Force Festival

Thessaloniki, Greece
May 5 - May 6

Force Festival, the brainchild of Thessaloniki label and promoter Unleash Your Energy, is debuting in the town of Peraia, 30 minutes from the Greek port city. What awaits is a no-frills, 30-hour party with a serious lineup, offering, the festival says, the antithesis to the area's commercial techno scene. The party will take place both indoors and outdoors at the sprawling Sonik Arena, with performances from Tasha, Planetary Assault Systems, Sedef Adasï, Jamaica Suk and more. Bedazzling lighting design and visuals from Jara Yoshimitsu will complete the vibe.

RA Pick: Bashkka. The trans activist walks the talk, decolonising electronic music with her fierce trance-acid-ballroom selections (plus a dash of Chicago).

Horst Arts & Music

Brussels, Belgium
May 5 - May 7

Taking place at an ex-military base just north of Brussels, Horst Arts & Music is an annual celebration of cutting-edge club music, striking architecture and immersive art. This year, the theme is around honouring the people who give a city its identity. Resident Advisor will host a stage for the first time, welcoming the likes of Rosa Pistola, Tash LC and Bitter Babe & Nick León to the popular Rotunda stage, which has been renamed Vesschell for 2023. Across the rest of the site, more than 100 artists, many of them local, will perform, with slots for summer festival favourites like Job Jobse and SASS, AKA Shanti Celeste, Saoirse, Moxie and Peach.

RA Pick: Donato Dozzy & dBridge will be a meeting of remarkable minds.

Sandbox Festival

El Gouna, Egypt
May 11 - May 13

Sandbox promises a weekend in the stunning Red Sea city of El Gouna in Egypt. At the festival, you can practise yoga, sound healing and gong sessions before getting stuck into silent discos on the beach. International artists like Moodymann, CARISTA, Jayda G and Paramida will join Middle Eastern talent like Hot Oasis, Fulltone, Misty, Zeina, Ralph Nasr, Omar Fayyad, Aly Goede and Yellow Tape Records. The festival will also leave plenty of room for extended sets and live performances.

RA Pick: Egyptian duo Husa & Zeyada's dramatic downtempo electronica.

SLIT Festival

Lisbon, Portugal
May 19 - May 20

A new addition to Lisbon's vibrant scene, this two-day interdisciplinary event is all about showcasing queer, trans and non-binary artists, with an emphasis on rising talent. For its debut edition, organisers took open submissions for new DJs, live acts, performers and visual artists in a bid to share opportunities in the competitive festival economy. Cultural agency Arrepio will host a marketplace selling art, jewellery, clothes, haircuts and tattoos during the day, before the music starts at night. Come for the community spirit, stay for the hard-hitting DJ sets.

RA Pick: Delcu back-to-back Epx. The Brazilian duo blend hyperpop, techno and hardstyle in what's bound to be a fierce performance.

Wire Festival

New York, United States
May 19 - May 21

Wire Festival is a hearty dose of no-nonsense techno. Organised by the team behind dungeon-like club BASEMENT, the event's second edition will welcome DVS1's percussive style, psychedelic grooves from D.Dan and Luke Slater's '90s nostalgia, as well as new-school variants represented by WTCHCRFT, Akua and KYRUH, among others. Experience techno history on the dance floor and then learn about it during the day, as RA holds a free programme of talks and workshops.

RA Pick: MCMLXXXV, a founding member of Berlin queer party Herrensauna, has been making waves for his brand of energetic techno and ravey acid.

Baum Festival

Bogotá, Colombia
May 20 - May 21

Now in its seventh year, Baum caters to all things techno. Combining some of the genre's biggest names–think Ben Klock, Carl Craig and Richie Hawtin–with fast-rising talent such as Elli Acula and Charlie Sparks, the two-day festival has grown into one of South America's favourite dance music get-togethers. Come and see why Baum—which takes place in a sprawling convention centre—is putting Colombia on the techno map.

RA Pick: Ben Sims' ever-enthralling three-deck madness.

STARFESTIVAL

Kyoto, Japan
May 20 - May 21

This year, STARFESTIVAL is set up in one of its long-time homes, the verdant campground of Stihl no Mori Kyoto. The two-day event will see Fumiya Tanaka, a DJ who knows how to distil house and techno into its simplest elements, return to the STARFESTIVAL stage. From Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon, other DJs on the bill, like Kuedo, Move D, object blue and µ-Ziq, will play sets stretching across techno, leftfield bass, rhythmic experimentations and everything in between.

RA Pick: One of object blue's strengths is her unpredictability—her sets can veer from penetrating techno to slippery rhythms heavy on low end.

GALA

London, United Kingdom
May 26 - May 28

Summer arrives in London where there are festivals happening in parks across the city. GALA will be one of the first of many, bringing thousands of ravers to Peckham for a three-day party. This year's event features community-focused stage hosts like Big Dyke Energy, Refuge Worldwide and BORN n BREAD, and the lineup covers house, jungle, soul, disco and more. Highlights include Call Super, AceMoMa, Jamz Supernova back-to-back Tash LC and Byron Yeates back-to-back THC. Also, GALA will once again be raising money for Southwark Day Centre For Asylum Seekers.

RA Pick: Yu Su's unpredictable and mesmerising selections should have your jaw on the floor.

Movement

Detroit, United States
May 27 - May 29

The first Movement Festival took place in May 2000, and there's a reason festivalgoers keep returning to Detroit's Hart Plaza year on year. After all, where better to experience techno than in its birthplace? This year, the three-day event will host local legends (Moodymann, Stacey "Hotwaxx" Hale, Al Ester, Kevin Saunderson) alongside out-of-town talent (NIKS, Underworld, TSHA, Skrillex). The sprawling lineup not only celebrates techno but the entire expanse of electronic music.

RA Pick: You don't want to miss Octave One live in the Motor City.

PollerWiesen

Dortmund, Germany
May 28

PollerWiesen celebrates 30 years in 2023, making it the perfect time to visit the influential German promoter's flagship Dortmund party. Spanning techno, electro and more, the expertly curated one-dayer will spotlight some of the most in-demand names in the scene. From Nene H, Sedef Adasï and fka.m4a to Legowelt, Identified Patient and SHERELLE, there should be something for everyone across its five stages.

RA Pick: Don't miss BADSISTA's raucous blend of house, techno, baile funk and so much more.

Find our full festival listings for May here