Another year, another pilgrimage to Lyon for Nuits Sonores. As one of France’s (at times) most forward-thinking electronic music festivals, our expectations are always sky-high when we roll into the city. The 2026 edition, however, proved to be a weekend of extreme, fascinating contrasts. We oscillated between the pure, sophisticated, deeply Purist, Classic, Hypnotic & Mental techno we live for, and the hollow, commercial “business techno” spectacle we usually try our best to avoid. From blinding visual setups to pristine warehouse acoustics, here is the full, unfiltered breakdown of our journey through the days and nights of Nuits Sonores 2026.
Thursday: The Cold Snap and Klockwork Precision Outside at Les Grandes Locos (Day 2)
Our festival experience truly kicked off on Day 2 (Thursday) as we headed into the massive industrial footprint of Les Grandes Locos. Stepping onto the festival grounds, the elements were working against us; the weather outside was bitterly cold and it rained a bit, forcing everyone to huddle together or keep moving just to stay warm under the grey, damp Lyon skies. Fortunately, the music turned up the heat.
Catching Ben Klock commanding the outdoor stage under those heavy clouds was a massive reminder of his raw power. Hearing him on a massive, high-fidelity outdoor system is always a spiritual experience, and he proved exactly why he remains a foundational titan of the global scene. His set was absolutely impeccable, stripped back, punishingly powerful, and flawlessly paced. He locked the open air into a hypnotic groove, and we danced non-stop; honestly, it was the only way to survive the freezing Thursday air and damp weather during his slot.
Unfortunately, the momentum hit a wall once his set concluded. The rest of the Thursday daytime lineup and surrounding DJs simply didn’t hit the same heights for us. While Klock delivered pure gold, the other musical offerings felt a bit lackluster, uninspired, and flat in comparison. It left us wanting, leaving a craving for depth and complexity that we always hunt for.
A Note on Exploration: Part of our ritual at any major event is breaking away from our comfort zones to explore the auxiliary stages, hunting for those hidden gems and unfamiliar names that make festival curation so exciting. We genuinely try to seek out new music and expand our horizons. This year, however, that exploration bore very little fruit. We walked away from the alternative corners of the festival without discovering many new artists that truly resonated with us. It’s hard to say whether the curation itself missed the mark, or if we simply didn’t try hard enough or show enough patience to let those sets unfold. In a multi-stage environment, finding that spark requires a bit of luck and a lot of endurance, and this time, our wandering didn’t quite pay off.
Saturday 16 May: The Nef, The Screen, and the “Business” of Techno (Day 4)
Saturday daytime saw us back at Les Grandes Locos, this time heading into the cavernous, awe-inspiring warehouse room known as The Nef. The sheer scale of the building is impressive, but the production choices inside left us with mixed feelings.
Behind the stage sat an imposing, monstrously large semi-transparent screen. Conceptually, it was a brilliant idea when the visuals went dark, the screen became see-through, exposing the beautiful, skeletal architectural structure of the old railway workshop behind it. But the execution was flawed. When the production team fully illuminated the screen, it became incredibly aggressive. At various points throughout the day, the sheer lumen output was so overwhelming that it actually made our eyes hurt, serving as a jarring distraction from the music rather than enhancing the sonic atmosphere.
The music itself brought a massive wave of different feelings. One of the great things about the Nuits Sonores selection of acts is that they curate the lineup incredibly well and are fully aware of the proper way to build a room. They understand the sonic architecture required to transition a massive space from day into night.
As a testament to that curation, we started with 808 State, who served as the warmup act for the stage. They faced a few glaring technical sound hurdles right at the beginning of the performance. For a moment, it threatened to derail the vibe, but thankfully the crew quickly fixed the audio issues and the set smoothed out beautifully. From there, the legendary UK outfit delivered an absolute, unexpected highlight of the day. They played beautifully updated live versions of classic tracks that date right back to the origins of the rave scene in the late 80s. The older heads in the crowd (ourselves included).
As a rule, nostalgia isn’t normally important to us; we live for the forward-thinking nature of modern electronic music and always look to the future. However, this time, the retrospective trip felt sweet and entirely tolerable. We deeply appreciated the nostalgia, the immaculate sound design, and the historical weight of the craft on display once it got fully rolling.
