In pictures: Yung Lean, Kelela and Robyn land in Turin for C2C Festival

For the past 25 years, C2C Festival has been bringing some of the most exciting names in electronic music, avant-pop and experimental sound to Turin. This year’s anniversary edition was its biggest yet, welcoming a record 43,000 attendees across four days, from 29 October to 1 November. 

For the first time, this year international visitors outnumbered Italian festival-goers, with the programme spanning seven venues across the city, from grand historic theatres to former industrial spaces. With world premieres, exclusive Italian performances and plenty of unexpected collaborations, C2C’s 25th birthday was a fitting celebration of just how far the festival has come since its beginnings as Club To Club in the early 2000s. 

Below, we break down all the best parts, from the surprise sets to our very own Dazed stage.

Turin became part of the experience, with C2C spreading across seven venues and offering a different perspective on the city at every turn. Returning to established spaces including Lingotto Fiere, OGR Torino and Teatro Regio, this year’s edition also brought Teatro Carignano back into the programme for the first time in 11 years. From its historic architecture to its post-industrial settings, the festival made the most of Turin’s varied cultural landscape, with C2C Talks, daytime performances and late-night sets extending the experience beyond the main stages.

As C2C’s content partner, we took over one of the festival’s stages at Lingotto Fiere for both Friday and Saturday, bringing together an international mix of DJs, producers, collectives and experimental musicians. Friday’s programme featured Theo Parrish’s seven-hour set and the Other People showcase, while Saturday welcomed performances from LIIM, KMRU, Elias Rønnenfelt, Kode9 and RP Boo, Picture, and the Hundebiss collective, among others. Across the two days, the stage offered another perspective on the festival’s wide-ranging musical vision, spotlighting emerging talent alongside some of electronic music’s most influential names. 

One of the best parts of this year’s programme was seeing just how connected its artists were. Rather than keeping their sets to themselves, a few of the festival’s biggest names made room for some unexpected guests, bringing collaborations that already existed on record into the live setting. Oklou invited underscores onstage to perform “harvest sky”, while Robyn brought out Yung Lean, giving the crowd a crossover between two artists whose sounds have helped shape very different corners of contemporary pop.

Friday night at Lingotto Fiere brought together a particularly strong selection of experimental pop, electronic music and club sounds. The Main Stage welcomed Chanel Beads, underscores, Oklou, Robyn and Arca, alongside live performances from gyrofield. The evening also featured opening sets from Guybrush and Andrea Bruera, representing SØVN Records.

Across the Dazed Stage, the programme was equally varied, with a seven-hour extended set from Detroit house pioneer Theo Parrish, alongside the Other People showcase featuring Fake Samo, Eli Wewentxu, and Anelena Toku and Carla Boregas. It was a night that moved between expansive electronic production, left-field pop and dancefloor-focused sounds, with each performance bringing something different to the anniversary celebrations.

Saturday began on a different note, as Norwegian duo Smerz took over the historic Teatro Carignano for a special daytime matinée. Following their recent performance at London’s Barbican, Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg brought their distinct blend of classical composition, computer music and experimental pop into one of Turin’s most striking theatrical spaces. The performance marked the venue’s return to C2C’s programme after 11 years, making it one of the weekend’s more unexpected settings for live music.

Back at Lingotto, Saturday night continued the festival’s run of boundary-pushing performances. The Main Stage welcomed Visible Cloaks, Joanne Robertson, Fine and Kelela, before Yung Lean and Bladee brought their collaborative world to the festival. The evening also featured Chuquimamani-Condori Presents DJ E and Crystallmess, rounding out a programme that moved between experimental sound, alternative R&B, rap and electronic music.

Over on the Dazed Stage, the night brought together an equally eclectic selection of artists and collectives, including LIIM, KMRU, Elias Rønnenfelt, Kode9 and RP Boo, Picture, and the Hundebiss showcase, featuring Bladeblanc and Giesse, NEXUS and Talpah. Earlier performances included Octavio Octavio, Palindrome and Umberto Milanesio as part of Recall, alongside Chantssss.

Backstage, we got music curator and journalist Margeaux Labat to speak to all our favourite artists. Check out our socials to watch the videos.

And just when the weekend looked to be wrapping up, there was one more surprise. Arca joined Bill Kouligas for an unexpected closing set, bringing the anniversary celebrations to an appropriately unpredictable end. 

Head to the gallery above to check out imagery from the festival.