20 Ideas for ADE 2026, From Joseph Capriati at BRET to Anatolian Disco

Amsterdam Dance Event turns thirty this month, from Wednesday 21 to Sunday 25 October, and the official programme is the size of a small phone book: 1,396 listings when we counted them on 4 October, club nights, exhibitions, boat parties and conference talks included. Nobody does all of it. Most people end up doing the same dozen things everyone else does.

So here are twenty other ideas. None of them repeats the shows in our first ADE 2026 tip list, and we have grouped them by the kind of day they give you rather than by size of name: the long sets, the big rooms, the daylight parties and the things that happen nowhere near a dancefloor. It starts with the one we would build a Sunday around: Joseph Capriati, alone, from breakfast to bedtime at BRET.

ADE 2026 at a glance: our 20 picks

The long ones

ADE is at its best when a DJ is given room. These six are built on time rather than line-up length.

1. Joseph Capriati, all day at BRET

Sunday 25 October • 09:00 to 23:00 • BRET, Orlyplein 76, Sloterdijk

Fourteen hours and one name on the bill. Capriati’s ADE Sunday at BRET reaches its sixth year in a row in 2026, and the listing barely bothers to sell it: it calls the date “the most anticipated ADE event for 6 years straight”. The appeal is the format. A single DJ playing from morning to night can do what a two-hour festival slot never allows: start slow, wander into house in the afternoon, then come back hard once it gets dark. BRET sits by Sloterdijk station, which makes it one of the easiest Sundays of the week to reach. If you want Capriati in a bigger room as well, his Metamorfosi daytime show at Awakenings ADE runs on Friday 23 October from 15:00 to 21:30 at Sugarfactory, with The Martinez Brothers, Cloonee, AAT and Simon Kidzoo. ADE event page.

From our archive: the 2019 edition of ADE Sunday at BRET. Seven years on, the idea has not changed.

2. Pan-Pot presents HUMAN, through the clock change

Saturday 24 October • 23:00 to 07:00 • Het Sieraad, Postjesweg 1

The clocks go back at 03:00 on Sunday 25 October, so Saturday night quietly gains an hour. Pan-Pot have built a night around it: an all night long set at Het Sieraad that runs straight through the switch to winter time, which means nine hours of the Berlin duo on the clock. It goes out under the HUMAN banner, the label and event series they describe as a warmer, more emotional chapter after years of Second State. The same afternoon they also host the 50:HERTZ Club Train, a party on a moving train that runs from 11:45 to 15:45 out of Amsterdam Central Station, with Kaufmann, Chloé Martinez, Devid Dega, Audio State and Lalena. ADE event page.

3. Hernan Cattaneo b2b Nick Warren, six hours on a Wednesday

Wednesday 21 October • 20:00 to 03:00 • WestWeelde, Klönneplein 4, Westergas

Wednesday is a soft start, with fewer listings than any day of the week bar Sunday, and this is the best use of it we found. Watt events puts two of progressive house’s most patient selectors together for a six-hour back to back: Cattaneo, whose Sudbeat label and Soundgarden series have kept the deep end of the genre alive, and Nick Warren, whose name has been on Global Underground sleeves since the 1990s. Neither plays for the quick reward, which is exactly why six hours suits them. ADE event page.

4. Sasha b2b Patrice Bäumel, the Saturday daytime ritual

Saturday 24 October • 13:00 to 21:00 • Het Sieraad, Postjesweg 1

Watt events again, and a pairing that has turned into an ADE Saturday fixture. The promoter says every edition so far has sold out, and the reason is the same as with Cattaneo and Warren: two DJs given enough time to build something rather than just play their biggest records. Paul Thomas, Gai Barone, Mariano Mellino, Das Pharaoh and Weird Sounding Dude fill out the day. Here is the useful part: it finishes at 21:00 in the same building where Pan-Pot start at 23:00, so you can spend the whole of Saturday in Amsterdam West without touching a tram. ADE event page.

