Where to dance in Amsterdam this week for Amsterdam Dance Event's 30th Anniversary [Event Guide]

Amsterdam Dance Event turns 30 this year, and the week from Wednesday 21 to Sunday 25 October feels as much like a farewell tour as a birthday party. More than 3,600 artists will play across 1,300 events in some 300 venues, but the story running underneath the program is about the rooms themselves. Audio Obscura says goodbye to RAW Factory, TILLATEC hosts its final ADE before closing in November, and Gashouder opens its doors again after nearly two years of renovation.

What follows is our guide to the parties worth planning your week around, from a 55 hour queer marathon in Westpoort to sunrise sessions 16 floors above the IJ.

When Sven Bijma and Diego Meijers started SPIELRAUM in 2017, Amsterdam had very few queer parties that took their techno seriously. They spent six years moving the night between venues before finally opening Club RAUM in a former bookbinding workshop in Westpoort in 2024. Every ADE, the whole project comes into focus with a marathon, and this year's edition runs 55 hours straight, starting Friday 23 October at 23.00 and carrying on into Monday morning. It sold out weeks ago, but the event page on Resident Advisor and SPIELRAUM's Instagram are the places to watch for any last tickets.

Regulars have a new reason to come back. In September RAUM opened Nexus, a third room designed by architects Joaquin Valdes and Bram van Grinsven with audiovisual artists Ben Kreukniet and Albert van Abbe. It runs on a bespoke system tuned by Chrissie Quast and leans darker and harder than the Studio, and this is the first marathon where all three rooms run at once.

The lineup moves through electro, acid, breaks and the deeper end of techno, putting residents like Mary Lake, Fafi Abdel Nour and Sedef Adasï alongside figures like Luke Slater, Dasha Rush and DVS1. Kittin and The Hacker playing a queer club during ADE closes a loop that runs all the way back to electroclash. The full bill is Alex Kassian, BASHKKA, Clarisa Kimskii, D.Dan, Dasha Rush, DJ Red, DjRUM, DVS1, Fafi Abdel Nour, Faustin, Hervé, JakoJako, ketia, Miss Kittin and The Hacker, livwutang, Luke Slater, mad miran, Makam, Mary Lake, mul/ANNA, Octo Octa, Pariah, Quelza, RÆZA, Richard Akingbehin, Rødhåd, Sandrien, Sedef Adasï, STERAC, The Lady Machine, tINI, Tommy Four Seven, TWIENA and Wata Igarashi. RAUM is 21 and over.

Loveland has been part of Dutch dance music since 1995, and most people know it for the summer festival it throws in Sloterpark. After marking its own 30th birthday at ADE last year, it spreads seven shows across two venues in the Houthavens this time. Theater Amsterdam is a modern theatre built for big productions, while Mediahaven is a former media complex with three connected rooms, from a main hall with a 12 metre ceiling down to a rougher basement.

The show to catch is Paul Kalkbrenner Live at Theater Amsterdam on Thursday 22 October, from 19.00 to 22.30. Kalkbrenner came up in Berlin as techno took over the city after the fall of the Wall, and he still plays his own music live on machines, pulling tracks apart and rebuilding them on stage so that no two sets sound the same. Sky and Sand spent 129 weeks on the German charts, and he sold out this same room last year. Tickets are gone again, so resale is the only way in, but the early start leaves the rest of your night open.

That night you have two options. Eastenderz takes over Theater Amsterdam from 23.30 for what it calls its biggest ADE showcase yet , while down the road at Mediahaven, Mau P brings his Baddest Behaviour show with The Martinez Brothers from 23.00 to 06.00.

On Friday, Jamie Jones presents Paradise at Mediahaven from 23.00 to 07.00 with a deep bench of house selectors, among them Hot Since 82, Seth Troxler, Archie Hamilton, AJ Christou, Easttown, Fleur Shore, Rooléh, Manda Moor, Hidde van Wee, Olive F, Omar+, FIFI FORTE, Joe Rolét and Prunk.

