The rabbits have been waiting patiently ever since they bought their tickets, probably since the end of 2025. Friday July 2nd ended their long wait as Down The Rabbit Hole 2026 officially started. One of the first musical acts was Henry Dermot at the Bossa Nova. Since everyone was eager for the weekend to start, his act attracted quite a large crowd in front of the small stage. Down The Rabbit Hole is known for its worldbuilding and a perfect example of what this looks like, is the route to get to the Bossa Nova stage. You would have to pass through a literal hole in the ground to get to the stage. The singer-songwriter performed in a simple and intimate manner, just him, his guitar and his songs.
In the Fuzzy Lop was Jacob Alon the first act to take the stage. The presenter was incredibly excited, with contagious enthusiasm he told us Jacob Alon would be the first ever non-binary artist to perform at Down The Rabbit Hole. Jacob Alon is known for their ability to silence even the largest crowds, because people would just stop what they were doing and listen to their incredibly beautiful voice and lyrics. They started their set very intimate, the first few songs were just them and their guitar. Later, a full band arrived on stage to add a whole lot of flair to the performance.
Back at the Bossa Nova, a small crowd was growing larger in expectation of Girl Group. By the time they entered the stage, the place was fully filled with anticipating people eager to dance. The energy Girl Group brought on stage was unmatched until this moment. Which made the performance feel even more energetic, was the fact that all five girls switched positions every song. There was no lead singer, no guitarist, just all the girls who sang and danced and played all the different instruments. They took the effort to embody the drama with all of their crazy facial expressions. As the girls all danced on stage, everybody in the crowd followed their lead and the grass field turned into a dancefloor.
On the mainstage, also known as the Hotot, Son Mieux would make their DTRH debut. Son Mieux can make any Karen smile with their cheerful sound and stage presence. You would not expect their happy sound to be the cause of a moshpit, nevertheless that is exactly what happened. It was not your regular moshpit, as in the middle of the crowd a circle opened up where people one by one danced from one side to the other. Moshpit might not be the right word, but whatever you would like to call it, it was a very pleasant thing to witness. When they brought a choir with them on stage, their music gained all the depth it might have been missing before. It transformed the music from just being cheerful, to hitting hard and leaving the listener with goosebumps.
As authenticity seems to be what is most rewarded in the music industry nowadays, the next big hit catapulting to stardom, honoured us with her presence at the Hotot on this Friday afternoon. There cannot be anybody who is more authentic to herself and her artistry than CMAT. She is not afraid of what anybody has to say about her, even though she shared that she sees lots of negative comments on her body whenever she comes across a video posted on tiktok of her. It appeared as if it only encouraged her further to express herself as a sexy woman, shaking her ass every chance she got. When a fan from the crowd offered her a gluten-free beer, CMAT thought she was joking. The fan had actually brought a gluten free beer to the show and with the help of a very co-operative crowd, CMAT got her hands on it. After taking a big gulp from the beer, she asked if the fan had kept it up in her asscrack, because the beer was boiling hot. After a few minutes, CMAT got her hands on an Aperol Spritz too. While sipping from the orange beverage, she expressed her gratitude for being here. She told us about how the Netherlands was the first country to like this band and she was so grateful for all the love she got from the crowd. When she went on to sing ‘Take A Sexy Picture Of Me’, she did the tiktok dance along with her front-row fans.
A highly anticipated act was the recent collaboration between Aurora and Tom Rowlands: Tomora. Aurora alone has been a subheadliner for previous festivals and Tom Rowlands has, as part of The Chemical Brothers, been headliner at multiple festivals. As a newly formed duo, they would not be on the main stage this weekend. Instead, they would be on the Teddy Widder stage on the opposite side of the festival site. The crowd they attracted was so big, lots of people were standing outside the tent, enjoying the show from the big screen. The performance started with Rowlands at his DJ desk. Aurora came up on stage using a megaphone to scream and sing through, together with Amalie Holt Kleive who performed choreography and vocals with Aurora. Aurora and Kleive were wearing matching futuristic dresses which they later changed out of and into suits. They danced some contemporary choreography which added an eerie, doll-like feeling to the performance. The choreography, the lights, the smoke, the costumes and the sound were so inherently connected that everything together felt almost cathartic. It was truly a creative outlet of pure passion.
