Baroeg Open Air 2026: Two Days of Punk, Metal and Rave in Rotterdam

Baroeg Open Air returns to Rotterdam's Zuiderpark on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 September 2026 — and for the first time in its history, the festival spans a full weekend. The 16th edition packs around forty acts onto multiple stages, mixing punk, metal, post-punk, gothic, breakcore and rave into one sprawling celebration of hard and alternative music, organised by the legendary Rotterdam poppodium Baroeg.

A Weekend for the First Time¶

Where Baroeg Open Air traditionally took place on a single Saturday, the 2026 edition opens on Friday afternoon and runs through the whole of Saturday. More than 300 volunteers help run the festival, which stays firmly rooted in Rotterdam's alternative music community. The organisation deliberately broadened the programme to bring the audiences of its guitar-driven and electronic stages closer together — hence the festival's own tagline for this year: from punk to rave.

Festival director Leon van Rijnsbergen says the organisation is looking forward to welcoming thousands of visitors, while acknowledging the uncertainty caused by late ticket purchases and pressure on event subsidies. Baroeg Open Air is made possible with support from Rotterdam Festivals. The Zuiderpark site gets a second life on Sunday 13 September, when the new Fiesta Futura festival takes over the same grounds.

Friday: Punk Legends and a Rammstein Tribute¶

English punk rock pioneers Buzzcocks headline Friday's Main Stage, joined by Rammstein tribute act Vannstein (Netherlands), Manchester post-punk band IST IST and the blues-rock of Leif de Leeuw Band (Netherlands). The Playground stage offers a heavier, more psychedelic counterweight: Belgian post-metal group Pothamus, the sludge band Bokkeryers — featuring Pablo van de Poel of DeWolff — and psychedelic rockers Heath.

Saturday: Fear Factory Closes the Main Stage¶

Fear Factory closes Saturday's Main Stage with industrial metal from Los Angeles. The stage also features British electro-punk band Fat Dog, Belgian post-metal group Psychonaut, Japanese metalcore act Crystal Lake, Polish blackened death metal band Hate, death metal outfit Graceless and Rotterdam post-hardcore band Teardrinker.

The Electronic Stage: Rave, Darkwave and Everything Between¶

The Electronic Stage moves between rave, drum and bass, darkwave, punk and hip-hop. IJSLAND — formed by Hang Youth frontman Abel, rapper Sef and producer Faisal — plays alongside The Bloody Beetroots (an electro and rock DJ set), Italian drum and bass duo Merikan, German darkwave act Diary of Dreams, rave-and-drum-and-bass outfit Gladde Paling, Canadian post-punk band ACTORS, punk rave collective BUG and Rotterdam's own Eelco, who plays what can only be described as metal dubstep.

The Rest of the Site: Tributes, Breakcore and Festival Fun¶

The Playground and Stroomstoot stages add everything from a Slipknot tribute (Psychosocial) to Swedish post-punk (Then Comes Silence), breakcore (Baseck), heavy dubstep (Elle Rich), industrial hardcore (Hellfish, Cancel) and electro wave (Dina Summer). Sarcófago's black and thrash metal legacy is performed by Gerald 'Incubus' Minelli & The Laws, and the bill is rounded out by punk rap (YoungRubbi), post-black metal (Lijkschouwer), hardcore (Tigerknife), black and death metal (Novelization), trap and hip-hop (Outerspass), crossbreed and drum and bass (Aliienmia) and post-industrial (Noire Antidote).

Saturday also brings back the festival market, where organisations from the rock and metal scene — including Aardschok, No Guts No Glory, Rock Central and Vrienden van Baroeg — present their work. A dedicated podcast area returns after its introduction at the previous edition. Younger visitors can head to the children's area for face painting, crafts and a photo booth, and children aged 12 and under enter both days free. Rotterdam characters Beb and Toos, together with the Krooswijk family, provide entertainment around the toilet facilities.

Tickets and Practicalities¶

Regular presale tickets cost €30 for Friday and €35 for Saturday, or €60 for a two-day combo ticket. Tickets are available through the official Baroeg Open Air website — the festival partners with the Weet Waar Je Koopt platform against secondary ticketing, and refers fans with sold-out shows to Ticketswap rather than resellers on site.

The festival starts at 16:30 on Friday. On Saturday the grounds open at 12:00 with the first band at 12:30, and the last acts finish around 22:15. Baroeg Open Air takes place in the Zuiderpark beside Rotterdam Ahoy; Zuidplein is the most convenient metro and bus station, followed by a walk through the park entrance near Ahoy. It's the 16th edition of a festival that has run — with a few cancelled years — since 2006, and that began life when poppodium Baroeg itself opened as an open youth centre in 1981.