MOMO Festival returns 16–18 April 2026 in Rotterdam, with over 60 names already announced. Today we’re adding the part that keeps you up all night: MOMO Nights 2026.

We’re bringing two nights in retro arcade, bar & club: 160K. Each with their own energy, their own program and their own performances and artists. Because the festival doesn’t stop when the last show ends. For us, the night is an essential part of what MOMO is. A place to lose yourself in music and dance, to express yourself and to discover something new.

Friday 17 April — MOMO Nights invites: CIRCUS PAARDENRAVE
Rotterdam’s wildest club and performance concept is taking over MOMO Festival, and they’re bringing the whole herd. CIRCUS PAARDENRAVE is a boundary-pushing, genre-fluid force of nature that turns any stage into a crazy rodeo of energy, fantasy and pure unbridled chaos. Expect high-octane DJs, performances and art colliding at full speed, because standing still simply isn’t an option.

Saturday 18 April — MOMO Nights: afterparty
MOMO Festival doesn’t end when the last show does. Saturday night, 160K becomes the place to be for an afterparty spread across two spaces, where club energy meets spontaneous live moments. Kossa Kossa holds down one room in a living, breathing celebration of Black music connecting Rotterdam to Accra, where musicians and vocalists are invited to join the jam session and step into the circle. In the other room, Edna Martinez opens with a polyrhythmic journey through African, Caribbean and Arab sounds, followed by Cheb Runner who fearlessly collides Moroccan chaabi, deep techno and Dutch gabber, with Rotational closing out the night with a global dig into kuduro, baile funk and beyond.

Both nights run from 23:00 to 05:00 at 160K Rotterdam. Accessible with a MOMO Festival 2026 Passe-partout, a Friday ticket for CIRCUS PAARDENRAVE or a Saturday ticket for MOMO Nights: afterparty. Separate night tickets available too.

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Belgian bedroom indie pop duo Kids With Buns comes to LantarenVenster on 2 December 2026!

Tickets on sale Friday 6 March at 10:00 via Ticketmaster.

Kids With Buns (Amber Piddington and Marie Van Uytvanck) make bedroom indie pop rooted in diary entries, late-night songwriting and years of bottled-up feelings. Following their debut album Out of Place and sold-out shows, they return with a second album — written after heartbreak and recorded in Philadelphia with producer Jacob Blizard (Lucy Dacus / boygenius).

This concert is presented by LantarenVenster, Rotown and MOMO Concerts.
Please note: this is a standing concert. Limited seated tickets on the balcony are only available directly through LantarenVenster.

For the fourth time, MOMO Festival invites an artist for a multi-day residency in Rotterdam. This year, it’s Nusantara Beat.

The Amsterdam-based six-piece will perform over all three festival days, 16, 17 and 18 April, at different locations across the city. Each show its own format, each setting a surprise. Nusantara Beat follows in the footsteps of caroline, Black Country, New Road and Tom Skinner, who each left their own mark on the residency series with performances in unexpected spaces across Rotterdam.

A new sound for the residency

Where previous editions brought alternative indie, post-rock and jazz, Nusantara Beat adds something new to the mix. Bringing together musicians from Jungle by Night, Pom and EUT, the band writes songs deeply rooted in their Indonesian background and culture. Resonant, evocative and cinematic, their work meditates on family, memory and ancestral connection — always with a spiritual, playful or nostalgic undertone. From 60s rock to modern neo-psychedelia, a Nusantara Beat show filters many flavours through their distinct sound. As 3voor12 puts it: “Musically they weave a fine-meshed net together, dynamic and groovy but always subtle and layered.”

Their performance at MOMO Festival 2023 left a lasting impression. This residency is a chance to go deeper.

The space to experiment

The residency is one of MOMO Festival’s most distinctive formats. Head of programming Enoma Amayo: “The residency gives artists the space to experiment. Different formats, line-ups or locations lead to new collaborations and often truly extraordinary shows. That space rarely exists within a regular festival setup, but it’s precisely in the experiment that unforgettable experiences are born.“

More details on locations and shows will follow.

