“I think we’re lost.”
“We can’t be,” I say. “The instructions online literally told us to go this way.”
“Where are the signs,” a friend of mine pipes up.
We are standing not far from the entrance inside the Zeche Zollverein, a vast complex whose purpose was once a coal processing plant that dates back to the mid 1800s. A visually enchanting place, we are transfixed by the industrial monoliths towering over our heads interspersed with trees whose density rivalled that of a forest.
Another friend walks over to me and we stare down at Google Maps together. “Where are we going again?” she asks.
“I think it’s that way,” I point northwards. We begin to make our way through the complex, passing over train tracks and under gangways criss-crossing above our heads.
“Hold up,” says one, a little ahead of the rest of us. “Can you hear that?”
We tilt our heads up to the sky and listen out. A soft and rhythmic thumping drifts towards us with the wind.
A friend points to another path where a smattering of people clad in a variety of black clothing are marching in the same direction. “They look like they’re also going there.”
We carry on and the thumping gets louder. Hihats, snare drums, and pumping basslines start to take shape. We’re definitely on the right path now.
The right path to Stone Techno.
Coal Plants
Stone Techno is a boutique techno festival in the Ruhr region city of Essen. Or as some like to call it, the Birmingham of Germany. A relatively boring town in the west, it’s home to the megalithic ThyssenKrupp company and criss-crossed by motorways I became very familiar with throughout my youth, with the A40 being the main route from the UK to my family hometown in Germany.
The city was once a city of industry and, with that, comes the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the aforementioned Zeche Zollverein nestled in the north east. To stop it going through the typical decay that such abandoned industrial complexes are so often subjected to post-shutdown, the state of North Rhine-Westfalia bought it and declared it a heritage site, to the surprise of many. Since then, the iconic Shaft 12 has become an icon of the region and had its heritage site upgraded to sit amongst places such as the Taj Mahal and Machu Picchu.
It’s also a fantastic place to host a techno festival.
The Location
We wander up to the eastern entrance to the site and the pounding beats beyond the walls are now clearer than ever. After a quick search, we are in and take stock of the map.
Four stages are dotted across a thin strip of land hugging the southern side of one of the Zeche Zollverein buildings in the north of the complex. In order from east to west: Salzlager, Eisbahn, Werks-Schwimmbad, and Kokerei.
Salzlager was where we started, and featured a corridor-like setup under some overhead piping elevated above the ground. A lighting rig had been assembled underneath it with strip lighting running from end to end, close to one of which stood the DJ, with space behind for dancing. Sadly, it’s a bit bare during the day, but it’s at night where the stage really comes alive. The lighting array serves for a hypnotic experience where I often found myself feeling like I’m taking off with the music. Transported to another dimension.
Wandering on, we came then across Eisbahn which sat under more piping with a tall chimney stack to the side. Set in the round, dancers were arrayed at all angles surrounding the DJs in the middle. Eisbahn was a good day timer stage with a mound leading up to the old water pools that served as the actual Eisbahn (AKA ice rink) in the winter for locals. Tired techno two-steppers rested their feet on this mound but could still enjoy the beats emanating from the stage below.
Onwards to Werks-Schwimmbad which was where we spent most of our time over the weekend. This stage featured artists whose playlist genres can be found on either side of the techno / house distinctions, like BASHHKA, Marie Montexier, and Helena Hauff. So we ended up lovingly calling it “the house stage” which made for a pleasing irony in that you could argue we spent more time listening to house music than techno at a techno festival.
Werks-Schwimmbad was situated at the end of the water pools and had both a forward dancefloor situated under the old behemoth moving platform and a backward stage raised a little behind the DJ and over the pools. The difference in dancefloor setup allowed dancers to have two unique perspectives of the DJ and crowd and we particularly enjoyed standing on the platform behind.
Finally, we wandered onto Kokerei which was situated opposite the swimming pool at the back of this northern part of the complex.
You heard that right, this festival has a swimming pool. And yes we did get in it.
Back to Kokerei though, and this was visually one of the most stunning stages. Flanked by towering buildings whose functions are a mystery to the dancers below, the stage featured scaffold encasing the dancefloor. Screens had been mounted onto the side with the DJ in and the trees behind with dancers below made for a gorgeous backdrop during sunsets. One of my favourite moments of the weekend was beneath said trees behind the DJs on the Saturday during Rene Wise’s set. The sun was beaming through the branches and the set made for an energetic afternoon.
The Lineup
I have to admit, techno wasn’t my forte, but I have a whole new appreciation of the genre coming away from that festival. The way artists were crafting their sets to connect with the location’s energy made for a fantastic way to experience the genre at its best. I found it hard to tell, was it the location matching the music or the music matching the location?
On Friday, we started with Arthur Robert at Salzlager and excellently set the tone for the weekend. Cassy and Ryan Elliott at Werks-Schwimmbad which featured an absolute arsenal of housey tunes. Ogazon and Marron at Kokerei for a gorgeous sunset set. And ended with a bit of CINTHIE at Werks-Schwimmbad followed by DVS1 back at Salzlager. The Berghain resident mixed up an absolute storm and ended the first day on a high.
