ADE 2026 packs 3,600 acts into five days, from Jarre to Ziggo Dome

Amsterdam Dance Event runs 21 to 25 October, with about 3,600 acts across more than 1,300 events at roughly 300 venues. Panels sit at the core of the conference alongside the parties, with art installations in clubs and warehouses and in-store sessions at record shops filling out the schedule. German magazine GROOVE picked five events worth singling out.

The first is a talk. On Wednesday midday at the Rosewood, Armin van Buuren, Jean-Michel Jarre, Lady Starlight and JakoJako take part in “Music & Machines: A Conversation Between Artists from Different Generations.” Topics include individual creation, authorship and the changing role of machines in music. Van Buuren also plays that night at the Gashouder, paired with Benwal, a pioneer of the hard house revival.

The Dutch DJ KI/KI plays a five-hour headline show at the Ziggo Dome on both Thursday and Friday. It is billed as an exclusive production rather than a regular DJ set, built on her “slash concept,” in which self-presentation is meant to recede. The music blends acid, techno and trance.

On Friday, the Q-Factory hosts Elypsia Music Group’s “Four Decades of Detroit Techno Vol. 1.” DJ Pierre, tied to the early Chicago house and acid house movement, is on the bill with Juan Atkins, whose Metroplex label helped invent the genre. Octave One represent the second wave around 1990. Terrence Dixon, active since the mid-nineties, and Kenny Larkin, who mixed Detroit tradition with jazzy and futuristic touches, cover the next stretch. Cem 3340 & 2030 from Apulia and Berlin’s Pascal Hetzel stand for the fourth generation.

On Saturday, Boys Noize, the Berlin producer Alex Ridha, hosts a party at Melkweg with Mechatok and Salome as guests.

Speedy J closes the week at the Paradiso with STOOR Live, his audiovisual project built around improvised hardware jams with invited musicians. He has brought the format to the venue since 2022.