Forging movements: Inside Stone Techno's groundshaking 2026 edition

Even with an expanded site at its UNESCO World Heritage home, Stone Techno maintained its immersive ethos for its latest edition

Features

Forging movements: Inside Stone Techno's groundshaking 2026 edition

Even with an expanded site at its UNESCO World Heritage home, Stone Techno maintained its immersive ethos for its latest edition

In Association with The Third Room | Lead photo: George Nebieridze | Inline photos: Matthias Spiewok, George Nebieridze, Sander van de Ven, Helena Majewska, Karl Magee, Ronja Falkenbach

24 August 2026

Continuing to forge its reputation as one of the most hotly-tipped underground electronic events on the European festival season calendar, the latest edition of Stone Techno Festival saw the techno-centred festival build on its music-first ethos. Organised by German independent label The Third Room , Stone Techno returned to the breathtaking UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex site in Essen, inviting dancers to take in sets from the likes of DVS1, Skee Mask, Martyn and Bashkka, while exploring "new spaces" across its three-day run from July 10-12.

"I think the atmosphere on the dancefloors is getting better each year," says The Third Room founder Ahmet Sisman. "We also improved significantly with the sound and our stage design compared to 2025. I am pretty happy with the new production and it doesn’t matter which time, day or slot; the floors were always on fire. People are here to dance, to connect and to enjoy the moment."

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Increasing its spread across the towering industrial setting by 45%, 2026 saw Stone Techno introduce: new infrastructure; larger chill-out areas; additional lockers and water stations; an expanded food and merchandise offering; and a fifth stage, The Listening Floor , acting as a dedicated listening space in the Kokerei area. The circular amphitheatre - complete with a wine bar - was the setting for Stone Techno Festival's ambient and experimental showcases. "This floor was really a black box for me," says Sisman. "The vision and concept was clear: the closed amphitheatre-style floor, the wine bar as an entrance to the floor and the combination with the pop-up vinyl store as a social hub."

"It worked out pretty well, even better than I could have wished for," he continues. "The Listening Floor has created a nice and very much needed contrast to the other floors where people can calm down, listening (and dancing) with a more focused approach to music. The musical diversity on this floor was unmatched and it was also personally my favourite floor from this year. It's here to stay and will be a valuable asset to enhance the experience of STF."

Replacing its daytime stage takeovers for 2026, Stone Techno Festival introduced the new Curation Series format, which saw Verraco, Alarico, Freddy K, GiGi FM, Oscar Mulero and D.Dan curate a floor for 12-hours each across the weekend. Artists involved have also curated an accompanying vinyl compilation which you can buy now to relive the action.

Curation from other promoters and clubs was still in force, with London's FOLD returning to the festival to take over the Grand Hall, Zeche Zollverein, as part of Stone Techno's nighttime programming. Featuring in-house sound, lighting, and stage design built with Refrakt Labs, FOLD brought along the likes of D.Dan, Ogazón and Yanamaste to soundtrack the space across three nights. Local collective Gitter & Delirium were responsible for curating the after-dark sonics at the Mischanlage, a concrete chamber located on the Zollverein grounds, which hosted sets from Dasha Rush, Rødhåd, Barker, GiGi FM, and many more.

Along with its burgeoning line-up, which featured highlight sets from OK Williams, Leon Vynehall, Powder, Gabrielle Kwarteng, Call Super, Freddy K and Anthony Naples, Stone Techno Festival attracted its highest percentage of international visitors for this year's event, with around 75% of attendees travelling from outside Germany — including from the likes of France, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, North and South America.

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"This creates a huge responsibility to meet the expectations. And being a perfectionist doesn’t make things easier," says Sisman. "I love the mixture of our audience. Mixed generations, different cultural and social backgrounds. This is what music should be: connecting people from all over the world and everyone is equal. This creates such a joyful and respectful atmosphere on the festival for which we are known for."

With all its new improvements and layout changes, Stone Techno Festival did experience a few challenges. Friday saw difficulty in crowd flow, shuttle capacity and queues, alongside technical difficulties at its new Koksofenbatterie floor. In a statement shared via Instagram , organisers the The Third Room addressed criticism, detailing how the next edition in 2027 will feature a fresh approach – including smoother crowd circulation, smarter floor planning, improved infrastructure and logistics, and bigger bars and food areas where they’re needed.

"We want to create a site that feels more connected while preserving the intimacy that makes Stone Techno what it is," the statement adds. "What won’t change is the core of all this: creating a place where music comes first, where artists and crowd share the same energy and where this community feels at home."

Despite this, Sisman shares that the response has been overwhelmingly positive for STF's 2026 edition; "the feedback I am getting from the artists, agencies and guests are pretty the same: we have the best crowd and a very music focused community."

For more information on Stone Techno Festival and to stay in the loop for updates on the 2027 edition, click here

Megan Townse