It’s been about a week since coming back from Rewire in Den Haag and it has taken a while to land. Since it was the first time visiting the festival for experimental music and art I was taken aback to say the least. Both by the wonderful sprawl of the venues, taking me to parts of the city I had only glanced before, but also by how many people were attending. I was staying in the questionable hotel just next to Amare, which also housed most of the artists playing. Amare itself was an amazing building to see from the inside for the first time, reminding me slightly of Malmö Live but with a beautifully organic facade.
All in all I witnessed about 30 performances and DJ sets, and that’s far from everything I hoped to see. Especially since a certain airline rescheduled my flight such that I missed all of Thursday evening.
To begin to gather some of the highlights, and what made them special, here are some performances from the Friday and Saturday at Rewire 2025 – a festival that blew most other musical experiences I’ve had in the past decade out of the water.
Marianna Maruyama & Hessel Veldman
Dutch artists Marianna Maruyama and Hessel Veldman played in the small confines of GR8, just next to one of the main venues Paard. I’ve been in this particular basement room before, so it felt nice and familiar. So did the music (and words) they performed, which came from their collaborative album Salt. This came out on Stroom in January, just before the similarly styled Voice Actor sophomore LP. I’d listened to Salt and loved its spoken word pieces over non-obtrusive music, but I confess I hadn’t heard all of the text.
Recited by Marianna Maruyama (whose voice has previously been lent to an automatic water cooler) in a detached manner there were moments as humorous as they were unsettling. Veldman is a legend in Dutch underground music, having been active since the 70s. He was a part of the Dutch home-taping network and released music under the name Y Create amongst others. There was actually a taped ‘y’ on his laptop, which I wondered whether it was a reference to this.
Stroom also released a compilation of some of his early work, called Eigen Boezem, back in 2020. But he’s still active and I wish I could have made it to see his performance with Martijn Comes at Rewire, where they performed their collaborative album from last year. But I’m more than happy to at least have seen him with Maruyama.
Aya & MFO
I had already seen London-based Aya with the impressive visual show by MFO at Intonal festival last year. Needless to say I was very impressed by the performance, as Aya is a born live performer who knows how to handle a dedicated or hostile crowd. It was a strange musical in-between time for her though, since she was still playing material from her old album im hole that came out on Hyperdub in 2021. But probably also some of what was to become the new album hexed!. Freshly released just before Rewire, and already highly praised, I was lucky enough to catch the talk she did earlier in the day – in which she talked about the album and how it was made in parallel to becoming sober.
She also talked about her gear and influences – from dubstep to metal. All of it is so apparent in her live performance, which also reminded me of the great Deli Girls due to its sheer volatility. Playing the main stage of Paard, she performed the new album and the visuals by MFO were completely overshadowed by her presence, her stage outfit and her banter in-between the songs. For an electronic project it’s fascinating how song-based much of Aya’s compositions still are. And she does take the vocals to extremes at times, shouting at the top of her lungs.
Aka Hex
Aka Hex closed out the Friday for me, and I was back at the front of the main stage at Paard, as Aïsha Devi and Slikback performed as the duo known as Aka Hex. Individually, they’ve both played the festival before – in 2024 and 2023.
I missed Devi’s performance in Copenhagen recently but I glad I was able to catch her at Rewire, where she mesmerised the crowd in a stunning outfit. While the music was heavy, it was also dance-inducing and if you (like me) had only heard the single on Danse Noire from last year, then you might have been surprised. The Swiss label is also home to Emma DJ (who played Rewire 2025 too), Yikii, Cem and others on the experimental end of dance music. If anything, Aka Hex reminded me more of the wild energy of Gabber Modus Operandi, whom I’d seen at Roskilde festival in the past. Incidentally, one of their records was reissued by Danse Noire.
The apex of the show was when Lord Spikeheart (who was about to play himself in one of the smaller venues the next day) came on stage to join them on vocals. Spikeheart is a Kenyan artist whose music is a blend of metal, hip hop and many other things. The growl of Spikeheart certainly brought Aka Hex’s already high-octane show to another level.
Alys(alys)alys
One of the great things about Rewire are the many side events (I guess people would call them side quests now), including art shows, panel talks and workshops – some of which are free.
For example, the festival had teamed up with record store 3345, just up the street from my favourite café. They were selling vinyl in Grey Space during festival hours, but on Saturday afternoon, before the festival kicked off they hosted an in-store event. Apart from picking up some excellent records by Upsammy and the like, I also heard a DJ set by none other than American ambient celebrity Ana Roxanne. She had played Rewire in 2023 and must have been in town. I also famously missed her show in Utrecht 2021, after a long run that only got me in to see the applause at the end of the show.
But I had actually come to see Brazilian DJ Alys(alys)alys who was doing her second set of the festival, having just played the Grey Space basement the night before. That had been an excellent set, while it perhaps wasn’t the right crowd for it (the Saturday night crowd was a lot more hungry for a party).
Still, the Dry Berlin resident played an excellent and eclectic set on the Friday which I happily danced to. Check out her radio show for Shape+ which she’s a part of this year. But I think I liked her in-store set even more, which took a more chill approach via lots of hiphop and Latin American stuff to a very appreciative crowd. And who wouldn’t love to get to experience things like that for free. That must be one of the best things about Rewire.
John Glacier
Finally, I’d like to add some words on John Glacier’s set at Paard as well. There was wasn’t much hiphop offered at Rewire – well of course the legend Billy Woods played (something I missed) – but the trailblazing UK artist John Glacier was a big exception. Called ‘the rapper with renegade blood’ by Dazed, she’s been making waves with her album Like a Ribbon that came out in February. I’d really been getting into the record before the festival and it was great to see her calm and composed show, which by all accounts was less raucous then any London appearances where crowds are not known to be so polite.
Aside from presenting her beautiful robe from Lebanon, made in a Palestinian design, she mostly hid behind her mirrored shades and moved serenely around the stage. ”Nevasure” which is almost a signature tune, is a great example of her laidback flow, mixed low amongst the beats. The crowd was lapping it up. She also a had a DJ with her, to whom she referred as DJ ‘dancey dancey’ with sardonic smiles. It is definitely the best hiphop concert I’ve seen since Noname last year. (By the way, an artist who collaborated with Billy Woods on her latest record.)
