Karrusel Festival 2026 first line-up announcement
Karrusel 2026 reveals the first line-up announcement, including headliners Amelie Lens, horsegiirL, Monolink, Bad Boombox, Ellen Allien, Riria and Notion.
Karrusel takes place in a woodland area on Refshaleøen from 27–29 August 2026. Three stages with international house, disco, bass and techno names, burlesque dancers, aerial performers, tarot readings, a retro gaming area, glowing stage productions and not least the magnificent vintage carousel, spinning steadily above the grounds.
Thomas Fleurquin, founder of NusNus, the organisation behind Karrusel and Distortion: “I am completely blown away by the reception Karrusel has received over the past few years. Somehow we’ve managed to create a festival where both ‘beginners and experts’ in electronic music culture can party together. Audiences have started calling Karrusel the Danish Tomorrowland, and the festival attracts fashionable ravers, international guests and my daughter’s geography teacher!”
Manegen
On Karrusel’s main stage Manegen, Acid Pauli and Monolink play on opening day Thursday 27 August. The German selector and DJ pioneer Acid Pauli – born Martin Gretschmann – is a master of psychedelic and adventurous exploration across organic house, techno and experimental music. His career over the past 20 years has been one long explorative journey off the beaten path of the mainstream. Manegen is closed out by none other than Monolink with his celebrated live set. His Burning Man set from 2018 alone has amassed over 26 million views. With Monolink, audiences experience a dreamlike awakening. He is one of the most massively successful melodic techno names in the world, blending soft sounds with live guitar and vocals, which has earned him an enormous global fanbase.
Friday 28 August brings Bad Boombox, Helena Lauwaert and Amelie Lens. Belgian Amelie Lens returns to Karrusel after four years. She is one of the truly defining figures who has led techno into a new era. Her label EXHALE Records sets the standard for introducing the next generation of talented techno acts, and with a true, dedicated raver’s heart she commands the biggest stages in the world. This summer she played the closing set on Tomorrowland’s Main Stage for the first time. Bulgarian-American Bad Boombox masters both the hard-hitting and the irresistibly bouncy groove, blending them in his unique trademark style. Helena Lauwaert’s new hardgroove is rising at rocket speed. She is a young and upcoming DJ from Ghent, Belgium, who mixes groovy techno, hard house and speed house into her genre-fluid sets.
Saturday 29 August sees horsegiirL and Ellen Allien take us for a spin around the carousel. horsegiirL burst onto the scene in 2022 with hyperpop hits about the horse Stella and a rapidly growing TikTok following. Since then she has taken over festival stages worldwide with her wet and wild combination of eurodance, gabber, happy hardcore and trance. On her most recent Boiler Room session she delivers a dreamy, otherworldly and hyper-modern set complete with horse mask, oversized lashes and white heart-shaped bliss. horsegiirL is the purest escapism, crafted from smooth transitions and a seductive alter-ego that gives audiences the feeling that the booth is floating while they dream their way to Rainbow Farm. Berlin techno icon Ellen Allien is the very embodiment of techno: a visionary who constantly looks forward, carves her own path and runs an empire that has left its wholly unique DNA on techno, rave and dance music culture. With over ten albums, countless singles, EPs and remixes, and the record labels BPitch and UFO Inc., she has not merely maintained her place in the techno scene – she has shaped the global electronic music landscape entirely on her own terms.
Tribunen and the bumper car stage Arkaden
The Arkaden stage is built from a vintage bumper car floor with the booth positioned at eye level with the audience. Playing here are SICARIA and Conducta on Thursday, Y U QT and Riria on Friday, and NOTION and Brazilian DJ and producer RHR on Saturday. SICARIA, the queen of dub, delivers fast and ferocious bass and breaks from London’s intense club scene. UK duo Y U QT bring happy vibes to Arkaden. With smooth transitions they conjure the feeling of an intimate Euro club from the 1990s. They are key players in the UK wave of house and garage and have found their unique sweet spot between equal parts nostalgia and innovation. Conducta brings his iconic mix of R&B-tinged techno blended with speed garage, breaks, 2-step and catchy vocals.
Riria flies between London and Japan and brings her Tokyo swag to the Arkaden floor. Her Boiler Room set proves how effortlessly she fuses French rap, techno, Brazilian funk, reggaeton and UK sounds – and makes it all sound like the most natural thing in the world. Bristol producer NOTION is one of the new phenomena genuinely shaking up the bass music scene. With his high-energy, club-ready sound he has not only filled dancefloors across the globe – he has also built a massive Spotify platform with 13 million monthly listeners, placing him squarely in the conversation about who is shaping the next wave of UKG and bassline. São Paulo-based RHR brings Brazilian rhythms and syncopation with him, blending them into a vibrant mix of techno, bass, dancehall, electro and baile funk that has taken him to Dekmantel, ODD, Boiler Room São Paulo – and now Karrusel 2026.
On Tribunen on Saturday, German-Syrian SHKOON takes the stage. SHKOON performs melodic techno live, woven through with Syrian folklore and Arabic lyrics.
More artists to be announced soon by Karrusel Festival.
Cover photo by Sofia Jimenez for Karrusel Festival 2025