MOMO Festival takes place from Thursday 16 to Saturday 18 April 2026 at various locations in Rotterdam. Passe-partout tickets (€100) and day tickets (from €35) are available.

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At Motel Mozaïque, artists aren’t just the heart of what we do, they’re the reason we exist. That’s why we’re committed to using our platform to champion fairer, more transparent ways of supporting the people who make the music we love. Lately, though, we’ve shared the growing unease many artists and fans feel about the direction of mainstream streaming platforms. From low artist payouts, to algorithms that decide what and who gets recommended, to investments with revenue made off artists’ work.

That’s why we’re happy to announce our partnership with Qobuz as the official streaming partner of MOMO Festival 2026. Qobuz is a platform built on ethical practices, fair compensation, and a deep respect for both artists and listeners.

What this means in practice

Artists earn more – Qobuz pays out up to five times more in royalties than other major platforms, ensuring creators are fairly compensated for their work.
Fans can support directly – Beyond streaming, Qobuz lets you buy music outright—allowing you to directly support the artists you love.
Quality matters – Qobuz offers hi-fi streaming, so you can experience your favorite tracks in the highest possible definition.

MOMO playlists on Qobuz

As part of this collaboration, we’ll be sharing our festival playlists and streaming links to Qobuz. And to make your own transition easy, Qobuz offers a free migration service, so you can bring all your beloved playlists with you in just a few clicks.

Exclusive offer for MOMO friends

Qobuz is giving MOMO friends an exclusive 2-month free trial. Stay tuned to our newsletter for details – we’ll share the link as soon as it’s live.

This partnership is about choosing a music industry that values fairness, transparency, and the people who make it all possible. We’re excited to take this step, and we hope you’ll join us.

American singer-songwriter Alela Diane is returning to Rotterdam! On Sunday 25 May, she’ll perform at LantarenVenster with her full 4-piece band, presenting songs from her forthcoming album set for release in spring 2026.

Tickets on sale now via Ticketmaster!

Alela Diane has built one of contemporary folk’s most quietly extraordinary catalogs since her breakthrough The Pirate’s Gospel. Consequence once praised her “timeless sound, that of a wayfaring troubadour, which only seems to come a few times a generation.”

From the critically acclaimed To Be Still (2009) and Cusp (2018) – called “insanely beautiful, with the strength and delicacy of spider silk” by UNCUT – to her reflective Looking Glass (2022), Diane continues to evolve her intimate folk sound. With new music on the horizon, this promises to be a special evening of wayfaring folk in Rotterdam.

This concert is presented by LantarenVenster, Rotown and MOMO Concerts.
Please note: this is a standing concert. Limited seated tickets on the balcony are only available directly through LantarenVenster.

We’re excited to announce that NÉNÉ will be this year’s Black Box Resident at MOMO Festival 2026.

The Black Box Residency is an annual program of MOMO Festival. Each year, we invite an artist to take over a space for three days: the Black Box. It’s an empty room, ready to be filled entirely according to the artist’s own vision. We provide the physical and financial space to research, experiment, and develop new work. The creative process becomes visible and accessible to the public, who are invited to experience the work as it unfolds.

“With the Black Box residency, we create space for artists who want to experiment, deepen their practice and take risks beyond the pressure of a finished product. I’m incredibly excited about what NÉNÉ will create. Her perspective on the world, her choice of collaborations and her work are deeply inspiring.”
– Enoma Amayo (Head of Program, Motel Mozaïque)

NÉNÉ is an artist based in Rotterdam. Her paintings, installations, and spatial explorations are inspired by her interest in Afrofuturism. This philosophy and art movement offer her new perspectives on how African history emerged before the colonial past and continues to flow through the present.

In her work, NÉNÉ is interested in how people move within structures. She reflects on how present-day questions are shaped by colonial systems. Systems that are so layered and normalized that they often become invisible and block our vision. Within her practice, she explores whether and how it is possible to step out of these structures, to move freely, and when that freedom is not accessible, how we can still communicate, connect, and coexist within those same structures.

