Creepy Teepee‚s lineup shows something so unique that it cannot be compared to other music events in Slovakia or the Czech Republic. In fact, not even to European alternative festivals like CTM in Berlin or Unsound in Krakow. They may be dramaturgically close, but organizationally and in terms of atmosphere, they have different approaches.
The CT team itself explains this. It is a team of artists, curators, people from the independent scene who do not make a living by organizing events. They have been simultaneously exhibiting art in the A.M.180 Gallery for a long time. This fact alone promises that it will not be just another traditional music festival. Another aspect is how visionary and „expert“ the lineup is. CT is neither rock, nor electronic, nor ambient, nor experimental. In short, it is focused on original artists whose music cannot be kept in classic genre categories; they are distinctive voices that deviate from the mainstream and are often at the beginning of their careers or before they become widely known.
Regarding the program itself, curator Jakub Hošek told irozhlas.cz in 2011: „We try to present current trends in contemporary music at the festival and acquaint the audience with what is currently happening on the international music scene. The bands I named range between electronic and guitar music and sound very innovative,*“ and I think we can apply this to the current year 2026.
*“Snažíme se na festivalu prezentovat aktuální tendence v současné hudbě a seznamovat diváka s tím, co se právě děje na mezinárodní hudební scéně. Kapely, které jsem jmenoval, se pohybují mezi elektronikou a kytarovou hudbou a zvukově znějí hodně novátorsky.“
I have to admit that I didn’t recognize many artists by name right away, but after studying their discography, I became an instant fan. So in this regard, even before the festival, I thank CT for the great music tips. Even if you didn’t manage to come this year, I definitely recommend checking out the lineup and listening. It’s worth it. And the fact that they’ve been able to do it for 16 years is an excellent feat.
This year, everything finally fell into place, and it worked out so that I could physically get to CT. After a long tradition in the historic Kutná Hora, the event had to be moved elsewhere. However, I personally (and various foreign visitors I spoke to) find this move extremely convenient. I regularly visit the Fuchs2 and Bike Jesus clubs, so I know them well and like them. The program will also take place outside, on the outdoor stage on Ostrov Štvanice, so there will be 3 stages in total.
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Before describing some of the memorable moments from this year’s Creepy Teepe, it is important to realize the most important thing. What is the feeling of great concerts and great music? Why is it still important to meet more like-minded people from different parts of the world and immerse yourself in music? Creepy Teepe managed to create a safe island of art and music, where one can teleport to imaginary worlds created by artists with their projects. Even when I got off at Prague’s main station and walked around Dejvice, where I was staying, I had a strange feeling. Most people must have left the city for vacations, to cottages, to the water… There were disproportionately few people on the streets over the weekend. As a result, Prague did not radiate the traditional feeling of hustle and activity.
After passing through the friendly and informal security check, you enter the island of Štvanice and the Creepy Teepee area. From that moment on, it was as if you were on another planet. The entire view is framed by the Fuchs2 and Bike Jesus buildings with cracked plaster, graffiti, and the massive slogan BLACK LIVES MATTER, ROMA LIVES MATTER TOO, trees that cover the Vltava River, the outdoor stage, and the fence of the premises. And I could have been in this state of mind for 3 days. No work emails, no news from the world, just music, listening, dancing, and chatting with friends.
The music program was not only composed of great artists, but also put together in a clever order that made sense. During the day, bands (Deathcrash, Pennwood Rd., Knives Chau) or alternative pop or songwriting projects (Lauren Auder, HYD, Ouri) performed outside, and around ten o’clock the program moved to Fuchs and Bike Jesus. First with live rap projects, then with electronic music and DJ sets. These also followed each other naturally.
After the bedroom pop/electronic project Deer Park, Fuchs2 was filled by London rapper Jawnino, who played the entire concert in a characteristic winter puffer jacket and with a backpack on his back. Although ambient-inspired mellow trap, it was an excellent concert on a good sound system. Later, in the area, we exchanged a few words with the slightly shy rapper and his DJ/producer. It was hard to breathe in Fuchs and it was extremely warm. We moved with our Polish friends to Bike Jesus at ZAFFER9. The Slovak-Czech duo once again performed a fantastic concert. I feel like every concert by this duo is better. Vocalist Helena (aka Vermilion) gave one of the best performances of Creepy Teepee and the duo also played a few new songs at the beginning of the set. Since Helena and Viktor are friends, I proudly looked at the audience during the concert, how they reacted to this stormy mix of ethereal, intense vocals and bass attack. I could see a mixture of positive surprise and smiles on their faces. People obviously enjoyed the performance too. I don’t know where exactly the singer gets her inspiration from, but if I’m correct, she studies (studied?) religious studies at the Faculty of Philosophy. It must be some kind of witchcraft, because it works extremely effectively.
