As summer ends, Berlin is set to host a phenomenal synth to kick off the Fall season. On September 12 and 13, 2025, the city will host the inaugural edition of Lieber Tot, a two-day festival dedicated to synth and minimal wave, staged at ÆDEN on the banks of the Landwehr Canal.
Behind the festival are seasoned names from the capital’s nocturnal landscape: Else Edelstahl, mastermind of the 1920s-inspired event Bohème Sauvage; Paura Diamante, musician, DJ, and producer with roots in Eisengrau and Queer Summer Splash; as well as DJs and promoters Testbild and Sharleen Voyage, both known for Eisengrau and Letzte Welle.
Positioned as a platform outside the usual mainstream circuits, Lieber Tot assembles a cast of international artists whose work cuts through the mechanics of retro and contemporary electronic culture. For the first time, Berlin will see its own dedicated festival for the ever-expanding world of synth and minimal wave…a glaring absence in a city otherwise defined by its electronic heritage.
Expect a theatre of excess and underground bravado, fusing cabaret menace with queer counterculture and nightclub delirium! On Saturday, Berlin drag icon Antina Christ will summon her notorious “Spook House”, joined by Christina Corpse, Prince Gabriel, and Sasha Kills.
ÆDEN will be divided across two floors, featuring a sprawling garden space that will shape the setting for concerts, club nights, and performance works. Running from 7 pm until late on both nights, Lieber Tot is poised to close a conspicuous gap in Berlin’s festival landscape, where synth and minimal wave finally receive their own home.
Live Performances from:
Staatseinde (Utrecht) delivers an electrifying live assault: synthesizers throb, vocals tease, and genres collide—their set ricochets from Wave to EBM, NDW, to punk, with fearless detours in between. Imagine Kraftwerk wired on amphetamines shaking hands with the Sex Pistols tripping on acid, and you’re somewhere close.
From the ancient catacombs of Athens, musician Eddie Dark (Athens) rises as an enigmatic figure: part phantom, part raconteur. caught between a grindhouse cry and a synth-pop frequency.
Night in Athens (London) is the solo dark‑synth project of Greek artist Tina Boleti, born in East London during the 2020 lockdown. Rooted in the DIY punk scene, her sound blends coldwave, darkwave, EBM, and minimal synth. Her debut Metropolis arrived in 2021; The critically acclaimed LP Wasted Reflektions followed in 2024.
Tango Mangalore (Athens) is the one-man project of a sole sailor that focuses on the obscure and bizarre folklore around the world of The Sea.
Stahlnetz (Wuppertal) are a Wuppertal‑based minimal‑electro and synth‑pop duo, founded by Jochen Rausch and Detlev Cremer. Their debut LP Wir sind glücklich (1982), produced by Conny Plank, featured the NDW classic Vor all den Jahren. After a long hiatus, they returned in 2024 with renewed live activity and new material.
Classically trained and based in Paris, Madmoizel (Paris) blends neo‑classical, post‑punk, new‑wave, and electronic music. As composer, performer, and producer, she layers electribes, synths, and vocals into theatrical, dynamic shows.
Berlin‑based duo Infant Sanchos , comprised of Leona Aber and Mono Max, forge confrontational synth‑punk and wave‑noir with razor‑sharp beats and abrasive electronics. Their 2019 s/t and 2022’s Schäume trace a path of DIY experimentalism: industrial therapy in sound for the post‑depression generation.
She Can’t Afford Mascara (Copenhagen) is the darkwave/EBM solo project of Pakistani-Danish artist Adam Shazard, rooted in Berlin and Copenhagen’s queer underground. Forged from stolen cosmetics and gothic urgency, the 2022 album Cemetery Gangbang merges new-beat goth, EBM drama, and Pakistani musical heritage into a lurid, theatrical maelstrom.
Verrottet (Bochum)
Verrottet is a solo EBM/Death Wave project from Germany’s Ruhr region, founded in 2022 by Peter Panik. Released in 2023 via the cult label Ván Records, its uncompromising sound channels a fascination with death, horror, and decay, drawing influence from old-school EBM, Cold Wave, and Black Metal traditions.
After the concerts, both evenings will continue with club nights featuring top DJs from the international and local synth and minimal wave underground.
DJs:
- Graftak (Club Solitaire/Antwerp)
- Locus Solus (Bunker Bal/Paris)
- Mat Zwart (Waveteef/Antwerp)
- Polina Y (Mutant Transmissions/Bruges)
- M & Ringo (Shockwave/Leipzig)
- Bianca & Tom (Stanze Fredde/Turin)
- Paura Diamante (Eisengrau/Berlin)
- Testbild (Eisengrau & Letzte Welle/Berlin)
- Sharleen Voyage (Eisengrau/Berlin)
Tickets and more info can be found here.
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