The world's house-music clubs and festivals, mapped: which night is actually house, how to get past the door, and how to buy tickets — from Berlin and Amsterdam to Ibiza, NYC, Detroit and Tokyo.
ADE 2026 runs 21–25 October — five days when all of Amsterdam becomes one electronic-music festival across 300+ venues. How it works, how to buy in (there's no single ticket), what's free, and how to actually plan it.
AmsterdamMost events ticketed individually (via Resident Advisor); all-access ADE Pass also available
Sónar returns to Barcelona 18–20 June 2026 at Fira Gran Via, with day and night unified into one venue. Dates, line-up, how foreigners buy tickets and first-timer tips.
Barcelona3-day SonarPass from €184
Two cities, two sounds, born almost together in the early 1980s. Chicago house is soulful and disco-rooted; Detroit techno is futuristic and machine-driven. The people, the places and the philosophy that set them apart — and how they fed each other.
Afro house is house music built on African rhythm — hand percussion, hypnotic polyrhythms and soulful, spiritual grooves around 118–125 BPM. Where it came from, how to recognise it, and the artists (Black Coffee, Keinemusik, Caiiro) to start with.
Tokyo has a world-class, welcoming house and techno scene hiding in plain sight. The clubs that matter — WOMB, Vent, Circus — plus the rules visitors get wrong: ID, the cover charge, smoking, last trains and when the night really starts.
Which Ibiza club on which night — DC10, Hï, Pacha, Amnesia, Ushuaïa and more — for real house and tech house. Season and opening-party dates, how foreigners buy tickets, cashless wristbands, dress and getting home.
Skip the EDM tourist traps. This is where Amsterdam plays real house and techno — Shelter, Garage Noord, RADION and more — with door, tickets, dress and payment sorted, plus how it all peaks during ADE in October.
House music began in 1980s Chicago — at The Warehouse, with Frankie Knuckles, drum machines and the ashes of disco. A clear origin story, the machines that shaped the sound, and how it conquered the world.