D//E Live Report: Death Disco Athens Open Air Festival 2025
After a great debut in July 2023 at Technopolis City of Athens, followed by a successful indoor edition in winter 2024 at Fuzz Live Music Club, the Death Disco team returned in full force. With a lineup both impressive and weighty, Death Disco Open Air 2025 transformed into the epicenter of Europe’s dark scene for the two days it unfolded.
In the dark embrace of Death Disco, black attire is not just common, it’s natural. Within its atmosphere, one feels protected, enveloped in a cloud of kindred spirits and fellow travelers who, locked in a push-pull dynamic with the universe, tend to unravel and release themselves. On most regular days, they’re subjects of scrutiny and criticism, but here, they’re free. “Welcome to our abyss!” proclaimed the event’s guiding booklet, and it couldn’t have been more fitting.
The festival unfolded across two main stages: the Open Air stage and the indoor Dreadbox Stage. A third area, the Deepfish Stage, hosted a photo booth, merch stands, signing sessions, pop-up stores, and even a tattoo studio, serving as a casual space to linger between sets. Not that there was much time to spare. With both stages running at full force, every moment felt precious. Things moved fast.
The lineup struck a perfect balance: four key names from the local dark scene, four beloved acts from across Europe, an all-time D//E and Death Disco favorite from the U.S., a powerful rising talent from Australia, and four bona fide legends.
Valisia Odell, the darkwave duo of Valisia Odell and Aristomenis Theodoropoulos, emerged straight from the ashes of Strawberry Pills, and their immaculate new album Shadow of a Dream is proof they’ve landed with force. Their energy under the sun was palpable, kicking off the weekend in spectacular fashion. Odell’s voice was haunting and witch-like, emotionally raw and terrifyingly ritualistic, just like a fresh incarnation of Bestial Mouths or Jarboe. The new tracks resonated powerfully, and even in broad daylight, they conjured the darkness with ease.
Making a first dash to the Dreadbox Stage, we were met by Aux Animaux, Turkish-born musician Gozde Duzer, now based in Stockholm. Wearing her horror aesthetics with pride, she moved fluidly between theremin and bass guitar, anchored by a steady pulse of dark synths. Her set drew from the brilliant 2023 album Body Horror and beyond, with her theremin work casting a spell, pure magic, and sonically gripping.
It was hard to tear yourself away for Cold Cave, who were up next on the main stage, but you had to...
It was Cold Cave’s third visit to Athens, and their enthusiasm for the Greek capital showed no signs of waning. As one of the most vital names in the dark scene, and the festival’s sole representative from the U.S., they poured their soul into the stage with exemplary grace. The setlist blended fresh material with older favorites, giving special attention to Cherish The Light Years, with standout tracks like The Great Pan Is Dead, Confetti, and Underworld USA, alongside live staples Glory, A Little Death To Laugh, and the flawless closer Promised Land.
Cold Cave’s dark elegance radiated throughout the set, with Wes’ energy unmistakable and the crowd returning the love, at one point, quite literally, with sunflowers handed to him from the front row. Wes received them with warmth and joy, adding a tender, romantic touch to an already unforgettable night. It was a brilliant, heartfelt performance, and one to remember.
Meanwhile, over at the Dreadbox Stage, Athenian master of melancholy Blakaut cast a spectral veil over the crowd with his stark, dismal minimalism; an otherworldly presence that felt like a quiet invocation. Operating deep within the lower layers of the underground, his material is more than recommended. For those still uninitiated, the time to dive in is now.
He was followed by Buzz Kull, who brought a potent blend of EBM, darkwave, post punk, and eighties aesthetics, an intoxicating mix that feels destined to culminate in an album-of-the-year contender, or at the very least, something culturally vital. The momentum was undeniable.
Anja Huwe, having released a remarkable solo album late last year, is now writing a new chapter in the legacy of the legendary Xmal Deutschland, reactivating one of post punk’s most vital names after nearly four decades. Their return came with a sound that lacked nothing in depth or intensity. Sharing the stage with her was Mona Mur, another towering figure of the German underground, whose presence added further weight to the performance.
What was truly admirable was how seamlessly the classic XMD tracks intertwined with Huwe’s new compositions, resulting in a set that was not only cohesive but genuinely awe-inspiring. It felt less like a reunion and more like an awakening. Classics like Mondlicht, Incubus Succubus, Allein, Young Man were all represented.
It’s truly a shame when people can’t reconcile their differences, especially when they share a deep, indelible history. Joy Division could never exist without Ian Curtis, that’s a given and it should be taken out of the equation right from the start. But seeing a full New Order lineup on stage, as music history, fans, and the band members themselves deserve, would be more than just fair, it would be monumental.