Just before the start of the golden hour, the paths leading towards the Hotot filled with people walking towards the mainstage, wanting to be entertained. Entertained they would most definitely be, by none other than frontman of Empire Of The Sun: Luke Steel. Steel was dressed in an extravagant costume with an eye-catching headpiece to complete the outfit. Colour was an integral part of the performance, as the background visuals were very vibrant, colourful moving shapes and the background dancers were also wearing multiple different colourful and glittering outfits. There were fans who came prepared for the costume party and came with beautiful headpieces on. When Steel suddenly decided to climb off the stage, he sang to some of the front row fans while holding them. He then climbed back on and when the band played ‘Walking On A Dream’, the crowd went wild. By this time, the golden hour was in full swing. A soft golden light cast over the entirety of the crowd and the front of the mainstage. There could not be a more perfect timeslot for Empire Of The Sun to be playing.
On this Friday evening, Little Simz would be headlining. It was clear there were lots of fans in the crowd who had come out just to see her. They were screaming so loud, even long before she would enter the stage. Little Simz was no stranger to Down The Rabbit Hole. The last time she was here, she played the Teddy Widder stage on a much earlier timeslot. Four years later, she got a massive upgrade. Her set was a boiler room of emotions and frustrations which fused together into a stronghold of music and dance. When she got the audience to sing ‘Thief’ with her, you could only imagine how exhilarating it must be to let go of such a painful memory (the 1,7 million pounds she loaned to a ‘friend’ and never got back) with thousands of people screaming along with you. Next to screaming, there was room to dance too and people used that room to do so. She ended her set, and with it the evening, on a message of love with ‘Free’ and ‘Woman’.
After what you could call an emotional rollercoaster, the first day of Down The Rabbit Hole 2026 was a big success. The rabbits slowly went back to their camping sites, but there were still lots of people who would go on to dance until deep in the night. The last items on the programme would not end until 4.30 am, so there was enough time to party and get barely any sleep before starting to party again the next morning.
All photos from Friday can be found here.
The first day of fun and drinks and dancing and what was probably a horrible night of very little sleep, definitely made an impact on the rabbits the next morning. The weather was quite nice, with a warm sun coming through early in the morning. Instead of bedrotting, a lot of people came out of their tents to go sunbathing next to the lake. A perfectly relaxing way to wake up and slowly get through the hangover.
For the people who were excited to start with the festivities of this Saturday, but still had some remaining brain fog, the Fuzzy Lop program was the perfect place to start. The first act to perform here was the Folk Bitch Trio. As is clear from their name, they make folk music. The trio of modest girls had beautiful voices and it was a real pleasure to listen to them this early on the day. A five minute walk away, on the Bossa Nova, the musical duo Lumï was about to hit the stage. The audience came in a little more slowly than the day before around the same time. However, by the time the two girls came on stage, the field was properly filled. The voices of Claudia and Loeki sounded like a perfect harmony together. This act was again, perfect to listen to when you desired a calm start to the day.
An act not so calm as the ones before, was about to start at the Hotot. Just this Tuesday, she stood in the big hall at Paradiso. The expectations were high, as people who went to that earlier concert were praising her performance. First the band appeared on stage. All men dressed in white, with all white cowboy hats to complete the outfit. It was Sierra Ferrell who entered the mainstage after them. It was not the kind of music you heard people sing along to as her songs were not that well known in the Netherlands. However, singing-along was not the only factor to measure success, as her classic country music caused most of the audience to not be able to stand still and dance instead. Even all the way back on the hill, people started spontaneously line-dancing. Ferrell let it be known she did not fit in the classical right winged country singer stereotype as she chanted “Free Palestine!” and reminded us to think about where we put our money into and which materials we wore on our body. Polyester was a definite no-go and she encouraged us to wear linen and cotton instead.