Saturday begins in daylight with 909 x Loveland , a partnership that has been running at Mediahaven for years, from 12.00 to 22.00. After dark, Camelphat presents EXPERIENCE at Theater Amsterdam from 23.00 to 07.00, a full audiovisual production with Hot Since 82, Max Styler, Niiomi, Patrick Topping and Volkoder. Loveland closes on Sunday with Reinier Zonneveld playing eight hours live at Mediahaven from 13.00 to 22.30, which is a real test for anyone still standing on day five.

Last year Awakenings moved its ADE program into SugarFactory, a sugar refinery in Halfweg built in 1863 that had never hosted a rave before. It worked well enough that the promoter is back with eight shows over five days and what it calls its most diverse ADE program yet. The building sits five minutes by train from Sloterdijk, and tickets and timetables are on the Awakenings site .

If you only make one, make it Saturday afternoon. Joris Voorn brings back A Trip To Galaxy, the hypnotic and trippy techno concept he debuted at last year's Saturday day show, and this time he has invited Jeff Mills. The Detroit pioneer behind The Bells is also premiering a film about Rembrandt's The Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum the same week (see section 5), so you can catch him in a refinery and a museum within days of each other. Blasha and Allatt, Beste Hira b2b Grace Dahl and BIANKA round out the afternoon. The same night, Adriatique play all night long with Brina Knauss from 23.00 to 07.00.

The rest of the week covers a lot of ground. Wednesday opens hard with 999999999, Adrián Mills, FUMI x Serafina, Hujus and Novah, and Thursday belongs to Adam Beyer's Drumcode with Enrico Sangiuliano b2b Ilario Alicante, Kevin de Vries b2b Konstantin Sibold, Kaufmann and Victor Ruiz. Friday splits in two, with Joseph Capriati's Metamorfosi by day alongside The Martinez Brothers, Cloonee, Simon Kidzoo and AAT, and Friday Sessions by night.

That Friday night bill is the strongest pure techno lineup Awakenings has this year. Ben Klock b2b Philippa Pacho puts a founding Berghain resident in the booth with one of the sharpest DJs of the newer generation, and JakoJako b2b Rødhåd, Amoral b2b Lobster, Funk Assault and Varuna Agosti follow. On Sunday, Sunday Sessions has already sold out with DJ Gigola b2b Pegassi, Benwal b2b DJ Heartstring, Helena Lauwaert, CVNTS and Southstar. The week then closes with Prophecy by Prospa, the UK duo's Awakenings debut, joined by ISAbella b2b Traumer, Job de Jong and a special guest still to be announced.

Since 2021, Audio Obscura has turned G Star's Rem Koolhaas designed headquarters on Joan Muyskenweg into one of the signature rooms of ADE, with Peggy Gou, The Martinez Brothers, Adriatique, Joseph Capriati, Dax J, Job Jobse, Mochakk and Marlon Hoffstadt all passing through. From Thursday 22 to Saturday 24 October it hosts six final shows there, three by day and three by night. Co founder and managing director Jeroen Fontein has called it the end of a special chapter, and the team says it is already scouting new buildings for 2027. Lineups and tickets are on Audio Obscura's ADE page .

Thursday daytime is the one we would pick. Patrick Mason b2b SPFDJ puts two Berlin based DJs known for fast, physical techno in the same booth, with Anetha, Mischluft and Tjade and Friends on the bill before the night turns to house. Amelie Lens brings her EXHALE concept on Friday after the two took over the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam this summer, and Bad Boombox Invites runs that night. Saturday starts with WhoMadeWho presenting The Moment, which blends electronic music with live performance, and LAMMER plays the very last party Audio Obscura throws in the building.

The team then moves up to The LOFT on Sunday 25 October to mark ten years of parties there, with three shows running from sunrise to nightfall. Sessions with Michael Bibi, Adriatique b2b Cloonee and Cloudy sold out within a day, and the evening show is built around a FLINTA only lineup.