After that came Rødhåd b2b Tauceti, delivering pure, unadulterated sophistication. This back-to-back pairing is exactly what Nuits Sonores should be about. Hearing deep, layered, complex techno firing through a massive sound system of that scale was a rare and beautiful treat. They built a dark, driving tension that kept the floor locked in complete synchronization.
Then came the Amelie Lens dilemma. As Rødhåd and Tauceti wrapped up, the atmosphere in The Nef shifted entirely. The room began to swell rapidly with a completely different energy as the masses poured in for Amelie Lens. We retreated outside for about 20 minutes to escape the crush, and listening to her set from a distance only confirmed our deepest frustrations: Amelie has completely lost her way. What we heard was textbook “Business Techno” -formulaic drops designed for TikTok clips and short attention spans.
It is an uncomfortable truth that TikTok and Instagram marketing as well as Spotify segmentation is completely reshaping the electronic landscape into a hyper-polished commodity. Yet, watching this unfold only reinforced our perspective on the festival ecosystem. The massive herd / horde attendance pays the bills. Their ticket sales fill the festival coffers, which ultimately allows the organizers to take risks and play the underground and artistic acts on the mega sound systems. They pay the bills, we (have to) keep reminding ourselves, but we wish the commercial music was better.
Saturday Night: Pure Class at La Sucrière (Nuit 4)
When the day party wrapped, the night program pulled us over to the industrial-chic perfection of La Sucrière. This venue is spectacular, intelligently housing three distinct clubbing areas with the legendary Le Sucre on the rooftop, a moody, intimate smaller Club room, and the sweeping Central room. The sound systems here were incredibly solid across the board. Best of all, the lighting design was subtle, moody, and tasteful and there were no blinding LED screens to distract from the booth, allowing the crowd to focus completely on the music.
First up, Juan Atkins took us to school. The Detroit legend showed every young producer in attendance why the original blueprint of pure techno remains undefeated. He delivered a lesson in groove, funk, and electronic soul, keeping our feet moving without a single second of downtime.
Next came Colin Benders, who proved to be a true master of electricity. His live modular hardware show was nothing short of terrific, leaving the entire room completely amazed. Our only real complaint was the scheduling; a one-hour slot for a live hardware set of this caliber is criminally short. He was so brilliant, intricate, and captivating that we felt absolutely no desire to wander off or check out the other rooms while he was on stage.
Finally, Ben Sims stepped up, bringing his signature heavy, fast-paced, and commanding multi-deck presence to Le Sucrière. He delivered exactly the kind of high-energy, rolling techno showcase you expect from a veteran of his status. However, with the marathon closing day looming on Sunday, we had to make a tactical decision to save our energy, reluctantly exiting before his final tracks dropped. And we are glad we did.
Sunday 17 May: The Grand Finale with Laurent Garnier, Phantom Circuits, and DJ Nobu
The closing day at Les Grandes Locos is historically where the festival conjures its purest magic, and 2026 delivered an unforgettable finale.
The day kicked off with France’s ultimate electronic ambassador, Laurent Garnier. “Lolo” treated the festival to a massive 4-hour opening marathon. We will be honest: after feeling slightly disappointed by some of his recent, more restricted sets in smaller clubs over the past year, this performance was a monumental return to form.
It perfectly illustrated a dynamic we talk about often. We admit: a part of us always craves the “techno” version of Garnier. This craving usually surfaces at bigger raves and festivals. When the topic is raw, driving techno and he’s commanding a sea of thousands, his power is undeniable. But, Garnier himself has always been vocal about where his heart truly lies. He famously says, “I’m a club DJ.” He prefers the sweat and proximity of smaller venues, choosing them over the spectacle of stadium stages. Yet, when he is handed the reins of a festival stage with this kind of breathing room, he bridges those two worlds flawlessly.
What made this particular marathon even more special was the crowd that assembled to witness it. Looking around the dancefloor, we saw a striking number of original ravers who had clearly been following this music since the very beginning. There was more beautiful grey hair bouncing to the rhythm than we have ever seen in one place. It was incredibly moving to see that generation standing side-by-side with younger clubbers, unified by a shared history and a deep respect for a true master.
