Belgium’s Slow Crush made their Roadburn debut back in 2017, before they had even released their debut album, Aurora. Their demo made its way into the hands of the festival’s artistic director, Walter, and an invitation was promptly issued – despite the band having not yet played a live show. They squeezed in a couple of warm up gigs and took to the stage at Roadburn to perform their third ever show. We’re overjoyed to welcome them back for 2026 – for two special performances that will place a marker for just how far they’ve come since their festival debut.
With lush vocals layered atop dreamy shoegaze hooks, Slow Crush have gone from strength to strength; from Aurora via Hush (2021) and through to their latest opus, Thirst. With each release it seems that their powers multiply, drawing more and more listeners into their crystalline web. For this year’s edition of Roadburn, the band will bookend their output to date with one performance that shines a light on their beginnings, and a second one that illuminates them as they are now, with added visual accompaniments.
The band elaborates: “Roadburn has always held a special place in our hearts. A place where everything odd feels welcome, and one of the few stages that truly feels like home. Not quite metal, shoegaze, dreampop, hardcore, post-rock or punk, we’ve often found it hard to fit neatly into a box. Roadburn embraces that freedom. Back in 2017, our third ever show was at Roadburn, and we’re beyond excited to return this year with two very special performances:“For the first time ever, we’ll play our debut (and life changing) album Aurora in full, front to back. Then, we’ll unveil a new chapter of Slow Crush: a fully immersed audiovisual performance built around our new album Thirst.”
From a beginning full of promise through to a band capable of commanding a thousands-strong audience, Slow Crush are not yet done with showing us what they’re made of.
– Becky Laverty
