This year’s edition of C2C Festival in Torino carried a special kind of weight. Spread over four days, it marked not only the 23rd anniversary of this internationally acclaimed event but also the first edition since the passing of Sergio Ricciardone, the festival’s founder and creative director, who died in March. His vision, blending avant-garde experimentation with pop accessibility, has shaped the C2C Festival into one of Europe’s most forward-thinking gatherings. This year felt like both a celebration and a farewell, a space suspended between memory and movement. The atmosphere was dense but electric, filled with performances that blurred the line between concert, installation, and dream.
Jenny Hval, as always, was a master of presence and vulnerability. There was a brief technical hiccup at the start, but once resolved, her voice soared: crystalline, commanding, and deeply human. She reminded everyone why she remains one of the most singular storytellers in avant-pop.
Titanic’s set was unexpectedly uplifting. Intense without being overwhelming, melodic without losing its edge, it carried a sense of clarity and emotion. Fratti’s vocals guided everything forward with precision, turning what could have been an abstract experiment into something that hit straight in the chest. Talking about dreams and emotions, Annahstasia and Malibu were also both absolutely spellbinding.
Isabella Lovestory, probably the poppiest act of the lineup, brought a burst of neon energy. A glitter-streaked continuation of Brat that mixed rave-pop with Latin flair. It was playful, powerful, and completely irresistible. She turned the room into a dance floor, and when Mechatok followed, he twisted that energy into something hazier and harder, yet still threaded with pop echoes. Beneath the pounding beats, you could catch glimmers of Britney and Daft Punk. It was probably the part where we danced the most.
Later during the festival, ECCO2K appeared like a hologram, a faint outline slowly becoming real. The crowd could barely tell when the show began; it felt as if he had always been there, floating between sound and silence. His music, a blend of vaporous vocals and shimmering electronics, seemed to defy gravity. Every pause was electric, every drop a release.
One of the acts we were most excited to see, Nourished By Time, brought everyone right back to Earth. His mix of R&B, post-punk, and synth-pop pulsed with warmth and honesty. Most of the set came from his new album The Passionate Ones, full of songs about love, class, and survival, all wrapped in groove and melancholy. He also played the excellent “Daddy” and “The Fields” from Erotic Probiotic 2. When a sound issue briefly interrupted his set, he handled it with humor and ease, connecting even more with the crowd. At one point, a fan threw a jacket onstage, he laughed, tried it on, and tossed it back.
Another highlight came from Smerz, who performed Big City Life in full. They transformed its fragile beats and whispered vocals into something grand and cinematic. Onstage, they built their own world: minimal lighting, elegant silhouettes, and rhythms that never lost focus. Their harmonies were cold and soft at once, their confidence absolute. Smerz’s music has always lived somewhere between pop and art, but live, it becomes emotional architecture: every sound and movement deliberate, every glance choreographed. It was the most polished moment of the weekend, and a perfect closer.
C2C Festival’s lineup is always impressive, but this year the bar was higher than ever. Across four nights, it offered a rare balance between experimentation and emotion, noise and nuance. The surprise acts at the end of each night — Kode9, Nicolas Jaar, and others — were just the cherry on top.
Here are our top 10 photos from the festival, in no particular order.
C2C Festival will be back in Turin in 2026, from Thursday the 5th November to Sunday the 8th November.
- Jam City and Gianna get lost in the blurry afterhours of “2am” - September 12, 2026
- Nourished By Time slips into DJ Suzy’s world on “so sw33t” - September 12, 2026
- Thoom revisits home and uncertainty on “I’m Going Back To Lebanon” - September 11, 2026
