ADE 2026 Recap: Into The Woods Storm, Tear Gas Thefts and a Sold-Out AMF

Storm Boelo cut Into The Woods short, spray thefts hit three parties, AMF sold out the ArenA and the Gashouder came back: the 10 moments that defined ADE 2026.

Written By Techno Airlines

Published October 26, 2026

Reading Time 7 Minutes

Credit: Photo: Stephen van Bokhoven / ADE press (AMF 2025)

Table of Contents

ADE 2026, the 30th Amsterdam Dance Event, ran from 21 to 25 October and was defined by three things: a storm that cut Into The Woods short, a run of pepper spray and tear gas thefts at packed parties, and a sold-out AMF in front of 40,000 people. Around that, the Gashouder came back after an 18-month renovation, trance and hard house had their loudest ADE in years, and two booking rows played out before the first beat dropped.

Most outlets covered these stories one at a time. Here is the whole week in one place, with every figure taken from the organisers, the venues or the outlets that were in the room.

What happened at Into The Woods ADE 2026?

Into The Woods closed 90 minutes early on Saturday 24 October because of Storm Boelo. The festival at the NDSM Wharf in Amsterdam Noord was due to run until 23:00 but stopped at 21:30, a decision the organisers say they took together with the emergency services, according to AT5.

The reason was the wind, not the rain. The organisers told AT5 that the gusts were becoming so strong that people could no longer shelter safely in the tents, and the Dutch weather service KNMI had issued a code yellow warning for Storm Boelo from 22:00 that night. Information boards announced the early finish, the timetable was squeezed so artists already on site could still play, and ponchos were handed out at the exit, 3voor12 reported.

In a statement on Instagram the next day, the team called it “an incredibly sour end” to their season and put the numbers plainly: of the 21 hours planned across the two days, 19.5 were played. The strongest gusts were forecast for the final hour and the wind chill was dropping fast, so carrying on was “not responsible”. The statement did not mention refunds or compensation, and none had been announced by the time of writing.

Before the wind took over, it was the usual Into The Woods: the 360-degree LED cylinder at the Rhino stage, techno in Betonkruid, house in the Broeikas greenhouse and open-format sets in the Barn. See the full Into The Woods ADE 2026 page for the line-up and venue details.

The 10 moments that defined ADE 2026

1. Storm Boelo ends Into The Woods 90 minutes early

The two-day festival at the NDSM Wharf lost the last hour and a half of its final night to the weather, as set out above. Indoor parties across the city carried on as planned.

2. Pepper spray and tear gas thefts hit three parties

On the night of Friday 23 October, pepper spray was used at Audio Obscura in the G-Star RAW Factory and at elrow in the Kromhouthal. Dutch media reported it as a way of creating confusion so visitors could be robbed, with at least two people losing their chains. On Saturday night tear gas was sprayed at Franky Rizardo‘s party in the Gashouder after an attempt to snatch a necklace turned into a scuffle. Fifteen people went to the first aid post and nobody needed hospital treatment, AT5 reported. The venue says its ventilation cleared the air within about 15 minutes and every visitor was searched on the way out. No arrests had been made at the time of writing. NL Times counted it as the fourth pepper spray or tear gas incident of the week.

3. AMF sells out the Johan Cruijff ArenA

AMF 2026 sold every ticket before Saturday 24 October and played to 40,000 people in the Johan Cruijff ArenA until 06:00. David Guetta brought his Monolith show to ADE for the first time, alongside Afrojack, Amelie Lens, Armin van Buuren, ARTBAT, D-Block & S-te-Fan, Korolova and Marlon Hoffstadt. “Selling out a stadium is never a given,” Insomniac Europe’s Dennis de Bruin said in the organisers’ recap, reported by We Rave You.

4. The Gashouder reopens with Armin van Buuren b2b Benwal

After roughly 18 months of renovation, the Gashouder hosted what 3voor12 called its first real party on Wednesday 22 October: Benwal’s piano hard house, then a one-hour b2b with Armin van Buuren that closed on “This Is What It Feels Like”. New acoustic panels have removed the old echo, but the basement was still shut and the toilets were in a tent outside, according to 3voor12. Job Jobse’s show later in the week ended under a 360-degree laser from the roof. The official opening is on 30 October.

5. KI/KI plays five hours, twice, in the Ziggo Dome

KI/KI was the only name on the bill for two sold-out nights in the Ziggo Dome, with Dj Gigola and Funk Tribu joining halfway and The Opposites making a cameo. The set ran through acid, trance, breakbeat and hard house, opening with Marlon Hoffstadt’s “It’s Time”. After criticism of her hit-heavy Lowlands closing set with Job Jobse, 3voor12 argued that the long format is what makes her bigger rooms work.