5. Detroit Love on the 20th floor, twice in one night

Saturday 24 October • 22:00 to 04:00, then Sunday 25 October • 06:00 to 11:00 • Madam, A’DAM Toren

Carl Craig brings his Detroit Love series to Madam, the club on the twentieth floor of the A’DAM Toren, and runs it in two halves. Saturday night has Kyle Hall, Matthew Dear and Idriss D. Then, after a short break, a sunrise session with Kevin Saunderson and DJ Holographic as daylight comes up over the IJ. Thanks to the clock change, 06:00 on Sunday arrives an hour later than your body expects, which for once works in your favour. Saturday event page and Sunday morning event page.

6. Louie Vega, open to close on the water

Thursday 22 October • 19:30 to 00:00 • SUPPER Cruise, De Ruijterkade 14

Jackies, the Barcelona house party and label, puts Louie Vega on a boat for an open to close set, with resident Piem in the second room. Capacity is capped at 400, which is small for a name of his size and is the whole point. Four and a half hours of New York house while the boat moves through the city, and you are back on land by midnight with the rest of Thursday still ahead of you. ADE event page.

The big rooms

Arenas, warehouses and the theatre Loveland uses for its ADE shows. If you only want one big night, choose from here.

7. Black Coffee, Ziggo Dome

Wednesday 21 October • 18:00 to 00:00 • Ziggo Dome, De Passage 100

The biggest room on the opening night belongs to Black Coffee, who returns to Ziggo Dome for what the venue bills as a special three-hour set. Since the mid-1990s the South African has been turning deep, percussive house into an arena sound without losing what made it deep in the first place. An 18:00 start also means you are back in town before most of Wednesday’s club nights have even opened their doors. ADE event page.

8. Paul Kalkbrenner live, Loveland

Thursday 22 October • 19:00 to 22:30 • Theater Amsterdam, Danzigerkade 5

Last year’s show sold out, so Paul Kalkbrenner comes back with the machines for another live set at Theater Amsterdam. It is an early one, finishing at 22:30, which suits a live show that works better when you are still awake enough to listen. Think of it as the warm-up for a long Thursday rather than the night itself. ADE event page.

9. I Hate Models & Nico Moreno Invite, Gashouder

Thursday 22 October • 23:00 to 06:00 • Gashouder, Klönneplein 1, Westergas

Which is exactly where this one comes in. For the first time, I Hate Models and Nico Moreno share a bill of their own, two French artists who took different roads into the harder end of techno, with Emilija and Maudux in support. The round brick hall of the Gashouder was built for this kind of pressure. Expect it to be loud, dark and very full. ADE event page.

10. Awakenings Friday Sessions, Sugarfactory

Friday 23 October • 23:00 to 07:00 • Sugarfactory, Kristalpromenade 7, Halfweg

Of the eight Awakenings shows this week, this is the one with the strongest Berlin accent: Ben Klock, Rødhåd, JakoJako and Funk Assault, alongside AMORAL, Philippa Pacho, Lobster/bisque and Varuna Agosti. Sugarfactory sits in Halfweg, just outside the city, so plan the train both ways. Our Awakenings ADE 2026 guide covers the full week, and the Awakenings ADE festival page has the dates and venue. ADE event page.

11. Mahmut Orhan & Friends, Loveland

Friday 23 October • 23:00 to 06:30 • Theater Amsterdam, Danzigerkade 5

Last year’s edition sold out fast, and Mahmut Orhan is back at Loveland with his mix of deep grooves and eastern melody, plus guests who had not been named when we checked. For readers in Turkey this is the obvious Friday: one of the best-known Turkish producers in dance music, playing a full night in one of ADE’s bigger rooms. ADE event page.

12. Boris Brejcha presents FCKNG Serious

Saturday 24 October • 15:30 to 21:30 • Theater Amsterdam, Danzigerkade 5

Boris Brejcha brings his label family to Loveland for a daytime show, with Ann Clue and Deniz Bul alongside him. It is his own “high-tech minimal” from start to finish, and the 21:30 close leaves your Saturday night free for Het Sieraad, Madam or the IJ. ADE event page.

