What better time for a reverie looking back at Rewire festival than a grey day, just back in from the holidays? It’s only a few weeks since this precious event for groundbreaking music took place in Den Haag, and we’re still thinking about it. By now, it has finally sunk in and we can look back with longing rather than the rush of grief that it is already over. Because Rewire will be back in 2026 (on April 9-12) and tickets are already on sale.
This is a second round-up of favourite moments from the festival, and if it by any means inspires any of you who haven’t been yet to attend next year’s edition, then it’s more than enough. Past visitors, me included, will probably be hard pressed to pass up the opportunity to revisit it – although I have also heard reports saying something along the lines of ”it was even better the year before”. But of course, a first-time visit will always be hard to beat – simply because of the sheer overwhelming joy that comes with it.
more eaze & claire rousay
I’ve hinted at it already, but the performance by more eaze and claire rousay was indeed one of the big highlights for me. After having seen rousay on her Sentiment tour last year (where she traveled around with a whole bedroom of props), I was kind of expecting something spectacular. And the trappings of the show all seemed to point in that direction, set to take place in church on the final day of the festival.
While Sentiment was probably my favourite album, in the traditional sense of the word, from 2024 (the more I think about it, the more accurate that feels) – I’d also loved the collaborative No Floor that followed it in March. While rousay’s recordings with more eaze from the past have not left us with any clear expectations as to the sonic directions, the level of quality has been high. And the performance in Lutherse Kerk was based on those tracks, which feel like the pair at their apex, delivering on those high expectations.
Of course, you should never make such claims – especially since that presumes a downhill from here. But sat in the front rows before the altar/stage, it really felt like they captured a moment. A moment of fragility in our existence, of confusion and of sudden joy, but mostly of self-reflection. The closing track on the album is called ”Lowcountry” and from now on I will always connect it with The Netherlands.
While claire rousay mostly produced sounds from the grand piano and her laptop, more eaze had both a pedal steel and a violin on stage. You can of course make out these instruments on the LP as well, but while they feel part of an organic whole there (coupled with soft guitars) that really stood out in the church. Both of them performed in silence and the crowd tried to be as quiet as possible with their beer cans and snacks.
Animistic Beliefs & Jeisson Drenth
The audiovisual performance by Mar and Linh of Animistic Beliefs with media artist Jeisson Drenth was the only one I saw in Theater aan het Spui. It was a much-needed break from a busy Saturday night at Rewire, where the pressure had been high to get in to many gigs. I happily sunk into my seat a few minutes before the show was about to start, on the front row as usual (whenever possible). You never know if there’s going to be interaction, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Animistic Beliefs should be more than familiar to the local audience by now, seeing as they are based in Rotterdam and have been DJ-ing a lot (which they also did at Grey Space for Rewire). I’ve seen them at least twice before, but naturally, seeing Thức Tỉnh is something completely different. Meaning ‘awaken’, the piece is inspired by the cultures they spring from, like Vietnamese-Chinese, Moluccan and pre-Colombian. There is some spoken dialogue in Spanish, but otherwise it consists mainly of music, dance and an elaborate scenography.
Elements of traditional music are intertwined with modern electronic sounds and the show actually premiered earlier this year in Amsterdam (press image above). One of the most beautiful moments was Mar and Linh dancing together, wearing huge masks that made them appear as gods. Several other participants also appear on the stage and except for bodies moving around we also saw some mega-calligraphy and shadow puppets.
There’s a great interview with the artists about this particular show in the Dutch magazine Subbacultcha, which I recommend reading if you want to know more.
Arooj Aftab
It was my third time seeing Brooklyn-based Pakistani artist Arooj Aftab, but the first in such a beautiful and vast setting. Amare was the venue reserved for the biggest names on the Rewire roster and capable of swallowing a huge amount of people. With just three musicians behind her, Aftab conjured up the same magical atmosphere out of nothing that has seen her fill concert halls around the world.
I’d seen her half a year ago and as she says: she’s still on the same tour – performing material from her 2024 album Night Reign. Aftab is a born performer and after a few sombre tracks she has the whole crowd laughing, while asking the crew for shots to everyone in the audience. Wearing shades in the almost-dark space, she really steps into her rockstar roll. Well, a rockstar backed by acoustic instruments and performing songs spanning jazz, Western and Hindustani classical music.
I have no doubt many people were attracted to Rewire thanks to names like Arooj Aftab and Lyra Pramuk, which is great to see because the participation of strong vocalists and lyricists is not to be taken for granted in settings for experimental music, which often veer towards the instrumental and inaccessible.
Zoë Mc Pherson & Alessandra Leone
I’m not going to say too much about the performance by Zoë Mc Pherson and Alessandra Leone other than that I walked into this show completely without expectations. And what I saw and heard was incredible – their performance on the main stage of Paard on Saturday was as heavy as it was ethereal, and it was the perfect final live show after a long day full of musical firsts and reencounters.
You can experience this audiovisual show yourself later this week if you are attending the Intonal festival in Malmö, Sweden, where Mc Pherson and Leone will perform it one last time. The French-Irish DJ and composer Mc Pherson is based in Berlin, as is visual master Leone and together they run SFX. The label just released Mc Pherson’s new album Upside Down in March and the show included music from that record.
These snippets from their socials give you a good idea of what the energy level in the room was like.
Of course, the night didn’t end there. Afterwards I went on to Grey Space to dance to rEmPiT g0dDe$$ and the aforementioned Animistic Beliefs’ sweat-inducing DJ-set. But this concludes our reporting from Rewire. And later in the week you can look forward to our take on Intonal, which starts already tomorrow.
Top photo of Billy Bultheel by Parcifal Werkman