During her Black Box residency at MOMO, NÉNÉ explores current developments surrounding anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in parts of Africa. This research is rooted in her time in Ghana, where she traveled to engage with textile practices and symbols as living forms of knowledge, storytelling, and resistance. From this place, she works in close collaboration with visual and fashion artists from Ghana, Neal and Kwasi, to create a wearable artwork that allows self-expression and resistance through hidden codes embedded in textiles. These garments become a language; holding stories, identities, and gestures of protest that can exist, move, and connect within restrictive systems.

Visit NÉNÉ’s Black Box during MOMO Festival 2026, April 16-18. Location to be announced.

Ring the bells, beat the drum: a Christmas tradition is born with Clean Pete’s Christmas Show!

Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

Clean Pete’s acclaimed Christmas album ‘Gloria’ has grown into a spectacular show filled with guest artists from every musical genre. Philosophical reflections and classical music seamlessly alternate with glamorous musical extravaganzas. Every emotion takes center stage in a show that weaves together the sacred and the chaotic. A choir sings, the band rocks, pain is acknowledged.

Sisters Loes and Renée Wijnhoven, known as Clean Pete, celebrate their deep love for Christmas and Christmas music once again this year in a surprising show. Audience on the benches, laughter and tears: what more could you want?

De Volkskrant gave the show five stars, writing: “Christmas has humor, glamour and sassy legs. There is Christmas loneliness, Christmas anxiety and Christmas lust. Christmas wears a green glitter dress, a beekeeper suit or a crooked tie.”

This concert is presented by Rotown, Theater Rotterdam and MOMO Concerts.

Help make MOMO Festival accessible for everyone. Donate a ticket through Ticketbank between 20-30 December and receive a free MOMO ’25 Magazine as a thank you!

Ticketbank connects cultural organizations with people who have limited budgets but want to experience live events. Through the “Geef een Toegift” initiative, we’re working towards a more inclusive festival landscape.

How to donate a ticket:
During this temporary action period (20-30 December), you don’t need to buy a ticket for yourself to participate.

Simply visit our ticket shop, select “Geef een Toegift,” and donate a ticket for €22 (Day ticket) or €50 (Passe-partout ticket).

After 30 December, we’ll send you an email to arrange delivery of your MOMO Magazine.

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Dutch-Kurdish singer, producer and writer Naaz comes to Rotterdam!

Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

Self-taught in writing, producing and composing, Naaz released her debut project Bits of Naaz from her bedroom and has since toured Europe four times. Her music has earned praise from Elton John and Lana Del Rey. In 2020, she stepped away from the industry, returning three years later with Never Have I Ever, her acclaimed debut album that marked both an artistic and personal rebirth.

With her Kurdish alt-pop single Azadi, Naaz made a bold statement. The track became an activist anthem for women’s rights worldwide, particularly in the Middle East. She has since won awards for her music and self-directed visuals, and signed a book deal for her first novel. Beyond pop music, she has been embraced in literary and orchestral spheres, often performing with full orchestras.

In 2025, she released the self-produced EP Read Me, paving the way for her sophomore album set for release in 2026. Celebrated for her openness about autism, diaspora and staying authentic, Naaz continues to mesmerize audiences.

This concert is presented by Rotown, Arminius and MOMO Concerts.

Amsterdam rapper Milolaathetlukken comes to Rotterdam on 20 March 2026!

Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

Milolaathetlukken lives up to his name. Since the Amsterdam rapper released his first music in 2024, his career has taken off rapidly. As a flamboyant young artist with a distinctive sense of style, Milo tells stories about designer clothes, money and pulling wheelies on the Prinsengracht, wrapped in instrumentals deeply rooted in the culture.

Since his debut, he has accumulated over 30 million streams. Versatility is key for the fashion lover, who effortlessly moves between different worlds. This has led to collaborations with artists including Antoon, Idaly and Lil Kleine.

With successful singles like Bordeelsluipers, Annie and HDP on his recently released EP Omg Yes, Milolaathetlukken continues to develop as one of the most striking new voices in the scene. His first club tour in autumn 2025 sold out completely across the Netherlands and Belgium.

In spring 2026 he returns with the Laathetlukkentour!

This concert is presented by Rotown, BIRD and MOMO Concerts.