In daylight

The parties that start after lunch and finish before the night shift. Friday 23 October is the busiest day of the whole programme, so this is where daytime pays off.

13. Kompakt at IJver

Friday 23 October • 14:00 to 22:00 • IJver, Scheepsbouwkade 72, NDSM

The Cologne label comes back to ADE after a string of sold-out years, this time at IJver on the NDSM wharf. Michael Mayer, one of Kompakt’s founders, plays alongside Robag Wruhme and a live set from Extrawelt, while the second floor is curated by AKTE. It is the gentlest techno on this list and the one most likely to put you in a good mood for the evening. ADE event page.

14. EXHALE by Amelie Lens

Friday 23 October • 16:00 to 23:00 • G-Star RAW, Joan Muyskenweg 39

The opposite mood, and the same afternoon. Amelie Lens takes EXHALE into the G-Star RAW building with Audio Obscura across several rooms: Anfisa Letyago, Blondex, Ellen Trenn, Flour and Grace Dahl, plus two back to backs worth timing your arrival around, Adiel with HAAi and Dax J with DJ Nobu. It ends at 23:00, so it can sit before a night out rather than replace one. ADE event page.

15. Dockyard Festival ADE, Havenpark

Saturday 24 October • 13:00 to 23:00 • Havenpark, Wethouder van Essenweg 1

The only full open-air festival on our list, and two of them for one ticket: Dockyard and Mystic Garden share Havenpark across five stages, and you walk freely between them. The techno side is unusually serious for a daytime festival, with Planetary Assault Systems, Oscar Mulero, Dax J and Yanamaste, while DJ EZ, Partiboi69, Jen Cardini, Benny Rodrigues and BLANKA cover the rest of the map. ADE event page.

16. Offweek x Loud Contact, closing Sunday at Pllek

Sunday 25 October • 13:00 to 01:00 • Pllek, Neveritaweg 59, NDSM

If BRET is the Sunday for one DJ, this is the Sunday for many. Miss Kittin, Ivan Smagghe, Nicolas Lutz, Onur Özer, Mathame, Charmeine, Fideles, Malena, Lumiere, Vaert and Zss across two rooms and an outdoor area on the IJ, plus a special guest from Barcelona who had not been named when we went to press. Onur Özer alone, one of the most respected names Istanbul has given minimal and house music, is reason enough for us. ADE event page.

Beyond the dancefloor

ADE’s arts and culture strand is where the week gets genuinely surprising. These four need no stamina at all.

17. EINDER by Boris Acket, Centrale Markthal

Wednesday 21 to Sunday 25 October • exhibition 10:00 to 21:00 from 22 October • Centrale Markthal, West

Boris Acket’s kinetic light and fabric installation, in its largest version yet, fills the Centrale Markthal for ADE’s anniversary. It opens on Wednesday at 20:30 with the Concertgebouworkest, seventy musicians playing Beethoven’s Fifth under the canopy with Riccardo Minasi conducting. From Thursday to Sunday you book an arrival slot and then stay as long as you like. The extra dates are the reason to time a visit: Elias Mazian and his band on Thursday at 20:00 (seated), Djrum live with his self-built instruments on Thursday at 22:00, and Kianí del Valle, who choreographed for Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show, performing inside the work on Friday and Saturday at 21:00. Djrum event page and EINDER exhibition.

18. Deep Seeing Currents, ARTIS Aquarium

Wednesday 21 to Sunday 25 October • 09:00 to 18:00 • ARTIS Aquarium, Plantage

Olafur Eliasson’s work inside the 1882 aquarium of ARTIS, with spatial sound by the Amsterdam studio 4DSOUND. You walk into darkness and a deep-sea soundscape of whale song, hydrothermal vents and human noise, felt through the body as much as heard, while light drifts down like marine snow. It is open in the daytime and costs only an ARTIS Park ticket, which makes it the kindest hangover cure on this list. ADE event page.

