuthanaka, whose much-lauded performances I had previously missed, and which turned out to be one of my highlights of the festival.
Los Thuthanaka (Photo: Anton Teichmann)
Next up was an intense set by Slikback feat. maltdisney & Tasya, followed by a joyful, abstract, PC Music-inspired set by Cara Tolmie & Rian Treanor. Techno legend Blawan then capped off my very long night.
The festival offers much more than just performances, including radio formats, workshops, and panels. Wanting to make use of some of these, I attended a talk on music journalism featuring Kaput’s Aida Baghernejad, Jasper Willems, and Hugh Morris, hosted by Laura Snapes. Thankfully, this wasn’t just another conversation about the ongoing decline of music journalism, but one that went deeper, touching on power structures, the need for a middle ground between short-form content and long-form writing, and the increasingly blurred lines between opinion pieces and advertorials (proving once more why publications such as this one are worth supporting).
Musically, the day again started very quietly with a droning set by Berlinde Deman from Belgium, who played the serpent, offering a moment of calm after the intensity of the previous night while still demanding full attention.
I was glad Sunday had a little less to offer, but I still wanted to catch another set by billy woods with the avant-garde collective ØKSE, followed by a rap set from Birmingham-based rapper/producer Tony Bontana, who delivered a fun and energetic performance.
Tony Bontana (Photo: Anton Teichmann)
The final set of the festival was by Einstürzende Neubauten, who did what they always do—and do very well—this time featuring their first female member in decades, Josefine Lukschy. All I will say is that they brought a shopping cart all the way from Berlin so they could play on it. It would be kitsch if any other band did such a thing, but they are very much allowed to get away with it.
To sum it all up, compared to previous years I was able to see a lot more music without having to wait in line too long or being turned away altogether, suggesting smarter programming and better allocation of venues across a sold-out festival. Rewire continues to be both a place to see many of your favourite experimental musicians at once and one that still offers enough to discover, be surprised, and be challenged by, thereby creating a unique festival experience that very few other festivals are able to pull off. In that sense, it also felt like a real counterpoint to events such as Coachella happening at the same time, catering much more directly to the kind of environment in which the manufactured hype machinery can thrive.
