RECAP: Rampage Open Air 2026 reminds us why the bass music scene is so special
- The Filthy Beat Inspectors
- 12 minutes ago
- 9 min read
New artists shining, silent discos uniting, late-night side quests & some of the best festival food we've ever had.
There comes a time where a festival stops feeling like an event and starts feeling like home.
It feels like the place where you reunite with friends who live thousands of miles away. The place where side quests become the main quests. The place where a new genre gets stuck in your head.
The place where you look up into the sky and realize you're exactly where you're meant to be.
Rampage Open Air has become the place that the international bass music scene revolves around. And quite frankly, it's special for more reasons than that.
The 2026 edition of Rampage Open Air just concluded. It took place over four nights, July 2 to July 5, at Kristalpark Lommel in Belgium, where thousands of people from around the world made the trek to the expanded festival grounds.
Lovers of dubstep and drum and bass came together for a common cause. A cause that reminded us we are all stronger when we smile at one another, when we dance together and when we make an effort to meet new people.
This weekend, we were reminded what makes the bass music scene so special.
There were so many moments that left us speechless.
Solidifying the definition of "open air," the festival debuted an entirely new mainstage concept. It was lined with LEDs, pyro cannons and lasers, and it shined bright under the night sky as the largest drum and bass artists in the world closed out each day of the festival.
Our home, the Storm Stage, also benefitted from an entire redesign. This year, it was nestled under a pointy wooden dome that gracefully complemented the triangular LED panels lining the stage.
Among other upgrades were new Church and Jungle stages, new attractions and longer after parties. And yes, you better believe we stayed at the silent disco until 4 a.m.
But what stood out the most was the music. The way that it felt so natural under the Belgian sky. The way it made us smile and love one another. And the way it turned dubstep kids into drum and bass heads real quick.
We know how hard the artists worked to prepare and perfect their sets for this festival, and it didn't go unnoticed.
Day 0: We made it.
After what felt like an eternity of traveling, we landed in Belgium around 1 p.m. Thankfully, customs moved surprisingly fast because we desperately needed coffee to become functioning human beings again.
Once caffeinated, there was only one place we wanted to be.
We arrived at Rampage Open Air shortly after the gates opened and immediately started exploring the festival grounds. Seeing the redesigned mainstage in person for the first time gave us goosebumps, and before long we were already wandering from stage to stage trying to figure out where we'd inevitably spend way too much of the weekend.
We immediately ran into some of our best friends: The SYN LDN fam, DJ NEX!XEN, Daan, Rory, Tomas and Yurej. These are not only some of the leaders of the European dubstep scene, but some of the people who made our weekend so special.
The Tunnel Stage pre-party, hosted by Dubstep Netherlands and Space Invaderz, became our first stop. And honestly... what a way to kick off the weekend.
Ricky West, Claybrook, Obey, Bommer, Automhate and Tape B delivered a Day 0 lineup that would've been worthy of a Saturday anywhere else.
Jet lag didn't stand a chance.
Day 1: Jet lag is temporary. Dubstep is forever.
We woke up wondering what time zone we were actually in, but there wasn't much time to waste because DMZ NEWS OFFICIAL was hosting the Storm Stage and they were about to throw down with SweetTooth.
Their b2b set was everything we'd hoped for. They looked completely locked in behind the decks and even rinsed Digital Gooning (SweetTooth's collab with Sora and Luna Baby), which officially releases on Beat Intelligence Network this Friday, July 10. Hearing an upcoming BIN release on one of our favorite festival stages was a surreal, full-circle moment.
The Storm Stage continued delivering all afternoon with crazy performances from Dr. Ushuu b2b Madcore and iityx b2b Ophion. We love seeing so many of our friends continuing to level up year after year, and Rampage always feels like the perfect place to celebrate those wins together.
One of the biggest highlights of the day came over at the mainstage, where Jessica Audiffred b2b Riot Ten delivered what we believe to be the first all-Mexican back-to-back on Rampage Open Air's mainstage.
Seeing Mexican flags in the crowd and hearing some Mexican-inspired drops made us even prouder of our heritage. This was the perfect pregame for Mexico's World Cup game later in the weekend.
Once the festival wrapped up, there was really only one logical next step.
The silent disco.
We're convinced Rampage has the greatest silent disco in the world, and every year, it becomes one of our favorite memories from the entire weekend.
This year's MVP had to be DJ NEX!XEN, who somehow managed to wear nearly 10 pairs of headphones at once. We still haven't figured out if he could actually hear the dubstep, but in that moment, he morphed into the final boss of the silent disco.
Needless to say, we stayed far later than responsible adults probably should have.
Day 2: Side quests, meetups and proving we're not too old for this.
By day 2, it somehow felt like day 10. Apparently turning 30 means your body starts filing formal complaints after every festival, so we gave ourselves permission to sleep in.
And by "sleep in," we mean we woke up around 1 p.m... maybe 2 p.m.
No ragrats.
We made it to the Storm Stage just in time for Blacklist's showcase, where Onara b2b roi* reminded us exactly why we fell in love with riddim in the first place. The chemistry between the two was effortless and the crowd was feeding off every double.
One of our favorite moments of the entire weekend came later that afternoon when we hosted a meetup with DMZ NEWS OFFICIAL. Every year, we're blown away by how many of you take time out of your festival schedule just to come say hi, grab a photo or tell us you've been following along for years.
You guys seriously showed up.
One fan, Tom, even had a Dubstep FBI tattoo. We still haven't fully processed that one.
