What it was like at the Berlin Darknights Festival

January 30-31, 2026

Where cold ends and sound begins to shine

Berlin in January is not a promise. There is breath in the air, ice on asphalt, a sky without comfort. And yet a different light burns in the Festsaal Kreuzberg on these two nights – not a glaring one, not a loud one, but one that comes from within. Warm. Electric. Black and very danceable. The first Berlin Darknights Festival doesn’t feel like a beginning, but like something that has been missing for a long time. Synthpop and darkwave are not a throwback here, but the present. Played in a flowing alternation of two stages – the wide Main Stage in the large hall and the closer, more intimate Second Stage. In between, people drifting like shadows to the beat, carried by bass, expectation and this quiet knowledge: Something real is happening here: electronic melancholy is given room to breathe for two days. Outside, snow forces the city into slowness. Inside, movement resists the cold.

Friday – Remembrance, energy, departure

In the afternoon, Fictional open the door to these two nights. Gerrit Thomas(Funker Voigt, Eisfabrik) is not alone in the light, but together with David Erdmann(Digital Energy) and Christian Schottstädt(Forced to Mode) – a reunion after a long time that feels like a homecoming. Cool, danceable electronics flow through warm memories, melodies carry weight. Rarely does a festival begin so quietly – and at the same time so significantly. An opening that could hardly have been more harmonious.

On the Second Stage, End of Transmission immediately get the pulse racing. Their edgy, rhythmically focused sound sets the first bodies in motion and sharpens the attention in the room. Wiegand then immerse the evening in concentrated intensity, condense the air and draw attention inwards. Between restraint and inner tension, a dense, almost tangible atmosphere is created. With Electronic Frequency, the room is once again filled with pressure – clear sequences, cold light, uncompromising danceability. The flow between the two stages begins to take effect, movement becomes a matter of course.

Future Lied to Us noticeably change the temperature – not through calm, but through forward momentum. Driving beats, big hooks and a consistently danceable pulse carry the room, led by the charismatically present Damasius Venys(Mental Exile), who noticeably lives every line. Behind the electronic structures are Vasi Vallis(NamNamBulu, Frozen Plasma, Reaper) and Krischan Wesenberg(Rotersand), two formative architects of the scene, whose signature between pressure, melody and club-ready elegance remains audible at all times. A performance that doesn’t hold on to melancholy, but lets it dance. Digital Energy seamlessly follow on from this. Rhythm becomes body, bass becomes heartbeat – the room closes to the common beat. With Rroyce, the evening becomes audibly denser. Dark elegance, clear dramaturgy and a strong presence between the audience form a maelstrom that is almost impossible to escape.

At the same time, Rabia Sorda transform the Second Stage into a vibrating engine room. Raw, physical, full of energy – a set that demands rather than pleases, and that’s exactly why it ignites. Then the lights warm up: Melotron take to the stage. Their songs carry the feeling of decades without ever standing still. There is a closeness between nostalgia and the present that cannot be staged – it just happens. Time dissolves for a moment, memories become the present. Voices in the audience carry the songs on as if they wanted to hold on to them. Blind Passenger then effortlessly keep the dance floor in rotation. Dark club energy meets catchy hooks – movement without resistance. Finally, Solar Fake take control of the room and the mood. Powerful electronics, emotional arcs of tension and an intense connection to the audience make the ballroom pulsate collectively. Refrains become collective confessions, flashes of light become heartbeats. When the last note fades away after two hours, there is no end. Only anticipation. Like a promise for the next day.

Saturday – Encounters, snow, ecstasy

The second day begins with Knights, whose clear structures lead calmly back into the festival flow. Antibody immediately push forward on the Second Stage, immediately increasing intensity and tempo – uncompromising, alert, direct. Pressure instead of distance. With Eklipse, darkness descends into the room like velvet.
Dark string sounds, classical drama and scenic elegance open up a space between concert hall and club night. Beauty takes on gravity here. Pseudokrupp Project deliberately break up this calm. Raw, loud, lively – the [x]-Rx frontmen‘s visit is like a spark in a powder keg. When Alienare take to the stage, the sound opens up again into a melodic expanse. But the moment doesn’t belong to them alone: members of Eklipse return, and together they create an intense song between electronic warmth and classical depth – one of those rare festival moments when time stands still for a moment. Destroy Me Again then reveal themselves to be vulnerable, direct and approachable.

Their unprotected emotionality is palpable. [ x]-Rx then ignite their rhythmic fire – hard, fast, uncompromisingly danceable. The hall is transformed into movement and a collective pulse. Then Eisfabrik enter the Main Stage – cool in name, glowing in heart. Beat meets feeling, light meets fog, movement meets memory – and suddenly it starts to snow. Two snow cannons swirl white flakes through light and fog, while beats and melodies create cold and warmth at the same time. A visually overwhelming moment that makes music almost tangible. Between danceable energy and emotional depth, the result is a performance that makes you dance and touches you in equal measure. At the very end, sacred red bathes the room in expectation: Blutengel. Grand gestures meet genuine closeness, pathos meets tangible solidarity. The hall sings, breathes, feels together. For a moment, everything seems to stand still – before the last chorus closes the night for good. A finale of dignified grandeur, without distance.

Afterglow

When the doors open, winter is still waiting outside. But no one leaves this place empty. Under coats, in voices, in quiet conversations, everyone carries a piece of danceable warmth out into the cold streets of Berlin. With its first edition, the Berlin Darknights Festival has done more than just organize concerts. It doesn’t feel like an experiment, but like a beginning that shows how lively this scene can sound. Two days full of sound, closeness and scene energy prove that synthpop and darkwave in Berlin are not just a memory, but the present. And while footsteps fade away in the snow, one thought remains – calm, safe, beautiful: see you again in January 2027.

Text & Photos: Thomas Friedel Fuhrmann