Audio Obscura's most unusual project this year happens far from any dancefloor. The promoter invited Jeff Mills to respond to Rembrandt's The Night Watch in his own medium, and he answered with a film that leads the viewer through the Rijksmuseum's Gallery of Honour toward the painting. It unfolds in three parts, with Mills at the turntables, a dance performance by Sophie Boursier and finally Mills playing live, before the frame settles on the painting alone.

The film premieres for invited guests on Wednesday 21 October in the gallery where the painting hangs, and public screenings follow in the museum's auditorium from Thursday 22 to Sunday 25 October. KPN, a founder of the Rijksmuseum and Audio Obscura's connectivity partner, covered a limited number of free tickets. Registration closed on 11 October, but it is worth keeping an eye on the Audio Obscura registration page in case spots open up. Mills has spent decades working where techno meets film and visual art, and pairing this with his Awakenings set on Saturday makes for a rare week with him.

The LOFT throws only a handful of parties a year, and most of them land during ADE. The room sits on the 16th floor of A'DAM Tower in Noord, holds a few hundred people and looks out through seven metre windows across the IJ to the city centre. Its reputation was built on sunrise sets, and the full ADE program has plenty of them.

The session we would set an alarm for is Hunee b2b Stella Zekri b2b Suze Ijó on Saturday 24 October, from 06.30 to 13.00. All three treat house as social music. Hunee, born Han Choi, built his name on long sets that wander through house, disco, jazz and dub without ever losing the floor. Stella Zekri is a DJ, singer and dancer, a resident at Berlin's queer institution Cocktail d'Amore and the voice of the band Stella and The Longos, and her records run from zouk and italo to boogie and acid. Suze Ijó comes from Rotterdam, works at Clone Records and plays warm, soulful house shaped by Chicago, Curaçao and the 1980s. Six and a half hours shared between three DJs leaves a lot of room for listening, and it makes a lovely way to finish your Friday night.

The rest of the week starts with Overbruggen's opening sunset set from Hot Since 82, which has already sold out. Thursday 22 October has PIV from 07.00 to 13.00 and 20 Years of The Warehouse Project from 23.30 to 04.30. On Friday 23 October, CLUB.RECORD plays the sunrise slot from 06.00 to 12.00, and Alex Wann b2b RIVO and AMÉMÉ b2b SYREETA take over from 22.00 to 05.00, now sold out. Franky Rizardo closes Saturday from 23.00 to 04.00, also sold out, before Audio Obscura's ten year celebration fills the room on Sunday.

Intercell began in 2015 as an illegal rave on the edge of Amsterdam, and this ADE it runs 13 events across Levenslang, H7 Warehouse and Bajes, the former prison complex that has become one of the week's most atmospheric settings. The full schedule and tickets are at intercell.events .

The one to circle is Saturday 24 October, when Eris Drew and Octo Octa play a five hour daytime set at Bajes from 14.00, joined by Lola Edo and Mx. Blaire. Drew and Octo Octa are partners in life and in T4T LUV NRG, their label and party project, and their shared sets have become a reference point for trans led club culture, built on breaks, piano house and the ecstatic side of the 1990s. Their music rewards a long format, and five hours gives them room to build. Octo Octa is one of the busiest artists of the week, with sets at Pllek on Thursday at 22.00 and at SPIELRAUM on Friday too, so you can see her in three very different rooms.

There is a lot more on the Intercell program. Oscar Mulero invites Adriana Lopez, Claudio PRC, Isabel Soto, Laura van Hal and Phara to Bajes on Friday night, while Glitch brings LAMMER, MCR-T, Bella Claxton and others to H7 Warehouse. On Saturday, Philippa Pacho curates the H7 daytime with DJ Nobu, Rene Wise, GiGi FM, I-RO, Altinbas and Regent, and Yanamaste invites Alarico b2b AMORAL, BLANKA, Freddy K and Phil Berg to Bajes that night. The Bajes Closing on Sunday 25 October splits the building in two, with Chlär's label Primal Instinct running techno in one room and Chloé Caillet making her Intercell debut at Levenslang with a three hour set, joined by Aldonna b2b Fafi Abdel Nour, D Stone and BASHKKA.