Riding the high from the meetup, we made it our mission to catch Jessica Audiffred's solo set, where we found ourselves partying on stage, while watching mosh pits erupt across the crowd. Jessica brought out Samplifire, Dr. Ushuu and DMZ NEWS OFFICIAL, and the energy somehow kept climbing with every surprise guest.
The rest of the night turned into exactly what festival weekends are supposed to be:
A few side quests in search of hardstyle and techno;
Stumbling across MISH;
Sneaking back to the car for tequila shots (it's hard to find in Europe, okay);
Ending up at the mainstage for Kanine b2b Sota.
And of course, no night at Rampage would be complete without one more trip to the silent disco. Once the music starts playing, 2 a.m. stops feeling like 2 a.m.
One of the funniest moments of the weekend had to be watching Bizo and roi* share a kiss behind the decks while closing out their silent disco set.
Day 3: What it actually looks like to host a festival stage
This year marked Dubstep FBI's third consecutive stage hosting at Rampage Open Air. Each year has gotten bigger and better for us, but this felt like the biggest moment in our EDM careers.
Here's a peek into the chaotic day that was Dubstep FBI's Storm Stage on July 5.
10:30 a.m.
The team was staying at SunParks, which was about 15 minutes from the festival grounds. We woke up extra early on this day to ensure that we were prepared for the chaos ahead. Our day started with making hype posts on socials and responding to texts from friends congratulating us on the big day.
Volative and DMZ NEWS OFFICIAL had stayed with us, so we rounded up the troops, packed into our station wagon, blasted T-pain's mega collab, STFU, and headed to the festival grounds.
1 p.m.
We arrived at the festival site with about an hour before the opening set. We went straight to the Storm Stage to plug in for sound check and introduce ourselves to the stage manager.
Volative was selected as the DJ contest winner, and this set was his world debut. Of course there were nerves, but the team came together to ensure he had everything he needed to execute a flawless set.
2 p.m.
After grabbing a quick burger, we hurried over to the Storm Stage and parked ourselves in the crowd as Volative's first song started playing.
Within 10 minutes, the stage started filling up with riddim rats and dubstep kids dressed mostly in all black. Volative was throwing down filthy doubles and the high knees had already emerged as there were nearly 200 people there by 2:30 p.m.
2:55 p.m.
After grabbing content from the crowd, we ran backstage to wish crysomemore and SHRQ good luck before they plugged in. At this time, the backstage area was filling up with artist friends and we finally had a chance to start enjoying the big day.
However, we were still on duty after all. So it was time to make a breaking news post about Volative's world debut. In true Dubstep FBI fashion, we got a reel up and watched the video start to blow up as everyone in America was waking up to see the news.
3-8 p.m.
The first few b2b sets on our stage took place, with crysomemore b2b SHRQ throwing down nasty doubles and playing EYE OF THE STORM, their Storm Stage anthem that dropped on BIN.
Bizo b2b Hammerhead were up next, rinsing some of their most iconic songs and jumping on the decks to hype the crowd up. Kerosene b2b Warlord had the place packed and the crowd went nuts as Mr. Snazzy Jogged Dub slammed the speakers.
We continued recording content from the crowd, meeting new people and pumping the social media posts from our international data plans.
Since this was day 3, it was our last chance to take advantage of the festival rides. We rounded up a few friends, IT LIVES and Moldae, grabbed some drinks and hit the ferris wheel.
GorillaT and IVORY threw down, and at this point, the Storm Stage was the most full we had seen it. IVORY brought out Samplifire to play STFU and the energy was at a high.
8-9 p.m.
Shiverz executed one of the best riddim sets we have ever witnessed. He put on an absolute masterclass to the sea of fans who were on each other's shoulders, screaming to the drops and foaming at the mouth.
We had been on stage getting content, when we looked down and saw INFEKT at the bottom of the stairs. We invited him on stage and all raged together, looking out at the people spilling out of the stage.
We turned to each other in total awe, we couldn't believe how many people showed up to our stage. We hugged, trying to take in the moment that is now solidified as one of the peak points in the history of Dubstep FBI.
Damn, we really did that. It was time to post yet another reel of what had been unfolding before our eyes.
9 p.m. - 12 a.m.
In a fun contrast to the riddim clinic right before, Seven Lions took the stage. He played some of his most iconic melodic songs, paired with the heavy tracks from his discography that we have all come to love over the last 10 years.
INFEKT b2b SampliFire earned a remarkable slot time on the mainstage during day 3. It felt like a natural culmination of the hard work both of them have put in over the years, as well as a nod to their European heritage.
They took the stage with a gigantic clock necklace, symbolizing that it was True Trench Time and another step in the rollout of their new collaborative project.
HOL! did what HOL! does and came out swinging. He invited Shiverz up to go b2b for the last part of his set. During that set and EPTIC's to follow, the artist backstage area was packed with smiling faces. DMZ NEWS OFFICIAL was dancing his ass off, noodling around by the rail.
There was sense of unity, where everyone came together to share these special moments even though we lived thousands of miles away from each other. Nothing else mattered and these moments went by way too fast.
Virtual Riot closed out the stage to a sea of thousands, and we had one last chance to ride the swings so we took it. Seeing his set from the sky really put the day into perspective.
Once Virtual Riot's set wrapped up, we hurried over to the VIP viewing decks at mainstage and caught Sub Focus who threw such an incredible set that emotions were at an all time high.
We had really just experienced one of the best weekends of our lives. We trekked all the way to Belgium for the bass music that we all love. We ended the weekend with our hearts full and our faces smiling.
And looking back on everything, we can confidently say this. The best part of Rampage is the people.
Until next time, Europe fam.
Dubstep FBI Co-Founders Chrissy & Yesi can be found on socials.
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