Reeperbahn Festival Unveils Six Nominees for the 2026 Anchor Award

Reeperbahn Festival has named its shortlist for the 2026 Anchor Award, the Hamburg showcase event’s “highest seal of approval” for an emerging act — and this year’s crop is a genuinely global spread. The six nominees: British soul-pop artist Nectar Woode, Australian party-starter BIG WETT, French Italo-disco act Dov’è Liana, Ukrainian experimentalist GANNA, London duo Just For Fun, and Berlin jazz ensemble Sonic Interventions.

The Anchor Award has a real track record for this sort of thing. Launched in 2016, it’s picked out acts like Yard Act and Ichiko Aoba before they became the names promoters fight over — which is exactly the kind of prescience an indie-leaning ear appreciates. Past nominees Celeste and Parcels went on to genuinely big things too, so this isn’t just a nice trophy for the mantelpiece.

The full festival runs September 16–19 across Hamburg’s entertainment district, with over 100 international artists confirmed including English Teacher, Keo, and Kojaque. The Anchor Award winner gets crowned at a ceremony on September 18 — worth a calendar note if you like getting into a band a year before everyone else does.

Source: DIY Magazine