First names for Explore the North Festival 2026

20 to 22 November | LeeuwardenClub Guy & Roni, Boris Acket and HIIIT, Joshua Idehen, XTC in the XIV, Mees van Rijswijk and Esmé van den Boom are the first names added to Explore the North Festival's programme. 

Club Guy & Roni, Boris Acket and HIIIT come to Explore the North Festival with their new performance The Current. In The Currentvisitors become part of an alternative reality in which dance, live percussion and electronic music sound together as a matter of course. Actress Sarah Janneh, known from a.o. Who is the Moleand named acting talent of 2025 by the Volkskrant, is part of the cast. From Sweden, the musician and spoken word artist Joshua Idehen as well as the choral group XTC in the XIV come to Fryslân for concerts. Finally, the new performance by Leeuwarden poet and spoken word artist Mees van Rijswijk and a premiere of All Real Living is Meeting Esmé van den Boom (former City Poet of Groningen) added to the programme. 

Explore the North Festival is a three-day exploration with room for stories in many forms. From 20 to 22 November 2026, visitors will see quirky performances, concerts and more at beautiful locations in Leeuwarden's historic city centre. Tickets are available via explorethenorth.co.uk/festivalweekend. The festival organisers will announce many more programmes in the coming months. 

Club Guy & Roni, Boris Acket and HIIIT - The Current

Churning rave for body and soul

At The Current visitors become part of an alternative reality in which dance, live percussion and electronic music sound together as a matter of course. In this universe between club and exhibition, audience and performers move freely and collectively through Acket's pulsating landscape. NITE actor and singer Sarah Janneh interprets texts by South African author Ronelda S. Kamfer. On top of that, visitors are sucked into an intense layer of music filled with live percussion and electronic music by producer Max Frimout and Stanislav Tolkachev. Inspired by rave culture, the performance explores collectivity, freedom and the question: do we move with the flow, or do we resist? 

Joshua Idehen

Hope smells like dance sweat and fabric softener

Swedish-based musician and spoken word artist Joshua Idehen guarantees feet off the floor as well as food for thought. A beacon of hope, Idehen stands on stage and conjures up banal misfortunes with infectious optimism. This previously resulted in a successful collaboration with Alabaster DePlume. Audiences at ESNS and various Liberation Festivals have already been allowed to be part of the charismatic performer's boundless energy. This autumn, Joshua Idehen will play as part of a small tour at Explore the North Festival.

XTC in the XIV

Ultimate choir trip for wanderers and devotees

XTC in the XIV transports sacred songs from the fourteenth century to a new listening experience. A world between centuries-old church songs and contemporary compositions. The subtle soundscapes combined with a reinterpretation of vocal polyphony offer an unprecedented choral sensation. The Swedish collective consists of five rock-solid vocalists: Em Silén, Siri Anna Flensburg, Maja Kamne, Elin Oskarsson, Hanna Andersson and electronic musician Walter Berge. The psychedelic time machine of XTC in the XIV promises an ultimate choral trip.

Mees van Rijswijk & Explore the North - AAAARGH

An abrasive, failing search for anger

Mees van Rijswijk is a poet, spoken word artist and soft-activist from Leeuwarden with one big wish: he wants to become enraged. With that goal, he goes on an adventure. AAAARGH is a musical spoken word performance about an abrasive, failing search for anger. Through personal lyrics, songs and anecdotes, Mees seeks to confront an emotion he has tried to avoid all his life. AAAARGH Is not a manual. No therapy. No safe space. It is not even a word. It is a radical attempt to stay soft precisely through rock-hard resistance.

Esmé van den Boom - All Real Living is Meeting (premiere)

What can a fungal network teach us?

Esmé van den Boom (b. 1993) writes poetry, prose and songs. At Explore the North 2026, she presents the premiere of her new performance All Real Living is Meeting. Through poems, stories and music, in this she explores the art of meeting. A performance about opening up to another regardless of the risk, about the lessons to be learned from mould networks, and about how expectations affect reality.