Today we’re announcing thirteen new acts joining our festival from 20–22 November 2026. We’re also unveiling this year’s festival theme: Anywhere But Here. About escaping, searching, and asking why here never quite feels right. Or does it?

From razor-sharp Nigerian hip-hop to improvised jazz with world-class spoken poetry. From an ecstatic club experience powered by hypermodern electronics to polyrhythmic percussion: these new additions are just as impossible to pin down as the theme itself. Here they are!

Alabaster DePlume * HYPERPOËZIE – PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT * Begeester Mij * MAHA * E’DU & JUDGITZU * @ * De Verwonderkamer * Louis Ottley * Devin Shaffer * YATTA * Aunty Rayzor * Ellemieke Meijers – U heeft ergens last van * Vincent Swierstra – De Magiër

Festival theme 2026: Anywhere But Here

Wanting to be anywhere but here, anywhere but now. The darker the world becomes, the more people search for something better, something different, something new. We escape into the past, into the familiar, into the radically other. To other worlds, other planets, fantasy, religion. But at Explore the North, we dive deep—raving, questioning, and fully present in the here and now. Because if we’re here anyway, we might as well throw a great party.

Get your earliest bird ticket for €45.50 before 10 July. We’ll be announcing many more names over the coming months. Tickets for youth up to the age of 25 and students will stay sharply priced (€28,50) after the 10th of July as well.