The atmosphere in the afternoon was easily the best of the entire weekend. We haven’t seen that many genuine, unbridled smiling faces on a dancefloor in a very long time. Garnier knows exactly how to read a massive crowd and transform a standard festival party into a proper, unifying rave.
The peak of the weekend continued over at the Soundsystem stage with the hypnotic masters holding down the final hours.
The live presentation of .Vril & Wata Igarashi presents Phantom Circuits was staggering. Having previously caught this mind-bending live collaboration in Paris earlier this year, we were desperate to see how it would translate to the massive architecture of Nuits Sonores. It exceeded every expectation. This isn’t just a standard back-to-back hardware set; it is a living, breathing, deeply cinematic audio landscape. .Vril laid down a heavy, cavernous, dub-infused low-end pulse that shook the concrete foundations, while Wata Igarashi’s signature psychedelic, arpeggiated analog synth work cut through the air like liquid lightning. The performance gradually evolved from atmospheric, deep-space textures into a propulsive, purely physical techno monster that left the entire floor completely transfixed.
To carry that intense, elevated energy across the finish line, Japanese underground icon DJ Nobu stepped up to deliver the final closing set of the festival. Nobu’s mixing was pitch-black, highly technical, and deeply mental. He ran the Soundsystem stage’s limiters to their absolute edge, weaving together an uncompromisingly heavy yet incredibly elegant tapestry of underground techno. It was a masterclass in tension, release, and pure psychedelic techno storytelling. What a spectacular final!
Nuits Sonores 2026 served as a powerful reminder of why we stay dedicated to this music. While algorithmic social media marketing continues to push generic, commercial formulas onto the masses, the underground remains stronger than ever, fueled by communities that crave genuine artistic depth. As long as we have masters like Laurent Garnier, Juan Atkins, Colin Benders, Ben Klock, and the incredible Japanese-German nexus of Nobu, Igarashi, and .Vril pushing boundaries, the true heart of the movement will always triumph.
Our highlights were clearly defined. Laurent Garnier took the crown for the best DJ set with his four-hour masterclass, while .Vril and Wata Igarashi and Colin Benders easily secured the best live shows. Le Sucrière won out as the best venue vibe thanks to its subtle lighting and pristine sound, whereas the blinding Nef LED screen and the shift toward business techno marked our biggest letdowns.
Thank you, Lyon.
Nuits Sonores 2026
DAY 1 – Mercredi 13 mai 2026
Alex Wilcox (live)
Anetha (b2b Vol)
Beatrice M.
Belaria (b2b Kendal)
Carl Craig (b2b Seth Troxler)
dBridge (live)
Deadbeat + Tikiman (live)
Fat Dog (live)
Mad Professor & Sister Audrey (live)
Mala
Sonia Calico
Vanny
DAY 2 – Jeudi 14 mai 2026
Baal
Ben Klock
Bogdan Raczynski
Craig Richards (b2b Ivan Smagghe)
DJ Fuckoff
DJ Dave (live coding)
Kiss Facility (live)
Lila Tirando A Violeta (live)
Mona Sana (live)
NET GALA
Nikki Nair
Roza Terenzi
The Sabres of Paradise (live)
Xiaolin
DAY 3 – Vendredi 15 mai 2026
Blood of Aza (b2b Kavari)
Cortisa Star
DJ Gigola (b2b Busy P)
Ehua (b2b Flore)
Four Tet
gyropfield
HAAi (b2b Leftfield)
Hirina (b2b Mendi)
Nova Fellowship (live)
Scratchclart (b2b Darkman Zulu)
SHUBUYA! (live)
Zuli (live)
DAY 4 – Samedi 16 mai 2026
808 State (live)
Alta Montana (live)
Acid Arab (DJ set)
Aïta
Amelie Lens
Bclip (live)
DJ Babatr
Ecia Martinez
James Holden & Waclaw Zimpel (live)
Maarja
Rødhåd (b2b Tauceti)
CLOSING DAY – Dimanche 17 mai 2026
Laurent Garnier
Vril & Wata Igarashi presents Phantom Circuits (live)
DJ Nobu
De Grandi (live)
Dinamarca
Goupi (live)
Sama’ Abdulhadi
rRoxymore