REF Festival brings Nice’s underground scene to life through electronic music and culture
Between industrial architecture, underground culture and an increasingly international electronic scene, REF Festival is turning Nice into a meeting point between the Mediterranean and contemporary club culture. Its seventh edition, held from May 8 to 10, 2026, confirmed the ambition of a project that goes far beyond the traditional music festival format. Just a few kilometres away from the polished image of the Promenade des Anglais, REF reveals another side of Nice: rawer, more creative and distinctly nocturnal, where the city’s cultural identity feels constantly in motion.
At the heart of the festival is Le 109, a contemporary cultural hub located in the city’s former slaughterhouses on Route de Turin. Its industrial architecture, large-scale spaces and open areas create a striking contrast with the elegance usually associated with the French Riviera. It is precisely this tension that gives REF much of its identity, placing electronic music inside an environment that feels both unexpected and completely natural. The venue itself becomes part of the experience, shaping the atmosphere as much as the sound.
For three days, Le 109 becomes a self-contained musical ecosystem, combining indoor and outdoor stages with a programme featuring international, French and local artists. Rather than simply presenting a succession of DJ sets, REF is built around movement and discovery, allowing audiences to shift between different sounds, spaces and atmospheres throughout the day and into the night. This fluid approach gives the festival a sense of continuity, where each set feels connected to a wider journey rather than standing alone.
The 2026 line-up reflected this approach with artists including DJ Tennis, Raresh, Saoirse, Sweely, Matisa, Parallelle, Laura de Greef, Nicolas Masseyeff, Daox and Djuda. House remains central to the festival’s identity, but the programme moves freely through minimal, groove, techno and other electronic territories. The result is less about rigid genres and more about maintaining a continuous energy across the different stages, with each artist contributing a distinct tone to the overall atmosphere of the weekend.
One of REF’s defining qualities is its relationship with the local scene. International names are placed alongside artists and collectives connected to the Côte d’Azur, creating a dialogue between established circuits and regional talent. In doing so, the festival presents a version of Nice that rarely appears in traditional representations of the city: young, cosmopolitan and increasingly connected to the wider European electronic music community. This balance between global recognition and local identity gives REF a character that feels rooted rather than imported.
Music is only one layer of the experience. The REF Village brings together art installations, independent creators, pop-up stores, vinyl, merchandise, bars and food trucks, expanding the festival beyond the dancefloor. These spaces create room for encounters and slower moments between sets, allowing visual art, design and club culture to coexist within the same environment. It also gives the audience the possibility to experience REF as a wider creative gathering rather than simply as a sequence of performances.
The festival also extends beyond its main venue through the REF OFF programme, with DJ sets, exhibitions and screenings taking place across Nice in the lead-up to the main weekend. This distributed format strengthens the relationship between REF and the city itself, gradually building momentum and turning the festival into something that feels embedded in the local cultural landscape rather than isolated from it. By occupying different spaces and contexts, REF becomes part of the rhythm of Nice before the main event has even begun.
In a city historically associated with seaside tourism, luxury and Belle Époque architecture, REF offers an alternative vision of the French Riviera. By connecting Mediterranean identity, post-industrial spaces, European club culture and a strong sense of community, the festival has developed a personality that feels increasingly distinct. After seven editions, REF is no longer simply an electronic music event in Nice: it has become part of the city’s evolving contemporary identity, showing how nightlife, music and independent culture can reshape the way a place is perceived.