Back at the Fuzzy Lop, Genesis Owusu was about to get the part really started. True festival addicts might recognise this one, because less than a month before, he took the stage at Best Kept Secret. Genesis Owusu came running on stage, starting off strong. He was dancing and jumping and barely stopped to take a breath. It was almost nerve wrecking when he came jumping so close to the edge of the stage, you would almost expect him to jump off. His infinite source of energy was contagious, as the whole crowd was jumping with him. Genesis asked the crowd to sing (or shout) the pre-chorus with him and they did not need more encouragement to do so. When the first notes of ‘A Thousand Miles’ started, people started laughing, thinking it must be a joke. When he actually started singing the song, you saw them looking at each other in disbelief that he was actually playing it. After the initial shock, everyone laughed again, went along with it and sang the lines with him. It was a refreshing break in between his own mix of electro, postpunk and rap songs. As a radio voiceover intended to make the set feel like an illegal radiobroadcasting, they announced the news of a mass psychosis. These words were an almost accurate description of what was going on here. The public was hyperfocussed on the stage, the music and the feeling of ecstasy that came with it. There could have been a zombie apocalypse happening right outside the tent and nobody would notice.
Their quick rise to fame has led them to gather quite a strong fanbase since they started together in 2021. It was no surprise to find The Last Dinner Party on the mainstage this weekend. It is a feminine urge to be strutting down the Hotot in Victorian style dresses with pink ribbons adorning the micstands. Even though Abigail Morris is subliminal as frontwoman, she did not take back from the individual strength of all the members of the band. They worked seamlessly together and formed a powerhouse of a band. The band exclaimed they are here for the gays and the theys when they started singing ‘Sinner’. Morris came down the stage to sing and scream with the fans at the barrier.
Back at the Teddy Widder, the tension was building in expectation of the next act coming up. The stage was looking quite promising already, as a large swing was positioned in the center of it. It was pitchblack when Oklou’s band walked on stage. When Oklou herself walked on, it turned out the swing actually doubled as a very bright ambience light. After her intro on stage where the lights were loud, she sat down to play the flute. This specific flute lit up itself, casting a soft red light. As important as light was to her performance, so was the broadcasting of it. The Teddy Widder stage featured two big screens on either side of the stage where you would usually see the standard live projection of the performance happening on stage. Oklou’s team chose to take advantage of these projections to enhance the futuristic feeling they wanted to radiate with this performance. Oklou had a camera man following her every move on stage, as well as a camera woman moving around on the stage farther from her for a different perspective as well as to film the audience. When there were helicopter sounds coming from the speakers, Oklou took a bright flashlight and moved it around as if it was a searchlight. The performance was very innovative and merged new broadcast techniques with classic sound really well.
Next up on Teddy Widder was Joy Crookes. She seemed to be beaming with literal joy as she came on stage. Her deep voice was mesmerizing. It was an art how she sang so beautifully and moved so very casual at the same time. She played the omnichord herself, while turning away from the instrument, with one hand playing it and the other holding the microphone while singing towards the audience. She knew so well what she was doing and was clearly having so much fun while being at it. The crowd was having a good time too, as most people were dancing while having the biggest smile on their faces.
We have heard some Irish artists before this weekend (Florence Road, CMAT), but none of them actually brought the Irish sound in their music as much as The Mary Wallopers did. They brought Uilleann pipes and a tin whistle on stage. Even though this is not your classical club music, the crowd went wild nonetheless. A moshpit with Irish music was perfectly appropriate, it seemed. The Mary Wallopers had an urgent political message to deliver as well. Their song ‘Rich Man And The Poor Man’ was about what would happen after a rich man dies. Specifically in the case of trillionaire Elon Musk, that could not happen soon enough in their opinion. It seemed most of the crowd agreed and danced to the hope of it happening soon.
Saturday’s headliner was The XX. The stage design seemed promising as it was built, but the overall image was actually quite underwhelming. Not to be misunderstood that it was not good, because it was. It was just that the production of the stage and the lights were screaming loud, while the music was soft and intimate. There seemed to be a divide in the audience too, between the ones who really appreciated the intimacy and the ones who wanted to party into the night and found themselves frustrated that this was not the setting to do so. For who came to the festival for the music, this was the perfect ending to a fully satisfactory day. For whoever came to the festival to party, this was a slow stop in between dancing. The trio ended their set with ‘Intro’, their hit which had received a lot of recent attention in the TikTok-era.
All photos from Saturday can be found here.
The rabbits woke up slowly today. Where on Saturday, the lakesides were filled with sunbathing people, they now chose to stay in their tents a little while longer. Which was understandable, since this was probably the morning after a second night of terrible sleep.
