More news from the Roadburn camp as the 2026 edition is taking shape. We report the announcement of a fresh new batch of additions to the lineup, directly from the words of Becky Laverty and Walter Hoeijmakers:
Hello Roadburners,
We have come bearing a new clutch of names for Roadburn 2026 – always an exciting day for us, and hopefully you too! This announcement has some familiar favourites and some new names making their Roadburn debuts; it captures a lot of the experimental, boundary pushing spirit of Roadburn. So, all being well you’ll have at least one or two artists to discover from this wave of additions. Check out the full line up here.
When we thought about the purpose of this newsletter and how we wanted to communicate with Roadburn attendees and supporters, we decided that giving you some glimpses behind the scenes of how we put the festival together might be a good idea. But I’ll be honest – these last few weeks have been a lot of time in front of the computer with endless streams of emails back and forth. Nothing particularly thrilling on the surface…
But amongst all those emails there are definitely some things for us to get extremely excited about. We’re honestly thrilled when things like Inter Arma playing The Cavern come together – they’ve been talking to us about it on and off for a few years now. But as with all good things that come to Roadburn, it has to come together at its own pace and not be rushed.
We’re also happy to be hosting full album sets from Primitive Man, Blackwater Holylight, Slow Crush, Unsane and SLIFT (although their new album is not yet officially announced yet!). Some of these albums will be old friends, some new acquaintances, and some are yet to be discovered.
Artists on the line up being enthusiastic about other artists on the line up always gives us a little thrill! We were heartened to know that aya is just as overjoyed as we are about the return of Oathbreaker. If you’ve not checked out aya’s album, hexed!, give it a listen this week! When Walter ran into Ian from Lankum/ One Leg One Eye at Le Guess Who? last weekend, he was effusive about RÓIS, who we just announced today. Whilst at the festival, Walter was also able to catch Prostitute live and can attest that they put on a very immersive show that captured the cutting edge essence of the album perfectly.
Sometimes we have relationships with bands and sometimes we have personal relationships with agents, and thanks to the agents for billy woods and Maruja we’re finally able to get these artists at Roadburn, which makes us very happy that we’re able to introduce them to our community.
So, even when we’re tied to our computers, seemingly for weeks on end, there’s still plenty of joy to be found in those endless emails.
I’ll leave you with some words below from Roadburn’s artistic director Walter, for further insight into what’s guiding our creative process and curation this year.
~ Becky – on behalf of Roadburn.
| “As the path toward Roadburn 2026 unfolds, the energy around us is rising. Every connection, every sound, every spark of creativity is drawing us closer together as the festival comes into view. This second announcement marks another step on that journey, an open invitation to feel the pulse of what’s ahead. The artists at the heart of this year’s edition are each shaping worlds of their own, their past, present, and future intertwining in bold new ways. At Roadburn 2026, you’ll hear echoes of where we’ve been, glimpses of where we’re going, and the raw emotion of right now. Each performance will remind us that art can move us, heal us, and bring us together – that through music, we find our shared humanity. We’re letting optimism light the way. Let’s meet in Tilburg next April – alive, open, and ready to share this amazing energy, face to face. – Walter” |