Saturday was a later start starting with an electric set from BASHHKA in Werks-Schwimmbad, hard hitting heavy house beats thundering thundering under the old works above. Deetron and Tasha on Salzlager next (whose set I’m still waiting to be uploaded to YouTube) followed by that aforementioned Rene Wise set at Kokerei. Finally finishing with Blasha and Allatt (who blew our socks off), and Marie Montexier, at our beloved house stage.
Soft Crash kicked off our Sunday stepping session, followed by Josey Rebelle and then back over to Salzlager for Carista. She was the first act we saw the previous year at Dekmantel and wanted to see her again. Alarico and Objekt were on after that, a quick stop off for Ben Klock (who took me somewhere else, oh my god), and finishing strong on Helena Hauff. And where else would that be, but the house stage.
A masterclass from beginning to end, the festival lineup was one of the best curated I’ve seen in a long time. The diversity that the techno genre has to boast of was in full form and it was a lot of fun to witness new ways you’d never experienced before.
And Sunday was where I really noticed just how many FLINTA DJs I was seeing. In a time where most lineups just seem to be filled with white men, I found that Stone Techno had smashed getting diversity right on a lineup.
The Logistics
Seeing as this is a relatively new festival, with 2025 being its third run, I figured that I might as well describe a bit of the logistics of how we did the festival.
As mentioned before, it’s in Essen, in the Zeche Zollverein complex in the north west of the city and there’s no camping. It’s a bit out of town but it’s relatively easy to get there with the tram from central, so we stayed in town. For public transport, there’s an app called Zäpp that can get you tickets, or you can get them at stations, it’s pretty easy.
Accommodation wise we stayed in a rental apartment in the Frohnhausen area, just east of the city centre. The area itself wasn’t the nicest part of town but it was functional and only a short tram ride away from the Rüttenscheid area where there’s a nice market and some brunch spots that we hit up to fuel for the festival.
Getting home, we bought shuttle bus tickets in advance, and unless you’re staying close to the festival site itself, I would recommend doing so too. It’s dreamy being able to immediately plonk yourself on a bus and relax on your way into town. They run through the night at regular intervals too.
We tried to book lockers for all three days of the festival, but sadly the Saturday ones were sold out. As much as it wasn’t a huge pain point in the day, it did make me realise it’s better having one than not. Didn’t need to worry about carrying your jumper for later with you and it allowed us to bring swim clothes for the pool.
Speaking of, what a delight that was. Sunday was an absolute scorcher so a friend and I jumped in to cool off in the surprisingly refreshing, stunningly clear, and wonderfully clean water. Lifeguards were on hand to keep watch but they were still relatively relaxed and were good people to chat to throughout the day. In one conversation, I asked whether they had any issues throughout the weekend and was told there were none at all. Which for the people of a techno festival, was quite the pleasant surprise.
The small market between Eisbahn and Werks-Schwimmbad was solid, if a little limited. All dietary requirements were sorted for and the bratwurst truck filled a fantastic niche at a festival. For when you know you should eat but don’t want too much and don’t want to spend a fortune.
Travel to the city was fortunately quite easy for me as I already live in the country, but for those who flew from London, they had flights from Köln Bonn airport which was easy to get to and from Essen by train.
We debated getting tickets to the after parties, but by the time we had decided to go for it, all the tickets for the onsite Mischanlager had sold out and only the tickets for the in town Weststadthalle remained. As much as it’s impressive that the Mischanlager sold out so quickly another venue was required, it definitely seemed like one option was far superior than the other. Mischanlager is onsite and the night starts as soon as the main festival is over. And Weststadthalle is a small concert hall in town. So attempting to rally for a night in a standard looking concert hall 20-30 minutes away because we couldn’t get tickets to the club right there in the atmospheric Zeche Zollverein building complex was not the most appealing prospect to us.
Also, we had so much fun during the day, I never once felt like I missed out by not going.
Final Thoughts
As festivals go, this was a good one.
The tightly curated lineup coupled with the absolutely insane scenery made for an incredible experience. The crowd too were on top form and everyone I came across was delightful and a fountain of knowledge about the music. Such was the obsession of the crowd.
However, there were some drawbacks. Travel instructions could have been a little clearer (we did actually get a little lost on the first day), the market could have been a little more diverse (eating six bratwurst is fun but you eventually get bored), there could have been more water taps (and we weren’t allowed to bring in our own refillable bottles?!), and there could have been some more chillout areas. There was that aforementioned mound which was nice, but aside from a smattering of seating behind Kokerei, there really wasn’t much else for taking a seat and relaxing a little.
It’s still worth it though.
And they’ve promised to make improvements for next year already.
I’m excited to see what comes next for Stone Techno.
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Writer notes: after all my chat about being better with writing more, it seems that I have slacked once again this summer. In my defence, I’m in the process of starting a small night in a bar here in Berlin, but that’s still in its early stages right now. Feel free to pop me a follow on Instagram if you’re interested in finding out when our next one is!