From its humble, patient beginnings with the context and film programmes, through to the late night (or early morning) strobe-filled dancefloors of Laak, The Grey Space in the Middle, and PAARD, whether or not you got a full night’s sleep, Saturday at Rewire festival is in the books.

A trio of essential performances happened in the grandiose Concertzaal of Amare: the legendary Beverly Glenn-Copeland was joined by special guest Elizabeth Copeland and an accompanying choir to fill the concert hall with his wonderful melodies. About an hour later, as Glenn-Copeland’s reverberations slowly faded out, the hall refilled for something completely different: if Glenn-Copeland’s performance was about elevation and elation, Sumac & Moor Mother’s set was a perfect offset, dragging listeners down into the depths of their immaculate drone-metal frequencies. The final act at Amare last night needs no introduction: Kim Gordon. Her newest album PLAY ME came to life in a dazzling display of drums, and noise, and guitar – and, of course, Gordon’s iconic voice.

In the nearby Amare Studio, all the while, Asian Dope Boys’s immense durational performance PHYSIS was taking place, guiding its visitors into its unparalleled world of theatrical rave – or was it rave-fueled theatre? For eight mystical hours, the super group led by Tianzhuo Chen, crafted something truly special.

At Amare’s Danstheater, two other audiovisual treats awaited audiences as Julian Charrière’s film Midnight Zone was given a live score by Laurel Halo, before later on, when the cult duo Xiu Xiu presented their interpretation of Eraserhead – returning to the festival 10 years after their beloved Xiu Xiu Plays The Music of Twin Peaks.

At the beginning of the evening, Standing On The Corner brought a soulful wave of lo-fi funk to Concordia, before a little while after that, down the Prinsestraat at Korzo, Sombat Siml’s artful khene playing enchanted onlookers. At Grote Kerk, Joanne Robertson’s music reverberated with a gleaming clarity, when she performed her songs accompanied by Oliver Coates before a hushed, spellbound audience.

Just after midnight, DeForrest Brown Jr. presented Synoptic Audio at Korzo’s Zaal, a work of sonic theory-fiction and live electronics. Meanwhile, on the other side of The Hague, as former The Hague local ex_libris (aka Dave Huismans) concocted a vivid live AV set of gritty textural club music at Concordia, visitors piled into Theater aan het Spui for the first Dutch show of Cameron Picton’s My New Band Believe (which had to be seen to be . . . believed).

Saturday evening at PAARD had so many highlights to choose from. In PAARD I, Purelink and Mika Oki performed a sensitive and ever morphing set of experimental electronics and ambient, before james K took to the stage to carry that ambient spirit into her realm of ethereal pop and undulating trip-hop. The anticipation in the room was palpable as the audience waited for Los Thuthanaka to take the stage, and this expectation was surely justified by the time their last boisterous rhythms echoed across the room.

In PAARD II, WaqWaq Kingdom and VJ Kalma carried onlookers into the cybernetic world of Amanogawa 天の川, before Slikback, maltdisney, and Tasya brought the frictive Friction live AV show to PAARD I ahead of Blawan's live set and Batu’s b2b with JASSS – a joyful set of percussive majesty, with the duo selecting together for the first time ever. Back in PAARD II, State OFFF presented the live AV show Umzimba before mi-el closed out the evening with a signature set of expert experimentalism and fuzzy futurism.

While PAARD was drawing to a close, the basement of The Grey Space in the Middle continued to heat up. MOESHA 13 and Chinnamasta's kinetic selections were followed by a closing set from Yb3L. Rewire's first partnership with cult club Laak was a smoke-filled affair of booming percussion and whirling lasers, leading late into the night with incredible sets from Dim Garden, Buttechno b2b Torus, Nono Gigsta, and OK Williams.

Photos by Alex Heuvink, Alicia Karsonopoero, Baroeg Mulder, Camille Blake, Charlotte van der Gaag, Esmée de Vette, Jan Rijk, Laura van der Spek, Maurice Haak, Pieter Kers, and Sabine van Nistelrooij