That said, Peter Hook & The Light are far from a mere tribute act. Hook is an inseparable part of this living legacy, and his presence is not imitation but continuation. In the few words he spoke about Curtis between songs, one could easily sense the deep respect and love he carries.
As for the set, it was a greatest hits blend from the Joy Division and New Order catalogs, with performances ranging from electrifying to deeply moving. It was a stunning close to the first night, and with another full day ahead, the audience left the venue with their hearts full.
Even with ears still ringing the next day, the second day's lineup was just as unmissable. Both days found Athens sunlit, warm but pleasant, and feeling more like the capital of darkwave than the historic heart of Europe.
Incirrina, Giorgos Katsanos and Eirini Tiniakou, stand among the most active forces in Greece’s darkwave scene. Their latest release, Κρυφό (Hidden), marks their first Greek-language single, a brooding track for the bleak times we’re living through. Just the two of them were enough to fill the stage with presence and shadowy intensity, performing with conviction and drawing full power from their analog electronics and emotive, melancholic vocals. Their set felt like one of those rare moments where time simply wasn’t enough.
Dark crooners from Rome, Spiritual Front, took command of the smaller stage with their neo-noir cabaret and neofolk decadence in full swing, delivering the lushness and sensuality a festival like this demands. Their album Armageddon Gigolo, with tracks like I Walk The (Dead)Line and Jesus Died in Las Vegas, infused the atmosphere with a warmer hue, and the audience embraced their heat completely.
The German duo Klangstabil, Maurizio Blanco and Boris May, have traversed many phases throughout their long career, yet remain active and vibrant, bringing a poignant edge to the stage. Their performance was intense, dramatic, and rich with poetic depth, and the crowd responded more enthusiastically than one might expect given the experimental and less immediately accessible nature of their IDM and electro-industrial explorations. Watching the audience react with such zest to tracks like Math & Emotion – The Square Root of One was really something.
We’ve recently noted just how welcome and genuinely exciting the new material from beloved French death rockers Corpus Delicti is. The band’s love for the Athenian crowd is unmistakable, not just in their words but in the totality of their performance. Playing on the Dreadbox stage, they nearly brought the house down. Maybe the enclosed space favored their sound, maybe we caught them at peak hunger, but what mattered was the result, a truly staggering experience, one of the most powerful live sets you can witness in this genre.
Their recent live album From Dust To Light offers a solid glimpse of what to expect from the on stage presence of Corpus Delicti. However, take that raw, direct sound and energy, amplify it a hundredfold, and you might begin to approach the impact of seeing this electrifying band up close. In the second half of their set, with tracks like Dusk of Hallows, Lorelei, Saraband, Chaos, and even the new Room 36, the crowd was swept into a shared blaze of ecstasy, a feedback loop of band and audience that refused to burn out.
After the sonic bombshell dropped by Corpus Delicti, it was no easy task to shift gears into the poetic realm of the next major act. Much like Peter Hook the night before, Anne Clark brought immense gravitas to the festival. Backed by a six-piece band, cello, violin, synths, drums, and guitar, she delivered powerful renditions from her storied catalog as punk poetess, including Sleeper in Metropolis, Elegy for a Lost Summer, Journey by Night, and the iconic Our Darkness, a track that has defined generations of dark music listeners.
Back in the indoor space, the undead persona of Eddie Dark took the stage with a subdued tone, warning the crowd that he wasn’t feeling well and the show might not be up to par. For a moment, some believed him. But in the very next second, he unleashed hell itself, a blast of EBM and electro/darkwave energy so fierce it could’ve shaken the bricks loose.
We got a taste of new material from his upcoming album, including the single STD and unreleased tracks that, at least in a live setting, sounded grittier and more abrasive than the excellent Disko-Terrorista. Between songs, Eddie shared his belief that all music, regardless of genre, should be punk music, a sentiment I’ve personally held for decades. He also reflected on how we don’t deserve music when people around us are dying for all kinds of reasons.
Then it was back to jumping, sweating, and pure energy until near collapse. The set ended unceremoniously, and just like that, the crowd with Eddie included were off to catch The Chameleons.
The Chameleons delivered exactly what one would expect from a band of such stature, with the standout moments of their live set drawn from Arctic Moon, their first full length release in over two decades. This marks a significant comeback for a group often cited as an influence across the spectrum, from the most underground acts to more mainstream indie rockers. Their signature atmospheric guitar work and emotionally charged performances, like the one we witnessed, leave no one untouched. And with that, both nights closed on a Manchester-fueled finale.
We can only hope that Death Disco Open Air becomes a lasting tradition. Athens knows its darkness, and its devotion to the scene runs deep. People from all corners of the globe gathered to experience an effort shaped by thought, hard work, and genuine passion; something that could only have been brought to life by those who truly have deep understanding and love for this genre.