19. Nocturnes, Van Gogh Museum x ADE

Friday 23 October • 20:00 to 23:00 • Van Gogh Museum, Museumplein 6

An evening in the museum built around James McNeill Whistler’s night paintings of London, which are on show in the exhibition “Whistler. Dandy and Disruptor”. London’s Coby Sey and the Amsterdam band Devon Rexi each play two sets of experimental electronics, with visuals from uncloud. A good way to start a Friday that will end somewhere much louder. ADE event page.

20. Tut Kalbimi Tut, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ

Saturday 24 October • 23:00 to 03:00 • Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Piet Heinkade 1

The title is Turkish for “hold my heart”, and the night does what it says: Anatolian folk into funk and disco, the nightclubs of Istanbul into contemporary electronics. Rotterdam-based Oh Voyage play live, switching between duduk, ney and oud and electric guitar, analogue synths and drum machines, while DJs Afrobot and D.J. Klapsalon dig through crates of rare grooves. It is in a concert hall a short walk east of Centraal, and it is the pick we are proudest of. ADE event page.

The Turkish thread through ADE 2026

Counting the official programme, 34 artists are listed as Turkish (TR) across 41 events this year. Three are in our twenty: Mahmut Orhan (11), Onur Özer (16) and Oh Voyage (20). A few more worth finding:

• Onur Özer plays a second time on Sunday night, at Les Enfants x Roots with tINI at The Other Side, 23:00 to 07:00.
• Gizem Öz plays live at Motie, which turns the Stopera, Amsterdam’s city hall, into a three-night venue from Thursday 22 October.
• ELIF is on the Saturday bill of Into the Woods ADE at NDSM.
• Ertug Karakas plays the NØERA showcase at Panama on Wednesday 21 October, 22:00 to 08:00.
• Charmeine plays twice: SONA Presents at the Westerkerk on Wednesday, and Offweek x Loud Contact on Sunday.

Before you go: three practical notes

• Saturday has 25 hours. Clocks go back from 03:00 to 02:00 on Sunday 25 October. Anything running through that night, Pan-Pot and Detroit Love included, is an hour longer than it looks.
• Two of these are outside the ring. Sugarfactory is in Halfweg and Havenpark is out in the western port. Check the last train and the night buses before you go.
• Line-ups move. Every pick above links to its official ADE page, which is where changes and ticket links appear first. For the passes and wristbands, see what an ADE pass actually gets you.

The TA view

The easy way to do ADE’s thirtieth is to follow the biggest names from room to room. The better way is to give one day to a single DJ, one to a building you have never been inside and one to something that has nothing to do with a kick drum. Capriati’s Sunday at BRET, an aquarium with Olafur Eliasson and a night of Anatolian disco by the IJ will tell you more about this festival than another 04:00 queue. Our full ADE coverage, dates and venue sits on the Amsterdam Dance Event 2026 festival page, and the rest of the season is on our techno festivals guide.

ADE 2026 FAQ

When is ADE 2026?

Amsterdam Dance Event 2026 runs from Wednesday 21 to Sunday 25 October 2026 across the whole city. It is the festival’s 30th edition, and ADE lists more than 1,200 events for the week.

When does Joseph Capriati play BRET during ADE 2026?

Joseph Capriati plays BRET on Sunday 25 October 2026 from 09:00 to 23:00, as the only artist on the bill. It is the sixth year in a row he has played ADE Sunday there. He also hosts Metamorfosi at Awakenings ADE on Friday 23 October, 15:00 to 21:30, at Sugarfactory in Halfweg.

Do the clocks change during ADE 2026?

Yes. Summer time ends at 03:00 on Sunday 25 October 2026, when clocks go back to 02:00. Saturday night is therefore one hour longer, so an event billed from 23:00 to 07:00, such as Pan-Pot at Het Sieraad, actually lasts nine hours.

Sources: event details from the official ADE 2026 programme at amsterdam-dance-event.nl, checked on 4 October 2026, plus the ARTIS, Van Gogh Museum and EINDER pages linked above. The listings-per-day chart counts every entry in the official programme on that date. Line-ups and times can change, so check the event page before you buy.