Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), the yearly electronic music conference and club festival, runs from Wednesday, October 21 to Sunday, October 25, 2026, in venues across Amsterdam. ADE started in 1996 and bills this year as its 30th anniversary edition, "30 YEARS ADE". Here is what was confirmed on October 16, 2026, and how to plan your week as a DJ.
What ADE is
By day, ADE is a conference: ADE Pro, with talks, panels and networking for music professionals from Wednesday to Saturday at Felix Meritis and nearby business hubs, and ADE Lab, for new artists. Day and night, clubs, promoters and cultural venues run their own events under the ADE umbrella (ADE Festival), and an Arts & Culture program brings electronic music to museums and churches. ADE does not book those line-ups, so each event sells its own tickets.
ADE says its 2025 edition drew a record 600,000 visitors and 11,000 music professionals, with nearly 3,500 artists at more than 1,200 events. For 2026, its October 6 announcement counts more than 3,600 artists, 1,300 events and 300 venues (other ADE pages say 3,300 and 1,200). In 1996, it started with 300 delegates and three night venues.
Highlights confirmed so far
Wednesday, October 21 has several opening events. Jean-Michel Jarre, this year's guest of honor, plays an opening concert at AFAS Live that also marks 50 years of his album Oxygène, and gives a keynote interview at ADE Pro. "Electronic music, as well as ADE, has a history, a legacy and a future," he said in ADE's announcement. The same evening, Kybba joins the Metropole Orkest at Melkweg, and Dutch National Ballet and ISH Dance Collective stage Swan Lake Remixed for ADE at the Gashouder. Both are sold out.
The Gashouder, the round former gas holder at Westergas that hosted many Awakenings nights during ADE, is back after two years of renovation. It also hosts Armin van Buuren and Benwal on the night of October 21 and an all-day Job Jobse show on Friday, October 23 (sold out).
KI/KI plays five-hour shows at the Ziggo Dome on October 22 and 23. AMF takes over the Johan Cruijff ArenA stadium on Saturday, October 24 from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. with Afrojack, Amelie Lens, Armin van Buuren, ARTBAT, D-Block & S-te-Fan, David Guetta (with his Monolith show), Korolova and Marlon Hoffstadt. On October 16, AMF's ticket page listed general admission as sold out, with a waiting list, and VIP tickets still on sale.
Line-ups can still change, so check each event page in the official ADE program before you plan around it.
Passes and tickets
There is no single ticket for everything:
| Option | Price | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADE Pro Pass | About $890 (€795) plus a booking fee | Five days of ADE Pro talks, networking and business hubs, plus festival and Arts & Culture events while space allows | Panels and meetings by day, clubs by night |
| ADE Lab Discovery | Free, registration required | Open sessions, a gear test area and listening sessions at Westergas, Wednesday to Friday | Anyone curious about gear and production |
| ADE Lab On Track | Applications for 2026 are closed | Three days of masterclasses, mentoring, studio sessions and feedback from label A&Rs for selected applicants | Emerging producers and performing DJs |
| Single event tickets | Set by each event | Guaranteed entry to one event, sold by its organizer | DJs who mainly want to hear sets |
Prices checked October 2026. Dollar figure converted at the European Central Bank rate of October 15, 2026.
Good to know: the Pro Pass is the only way into ADE Pro (there are no day passes), it does not cover ADE Lab, and it is personal, with an ID check at pickup. At festival events, venues keep limited space for pass holders, so entry is not guaranteed. ADE's advice: if one event really matters, buy a ticket for it. On October 15, ADE said the Pro Pass was 95% sold out.
Tips if you are a DJ going
- Pick the pass for your goal. To meet labels, agents and promoters, the Pro Pass includes "Meet the..." sessions, such as Meet the Labels & A&Rs (the label people who find and sign new music) on October 21. To hear sets, buy single tickets for the nights you care about.
- Mind your demo etiquette. ADE asks you to bring a short introduction to yourself and your work, plus business cards or a QR code with your contacts. Keep it brief, ask how they like to receive music, and follow up later with a private link. Never push USB sticks on DJs in the booth.
- Try gear for free. ADE Lab Discovery is free after registration and runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday to Friday, at Cultural Park Westergas. Its Gear Test Lab lets you try DJ equipment, instruments and production tools from more than 20 partners.
- Buy only from official sellers. Festival tickets are sold by each event organizer, and ADE links to them from its event pages. If an event is sold out, use its official waiting list when there is one (AMF has one) instead of buying from strangers.
- Plan travel and sleep. Venues are spread out: the Ziggo Dome and the Johan Cruijff ArenA are in the southeast, and the Awakenings opening night is at Sugarfactory in Halfweg, outside Amsterdam. Trains from Schiphol reach Amsterdam Central in about 20 minutes, and the Pro Pass includes five days of free city public transport. Many nights run until 5 a.m. or later, and most events are 18+ (some 21+ or 23+), so bring ID.
What it means for DJs
ADE calls itself "the most upfront, influential and educational gathering for electronic music". More than 3,600 artists in five days can mean a lot of new music in a short time, including IDs: unreleased tracks that DJs test on dancefloors before release (more on IDs here). Many sets get recorded. In April 2026, ADE itself shared recordings of standout sets from its 2025 edition.
When a track grabs you, note the DJ, the venue and the time, then find the set's tracklist later (here is how). DJ Mag also hosts a talk on after-hours sets at ADE Pro and a Djrum mixing masterclass for Lab On Track participants.
Want to know which unreleased tracks big DJs already play before ADE starts? Our famous IDs page lists them by style, with the sets where each one was heard.
Sources: ADE (2026 program), ADE (tickets), ADE (2025 review), ADE Lab, AMF, MOJO.