Berlin Gig Guide - May 2026
Hi everyone, hope last month’s guide helped you find some shows. If not, try again this month - here’s another listing of worthwhile gigs in Berlin.
It’s May, so festival season has officially kicked off. As well as the usual individual shows, we’ve listed a few Berlin festivals at the bottom of the listing. These range from the hardcore punk weekender Cakewalk Fest in Pankow’s Malzfabrik to 90mil’s 1st May long weekend festival, heavy music staple Desertfest, and The Infinite Now, a non-stop 30-hour experimental music installation in Kraftwerk.
Have a look, see what you think, and let me know if we’ve missed anything. As always, the listings are ordered roughly by price/venue size.
BGG x
Small/DIY shows
Dead Finks — May 2nd
Spiky local post punk show on May Day Weekend
Where? West Germany, Kreuzberg
Tickets on the door
Raein / Stormo — May 6th
Early 2000s post-hardcore & emo legends Raein, together with experimental hardcore group Stormo
Where? Neue Zukunft, Friedrichshain
Tickets €17
Highway Patrol / Mean / Splizz — May 8th
Neuköllns OGH space hosts an intense punk triple bill, including local openers Splizz
Where? OGH, Neukölln (near S Sonnenallee)
Tickets on the door
Resplandor / Fotoform — May 9th
International atmospheric shoegaze double from the Netherlands and the US
Where? Loge, Friedrichshain
Tickets €12
Cardboard/ World Without Worlds / Plastic Cremant — May 9th
Queer punk triple bill in the garage at Neue Zukunft
Where? Neue Zukunft, Friedrichshain
Tickets on the door
GENTS — May 13th
Smooth Danish synth-pop in 8mm bar. Will very likely sell out.
Where? 8mm, Prenzlauer Berg
Tickets €15
Marlon Funaki — May 16th
Relaxed West Coast indie from singer/songwriter Marlon Funaki
Where? Baketown, Schöneberg
Tickets €24
Chase Icon — May 17th
Surreal, fast-rising US hyperpop
Where? Baketown, Schöneberg
Tickets €24
Powerplant — May 20th
Gothy, synthy wave from London
Where? Neue Zukunft, Friedrichshain
Tickets €22
Skinner / Ara lil Yoon — May 20th
Groovy dance-rock double from Skinner and Maltese art rockers Ara lil Yoon
Where? Schokoladen, Mitte
Tickets €11-15
Public Circuit / Sexverbot — May 20th
NYC Indie Disco / electronics group Public Circuit, playing with local punk mainstays Sexverbot.
Where? Schokoladen, Mitte
Tickets €12-14
Medium shows
Andy Irvine — May 8th
Acerbic Irish folk legend, still going strong at 83.
Where? uFaFabrik, Tempelhof
Tickets €28
Oneohtrix Point Never & Freeka Tet — May 10th
Electronic musician and composer performing a one-off collaborative show with visual artist Freeka Tet.
Where? Kraftwerk, Kreuzberg
Tickets €43 for the single event, or included with a weekend ticket for the Infinite Now festival.
Fotocrime — May 11th
Dancy, gloomy, gothy post-punk. Support comes from experimental noise makers Abraxas.
Where? Urban Spree, Schöneberg
Tickets €28
After — May 11th
Throwback 2000s pop-inspired electronica duo
Where? Mikropol, Schöneberg
Tickets €28
Hiss Golden Messenger — May 15th
An intimate solo show from the cosmic Americana veteran
Where? Monarch, Kreuzberg
Tickets €33
Broken Social Scene — May 17th
The resurgent 2000s indie rockers performing an acoustic in-store gig.
Where? Rough Trade Berlin, Neukölln
Tickets €27
Deerhoof — May 18th
Experimental rockers, only getting weirder after 30 years of recording albums. Famous for their live shows.
Where? SO36, Kreuzberg
Tickets €26
Smif-n-Wessun — May 19th
90s hip-hop legends & Black Moon collaborators with a string of classic albums
Where? Urban Spree, Friedrichshain
Tickets €28
Duendita — May 27th
Genre-blurring R&B singer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist
Where? Kantine am Berghain, Friedrichshain
Tickets €27
Lloyd Banks — May 31st
G-Unit’s smoothest on a Euro tour, playing the classics
Where? Columbia Theater, Kreuzberg
Tickets €57
Big Shows
ROSALÍA — May 1st
Where? Uber Arena, Friedrichshain
Tickets from €80
Ne-Yo & Akon - May 28th
Where? Uber Arena, Friedrichshain
Tickets from €65
Festivals
Is That All There Is? — May 1-3
Non-profit DIY arts space 90mil opens all its doors again for May 1 weekend, with a 3-day, round-the-clock program of local artists, DJs, talks, art workshops and more across official stages and tiny alcoves. Catch it while you can.
Where? 90mil, Jannowitzbrücke
Weekend tickets €75-130, Day tickets €28-48
Another Weekend in the Grey City Vol.1 — May 14-17
Four days, four venues, tons of punk and indie bands including Die Verlierer, Molly Nilsson, and many more, as well as a Gaza fundraiser/official afterparty on May 16th.
Where? Lark, Fitzroy, Cassiopeia, and Neue Zukunft, Friedrichshain
Weekend tickets €80, Day tickets €15-30
Desertfest — May 14-16
Hot on the heels of Roadburn, Desertfest is back for 2 days of doomy, slow, heavy tunes. Bands include YOB, Russian Circles, Truckfighters, Earthless, and King Buffalo.
Where? Columbiahalle and Columbia Theater, Kreuzberg
Weekend tickets €170, Day tickets €70
The Infinite Now — May 16-17
A continuous 30-hour program of experimental and ambient music performances inside a former power plant, organized by Berlin Atonal.
Where? Kraftwerk, Kreuzberg
Weekend tickets €128, Day tickets €54
Cakewalk — May 23-34
The DIY hardcore punk festival is back for a second year in Pankow’s industrial Malzfabrik. 2 days of strictly HC bands including international acts Integrity, Death Threat, and The Flex, as well as local bands like Blockage.
Where? Malzfabrik, Pankow
Weekend tickets €71, Day tickets €44
That’s all for May! Feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.