The people gathering in front of the Fuzzy Lop might have been tired, but they sure were very excited too. The first act to come on stage here was the Dutch band De Nachtwacht. The presenter already gave his compliments to frontman Jiri Taihuttu, for he was previously known to be a rapper and to be in a hiphop formation. To make the switch to pop/soft-rock music was a bold move, considering things were going well, in the other direction. Taihuttu told us some of these songs were written when he was not doing well at all. Fortunately, he also let us know that he is doing better now. When he saw some people changing from dancing to something resembling a moshpit, Taihuttu got excited and asked “Will this today be the first ever Nachtwacht moshpit?”. The band played a song that was not released yet. The song was about a girl who had grown up in a conservative family but did not exactly behave in alignment with those values. The tune was so catchy that you could sing along some of the lines in the moment. Taihuttu asked the crowd if the band had woken them up already, and if they were ready to jump. The response was exactly what he could have hoped as the entire crowd went down to the ground on command and started jumping on the beat when the chorus started. The way Taihuttu played his guitar phenomenally well, while running and jumping across the stage was honestly very impressive. The average person would be out of breath trying to follow his movements. De Nachtwacht definitely succeeded to get the party started during their early time slot in the line-up.
The first act to enter the Hotot on Sunday was also a Dutch artist. The stage was reserved for Naaz, who appeared on stage looking absolutely ethereal. Her set was designed around her latest project The Sky Knows I Exist. The styling, combined with the visuals and her angelic voice created such a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere to witness. The performance got a lot deeper when Naaz got a choir on stage to sing the title track with her. All the members of the choir were people who had fled their home country and were now waiting for permission to stay here and start building their lives up from the ground again. The message was that any human should not have to prove their right to exist. If the sky can see you and know you exist, that should be enough.
Back at Teddy widder, the worlds’ best improviser, some would call him, was awaited by an enthusiastic and curious looking crowd. On the big screen at the back of the stage was a QR code projected, which the audience could use to send in words to inspire the freestyle coming up. When DJ Jazz entered the stage, he made sure to double down on the importance of the input of the audience. The show would only be as good as the energy they got from the crowd, he said. After he saw the crowd understood the assignment, he welcomed Harry Mack on stage. After only two songs, Mack already started showing off his freestyle skills. He went into the audience to freestyle with whatever he saw happening around him. He just stayed in the crowd for as long as he liked, naming everything he saw, making up whole stories about it and rapping so fast you sometimes could not even follow him. The collaboration between him and the DJ was genius, as the beat was never dull. You would not know it was freestyle, if you did not listen to the words Mack was actually saying. It all sounded so smooth. This was not the only freestyle he did. When he was back on stage, would be freestyling with some of the words the crowd had given him through the QR code. He did so with the words ‘jackpot’, ‘correlation’, ‘brainpower’, ‘dimension’ and ‘cascade’. He made the words flow together in seamless lyrics, even though the words did not have any relation in the first instance.
After this freestyle, he told the crowd he would be telling them a story. Only the story did not exist yet. He would need a character, a setting or place and a dilemma for this story. All three of these things he wanted to get from the crowd. It must be the most random and in no way connected things you could think of. The results came by asking three different front-row fans. The character would be Batman. The setting would be in the hospital. The dilemma would be the fact that Batman just wanted to dance. Believe it or not, Mack immediately knew how to rap a story about Batman who lay in the hospital and wanted to dance. The story went on and on and on and on. Harry Mack was clearly very happy doing what he did. He also mentioned it. He mentioned how grateful he was for the audience for coming to this stage for his performance and for letting him be himself to the fullest. He also thanked the crowd for collaborating with him. It was magical to witness such a fast thinker and artist creating lyrics out of almost nothing on the spot.
The beautiful voice of Charlotte Cardin drifted towards the crowd before she entered the Teddy Widder stage herself. She walked on the stage in a slow and steady gate, as if she was unsure what the reaction of the crowd would be, but at the same time very confident in the show she was about to set up. She is quite the big hit in France nowadays, but the crowd that gathered here was not the same size it would have been, if she had played in Paris. She convinced the crowds of her musical magic and brought some french flair to Down The Rabbit Hole with her performance.