6. Awakenings moves to the Sugarfactory and keeps it pure

With the Gashouder unavailable, Awakenings ran its ADE nights at the Sugarfactory in Halfweg, about 15 minutes from Amsterdam. Friday Sessions on 23 October had JakoJako and Rødhåd, Ben Klock with Philippa Pacho, and a rare Funk Assault closing set by Alarico and Chlär that layered up to four tracks at once. 3voor12 called it one of the strongest nights of the week.

7. STOOR turns Paradiso into an eight-hour hardware jam

Speedy J’s STOOR returned to Paradiso with Donato Dozzy, Wallis and The Fear Ratio around one table of machines, starting slow and dubby and finishing at the fastest tempo of the night. “You have to be there to fully understand STOOR,” wrote 3voor12. This is what the format looked like at last year’s ADE:

8. Technics unveils the SL-1210MKX

Technics launched its new flagship DJ turntable at Pacific during ADE on 21 October. The SL-1210MKX sits above the MK7, adds a dedicated ±4% pitch range and a new ±50% setting, and goes on sale in January 2027 at €1,499 or £1,299, according to DJ Mag and MusicTech.

9. Alexander Komarov is dropped from an ADE showcase

Russian DJ Alexander Komarov was removed from an Interplay Records showcase at Bacan, planned for 23 October, after a private message he sent to Ukrainian DJ Vadim Bonkrashkov circulated online. According to RA, the message called Bonkrashkov a “Nazi” and wished death on him and on Ukraine. Komarov confirmed to Algemeen Dagblad that he had sent it. An ADE spokesperson said bookings are organised by individual labels and collectives “and can change at short notice”, RA reported.

10. Sama’ Abdulhadi withdraws from an ADE panel

Sama’ Abdulhadi had been invited to speak on a panel about music and resistance. On 20 October she announced on Instagram that she was withdrawing, citing the booking of several artists she says previously served in the Israeli military, and added that she was not calling for artists to be excluded for being Israeli. ADE had not responded publicly when Mixmag reported the story.

What ADE 2026 tells us about where the week is heading

Crowds are now a safety story as much as a music story. Spray incidents at three different venues across two nights, four in the week by NL Times’ count, point to organised theft rather than random trouble. Expect bag checks, chain warnings and exit searches to become standard at the biggest ADE rooms next year.

The venue map is being redrawn. The Gashouder is back but not finished, Awakenings has found a second home in Halfweg, and the outdoor festivals are only one storm away from a lost night. Late October in Amsterdam has always been a gamble, and 2026 was the year it cost an outdoor party its finale.

Big rooms are going fast and euphoric. Armin and Benwal’s trance and hard house b2b, KI/KI’s five-hour sets and Guetta’s Monolith all sold on energy. The techno purists were still well served at the Sugarfactory and in Paradiso, but the headlines belonged to the faster, brighter end of the spectrum.

The TA view

Thirty years in, ADE is still the one week where the whole industry and the whole dancefloor share a city, and 2026 showed both sides of that. The music was strong almost everywhere we looked. The open questions are practical ones: how ADE and the venues respond to organised theft in crowded rooms, how outdoor promoters plan for October weather, and how the event handles booking disputes that now land before the festival starts. We will be watching the official ADE 2027 dates, and the line-ups that follow.

ADE 2026: quick answers

Why did Into The Woods ADE stop early?

Storm Boelo brought gusts that the organisers judged too strong for people to shelter safely in the tents, so the festival ended at 21:30 instead of 23:00 on Saturday 24 October, in agreement with the emergency services.

What happened at the Gashouder during ADE 2026?

Tear gas was sprayed during Franky Rizardo’s party on Saturday 24 October after an attempted necklace theft. Fifteen people visited first aid, nobody went to hospital and no arrests had been made at the time of writing.

How many people went to AMF 2026?

AMF 2026 sold out the Johan Cruijff ArenA, with 40,000 people on Saturday 24 October and David Guetta’s Monolith show as the headline act.

How big was ADE 2026?

The official programme listed 3,600+ artists, 1,300+ events and 300+ venues across 21 to 25 October, and NL Times reported at least 600,000 visitors.

More from ADE 2026

Sources: Amsterdam Dance Event official programme; AT5; 3voor12 (VPRO); NL Times; RA; Mixmag; DJ Mag; MusicTech; We Rave You; Into The Woods official Instagram.