Festival Director Florian Czok Gives us His Tips for MELT Festival 2023

An absolute highlight of the festival calendar and a pure celebration of hedonism – MELT Festival returns this June with one of it’s most diverse and unique lineups so far. Big names including Bicep, FKA Twigs, Folamour and slowthai will join some of Berlin’s finest up and coming talent including Dr Rubenstien, Àbáse and Carlo Karacho.

It’s a festival with an emphasis on pushing the new, the innovative and the diverse through it’s lineup. We wanted to get the lowdown so we spoke to it’s curator, Florian Czok..

Check out our review of the 2022 MELT Festival here

Hi Florian, thanks for chatting – how’s preparation for this year’s event going?

They are doing great thanks – we just announced our full line-up some weeks ago and we are already looking forward to the next edition this summer.

Tell us a little about what makes MELT Festival different to other European festivals?

Where to start I think especially in Germany, but also over internationally the mixture of so many different music genres is very unique. We try to be always on top of what we call “Zeitgeist” and invite both upcoming as well as established / hype artists to our festival.

The site looks like something out of a fever dream.. How does the old, industrial machinery add to the festival?

The venue definitely is an eye catcher for every person that arrives the first day. But also for me it still gives me the chills every time I am entering the festival, our team is doing an amazing job in implementing stages, lighting and visual effects in this area where everything feels unreal. It feels like you’re entering a different world, especially due to the lake, the beach, the forest, and this whole mixture of nature and old industry.

The lineup seems to touch on a lot of different genres and styles, talk to us a bit about your thoughts when curating the music for MELT?

We always wanted to show as much music diversity as possible at our festival. This is sometimes challenging as the genres should work well next to each so all attendees can enjoy every stage if they want to. This means that the person who maybe is normally listening to more hip-hop / r&b to artists like slowthai is front row raving at the Big Wheel stage while Freddy K is playing b2b with Dr Rubinstein for example. We want our guests to stay open-minded and explore.

Were you keen to make sure the festival, was more than just a dance festival?

Definitely – some people say that MELT is an electronic / dance festival, but that is far from the truth. Of course there is a big part of electronic music at the festival, but it always was like that. But we also have 3 stages that are more or less dedicated to just live artists where we have artists like FKA twigs, Sevdaliza, slowthai, Altin Gün, d4vd, TSHA live, Nia Archives, Edwin Rosen, piri, Channel Tres, Erika de Casier and many more at the festival.

Any tips for international festival go’ers looking to attend MELT fest?

Most of the people coming from abroad really appreciate the amazing vibes on the camp site and also between each other throughout the whole weekend. Bring your swimming gear for the lake! Further, be sure to book your trip long enough to also attend cities like Berlin or Leipzig before / after the festival, both are reachable within 1-1,5h hour from the festival.

Finally, can you give us a quick rundown of some of your favourite artists on the lineup?

That is always a tricky question, of course I am really looking forward to all the big shows at our mainstage with exclusive german festival shows from artists like FKA twigs, Bicep live, slowthai and more. But here are some that I am really looking forward to as they will play their first german festival shows at MELT this year: Nia Archives, Southstar, Two Shell, Ojerime, piri, d4vd, TYGAPAW – but it’s hard to say because all of our 150 artists are worth the keep both eyes and ears on. Be curious and go to shows you don’t know – you will be pleasantly surprised!