Right when Cardin’s set ended, the headliner’s set started. Or so it seemed. Because it was only 17.30, it would not be until a few hours later that the actual headlining set started. However, every single person who was present at the festival, seemed to be on their way towards the Hotot. The whole main path was overflowing with people walking towards the mainstage. This next act had actually made their debut live performance at Down The Rabbit Hole a few years back and now they were back for a second, even bigger act. The stage was rebuilt, with a massive stage on top of the original stage. The first to appear on stage was DJ Faisal. He did not stand on top of the higher stage, so only his head was visible. When Abel en Sef entered the stage as IJSLAND, they towered above Faisal and everyone in the crowd seemed to be screaming. IJSLAND’s discography basically is a very strong political take in the form of Dutch lyrics in a mix of rap, hiphop and hyperpop. The lyrics are meant to be shouted as a form of expression for the feelings and frustrations of the unfairness in the Dutch government. IJSLAND takes a left and progressive take in the political field.
Some fans at the front row were actually staying at the barricade to secure a good spot for Florence and the Machine and you could clearly see the confusion in their faces as everyone around them was shouting “ROLLEN MET DIE KOP!”. In between songs, Abel wanted to say something to the crowd. He acted as if he could not find the words to express what exactly he wanted to say. He stammered something about people who have experienced certain privileges in their lives and other people who have had to overcome the difficulties on the other side of those privileges. He wanted those people, who had overcome those struggles, to get to the front. Sef was there to help him find the right words when he screamed into the microphone “WITTE MANNEN NAAR ACHTEREN!” (White men to the back!). There were definitely some bruised egos walking disappointed to the back, but for the most part the crowd could appreciate the message and went on with the party. From the top of the hill at the opposite side of the Hotot, you could see multiple moshpits forming in the crowd. The crowd was so big, it stretched over the whole field in front of the Hotot. Without any context but the size of the crowd, anyone walking by would think this was the Sunday headliner.
Sadly, every great party has to end at some point. Even though you could assume there would not be an act anytime soon to surpass the IJSLAND madness, there was in fact an act that was perfect to go to after getting so hyped up at the mainstage. Deki Alem took the audience right back in a trance of heavy beats and restless stage energy. They started their set with some triphop and rap bangers and ended with a more chill drum and bass vibe. This set was perfect to see after a wild IJSLAND performance and also perfect to see before going to chill with Loyle Carner back at the Hotot.
Loyle Carner was actually very chill with his big and grateful smile, singing his jazz/hiphop fusion of songs. The songs Carner writes and performed are of very sensitive and emotional nature. He laid his feelings bare when singing about his insecurities while being surrounded by toxic masculinity in the industry. He told us how very proud he is of his 5 year old son. He tries to be a good example for him and he sees how his son is very emotionally intelligent already. It felt like the audience really got to know the artist as a person and had gotten a little insight into his life. It made the big mainstage somehow feel quite intimate.
More and more people were staying at their spot in front of the barricade, securing their spot for when Florence and the Machine would come up on stage. Unfortunately for those people, they would miss out on a lot of the fun happening at the other stages. For example, one of the last acts before the headliner was the punk, girl fronted band performing at the Fussy Lop. Panic Shack, they called themselves. The girls formed a great team on stage, as it was not just the lead singer who took the spotlight, but all band members got the chance to shine. They got the crowd to dance and shout with them and their music.
When it finally was time for the long expected headlining set from Florence and the Machine, the whole field in front of the Hotot was filled with an eager audience. She started her set with ‘Everybody Scream’, which was an immediate cathartic start to her set. There were some in the audience who did not know her new work and looked confused or even bored at first. However, as soon as ‘Spectrum (Say My Name)’ started, everybody seemed to be having a religious experience. Florence’s voice sounded angelic and she danced over the stage like she was a fairy in a flower field. Her back up dancers also seemed to be floating over the stage in their long, flowing skirts. When the band played ‘You’ve Got The Love’, the whole crowd sang along. Florence and the Machine was the perfect ending to three days of dancing on no sleep and a mix of caffeine and alcohol keeping you upright. She took the crowd with her through her fairytale-like world. A perfect match to the Down The Rabbit Hole experience.
All photos from Sunday can be found here.