TILLATEC opened in April 2024 in the old technical school on Doctor Jan van Breemenstraat that once housed De School, and in two and a half years it became a home for what its founders described as queer people, creatives, outsiders and allies. In June they announced it would close, with a final weekender planned for 6 to 9 November. That makes this its last ADE.

Vault Sessions and Mutual Rytm open their week there on Thursday 22 October from 14.00 to 22.00, reuniting for the first time in several years. The lineup has ANNĒ b2b Sera J, Disguised, Human Safari live, Hyden b2b I-RO, KiNK live, Mara Menace, Phil Berg and SHDW, and KiNK's improvised hardware sets rarely play out the same way twice. More than any single booking, though, this is one of the last chances to dance in a building that has anchored two generations of Amsterdam club culture. The event page on Resident Advisor has tickets, and TILLATEC's own channels list the rest of its final weeks.

On Thursday 22 October, Clone Records returns to RAUM for a third ADE in a row. The Rotterdam label and shop has been exploring electro, house and Detroit indebted techno since 1992, and its RAUM nights have shown both sides of that catalogue. The 2024 edition brought DJ Stingray, The Exaltics live, The Lady Machine and Wata Igarashi, and last year leaned into house with Marcel Dettmann playing a rare house set.

We could not find a confirmed 2026 lineup in public listings at the time of writing, so check the Club RAUM site or Instagram before you go.

For decades the round former gasholder at Westergas hosted some of electronic music's landmark nights, including the Awakenings shows that made it famous. It closed for an extensive redevelopment in January 2025, and ADE now marks the start of its pre opening season, with the official reopening to follow in November. When it relaunches, Gashouder will run as an independent cultural venue for live music, electronic music, art and performance, with room for more than 3,500 people. Programmers Jam and Jali van der Valk describe it as "a place where different scenes, generations and communities come together," and the nine show ADE program is built to prove the point, covering trance, house, UK garage, minimal and hard techno.

Our pick is Job Jobse on Friday 23 October, from 14.00 to 22.00. The Amsterdam DJ built his name on marathon sets, and this is the biggest headline show of his career so far, with Ryan Elliott, BASHKKA and more names still to come. Watching a selector known for long, patient sets take on a 3,500 capacity room in daylight is the most interesting test the new Gashouder faces all week.

The week opens on Wednesday 21 October with two performances of Swan Lake Remixed for ADE by Dutch National Ballet and ISH Dance Collective at 17.45 and 19.45, which also serve as ADE's official opening in the building. Armin van Buuren and Benwal then start the club program from 23.00 to 06.00 with Idemi and Olive Anguz. On Thursday, Eric Prydz plays from 18.00 to 22.00 before I Hate Models and Nico Moreno Invite takes over until 06.00 with Emilija and MAUDUX. Friday night belongs to MOCHAKK CALLING with Eli Iwasa, ISAbella, Juliana X, MPH and Solarce Brothers. Saturday brings Franky Rizardo presents FLOW by day with AAT, Cloonee, Easttown, Grace Arribas and Mason Collective, then Sammy Virji Curates at night with Riria, Rossi, SAIDAH and Sam Alfred. Josh Baker closes the run on Sunday from 14.30 to 23.00 alongside Alexandria, Marie Montexier and Marsolo. Tickets are on gashouder.nl .

The ADE Pro Pass gets you into official festival events, but every venue only holds back a limited number of spots for pass holders, and once those fill, entry runs one in, one out. For anything at RAUM, The LOFT or Audio Obscura, buy a ticket if you can still find one.

It also helps to think of ADE as a daytime festival with a club program attached. Many of this year's best sets start in daylight, from Intercell at Bajes and Joris Voorn at SugarFactory to Job Jobse at Gashouder and the sunrise sessions at The LOFT.

Age limits vary, with RAUM at 21 and over and most other clubs at 18. SugarFactory sits out in Halfweg, so plan your train back from Sloterdijk. And bring layers, because late October in Amsterdam means cold, wet streets between very warm rooms.

Brooklyn-bred, Los Angeles-based techno enthusiast covering music, artists, events, culture and news in the dance / electronic music and queer culture spaces