Beyond the outstanding lineup, here’s how to make the most of this year’s edition of the Rotterdam festival.
One of our favourite festivals going, Left Of The Dial is set take over the city of Rotterdam once again this weekend with yet another sold out edition. This year, casual smart, The Slow Country, Bathing Suits, Goodbye and Spanish Horses are among our key acts on a carefully curated bill of some of the most exciting acts breaking through today. Hosting 150+ bands across 4 days in 20+ venues – which range from buses to boats to churches, dance studios and nightclubs – here’s our guide to this oddly beautiful festival experience, where there’s plenty of stuff going on besides the music, of course.
Fried Goods
If there’s one thing that the Netherlands excels at, it’s dipping breaded foodstuffs into boiling oil. It’s hard to really convey the height of snackish indulgences that can be reached with a bite into greasy (maybe cheesy) croquette here. If you’re stopping off for a drink, cooling off from the Omertà moshpit perhaps, make sure to order some Bitterballen for your table too. For sure, there’s no headliners at this festival, but if I had to pick, maybe it would be this?
See bands in strange places
Aside from the main festival programme, Left of The Dial offers other gig-going opportunities in all kinds of unique places. A longtime mainstay of the festival is its ‘Bands On A Boat’ experience, where you watch a brace of acts rocking (in both senses of the word) on a literal boat as it steers its way through a (likely rainy) Rotterdam harbour. And there’s also a free bar. Returning for its second year, and the ultimate test of balance, is the ‘Bands on a Bus’ (self-explanatory).
Festival Extras
Again expanding the programme for 2026, there’s plenty of extra-curricular events happening around the festival. The official sets don’t start until late afternoon so for people who are up and about, there’s Line-Dancing lessons, DIY-cocktail competitions, electronic music workshops, and the much-cherished Merch minimart, where T-shirts are printed before your eyes. You can also ‘Dine Like a Star’ and eat the same delicious vegan dinners that the touring artists are eating, if that’s something you’re into.
Our Official Unofficial Stage
For those who happen to be in Rotterdam and didn’t manage to get a ticket, or for morning people who are more than happy to headbang at noon, there is a whole heap of free shows taking place across Friday and Saturday afternoon at the festival’s keynote venues. Featuring bands from the line-up (and a few more on top), Hard of Hearing magazine hosts its own free stage at Club Uniek (a karaoke Bar) on Friday 23rd, featuring Alice Costelloe, Mleko, AtticOmatic and Smudged.
See more bands
This defeats the point of this piece, but really, the line-up for this year’s festival is fucking good. Like really good. The line-up really is a cheat code for anyone looking to discover the best new bands from the UK, Ireland and beyond; to introduce yourself some names which you’ll likely be hearing a lot more of in the coming months. The bookers really know what they’re doing – just look at some of the names that played last year: Little Grandad, Cowboy Hunters, Pollyfromthedirt. Just a year on and those guys ain’t doing too shabby!
More info and this year’s full lineup available at https://leftofthedial.nl