Afterwards, since we hadn’t seen Viktor from ZAFFER9 for a long time, we talked about the singer’s concert, which I was really looking forward to. Helen Sun released a perfect debut EP “talk with your Teeth,” which I listened to responsibly before Creepy Teepee.
In harsh conditions of low oxygen levels, suffocation, and high temperatures on the left side of the balcony at Fuchs2, I attended another great set from Scottish electronic visionary Proc Fiskal. His hyperactive set, which he played crouching at the edge of the table, where he was clicking something on his laptop, sounded like the Stargate flight sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was almost impossible to breathe in Fuchs, so it was a really physically intense experience.
Bimini is a famous drag queen, who apparently all my Polish friends knew. But we all pretty quickly agreed that the music selection was on the verge of mainstream techno and hot EDM, so we ran for fresh air to Bike Jesus. I told them that maybe it was the artistic intention. The next DJ set took place in Bike, and I was pleasantly surprised. ANTHEM played an excellent, slightly dark mix of South African GQOM, Caribbean dancehall, and various other genres that are usually not heard on a regular Friday night.
I wanted to hang on to DJ KET from the Prague collective Glitch Katz for a while, but fatigue after a long day and travel was relentless. However, their set of energetic hyper pop and trance electronics was the ideal highlight of the first day of Creepy Teepee.
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With Polish friends, we listened to the London band deathcrash behind the curtain of the venue, relaxing, sitting, and lying in the grass on the hunting island. Marlon Dubois was probably the only rapper I was looking forward to this year, but the questionable vocal performance and quality went down the drain.
Joeyy, certainly one of the biggest names, returned to Creepy Teepee after two years for his only European concert this summer. He made up for Marlon’s taste and played an excellent show, which he supplemented with almost stand-up comic speeches. „Open up the moshpit. Do the square moshpit. I don’t want to see the circle one. Show me some European shit.“ The psychedelically intoxicating trap beats sounded very pleasant from the outside stage speakers, and now I can’t remember if he rapped everything so well live or with half playback. Anyway, the whole crowd was having fun, and afterwards several people posted videos of his #nodpit, where everyone was lying on the ground, including Joeyy, who rapped lying down. During the concert, I realized where rappers of a similar style could achieve this if they worked professionally. Inspiring performance.
And then came the sequence: ideasforconversation >> saraunh0ly >> B0yg1rl >> Frost Children DJ set, which in retrospect was one of the best series of performances I’ve ever experienced at a music festival. Perfect. These highlights ended with two more excellent selections: Berlin’s Born In Flamez, who played a great set at Bike Jesus for about 20 people (because everyone was in the packed Fuchs at Frost Children, or gathered outside in the open air), and Xavior™. Xavior is a Paraguayan artist who you may have caught in collaboration with the Viennese collective Ashida Park or the current Japanese magazine Sabukaru. In his set, he connected all corners of post-club music. Another legendary end to the day. Now it occurred to me, as I replay the events in my memory, that someone could easily draw an entire manga series from Creepy Teepee, individual concerts, artists, and micro stories.
Next comes the problem of concentrating in the hot crowd on Mor Eaze, which was a little too lethargic and meditative for me, but I noticed in Miloš Hroch’s report that he praised it as one of his favorite performances of the festival.
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On the last day, I spoke to one of the members helping out at Štvanice. He was happy that there were no major problems. All in all, only a few people (he could count them on one hand) had any problems with alcohol or other substances during the entire festival. On the third, final night, there was already a sense of fatigue in the air. Around three o’clock in the morning, the area was gradually emptying out, and even the packed Fuchs during Kavari was relaxing a little. One of the last sets – Blastah – disappointed me a little, not a particularly interesting set, and after Ship Sket’s technical wizardry the energy dropped.
Kavari was an excellent dark club „rave“ set, but Frost Children was even better. One bartender told me that it was probably the best atmosphere he had ever experienced on Štvanica Island. „The space completely came to life, this is what the house was made for,“ he commented on the connected clubs Fuchs2 and Bike Jesus with their summer outdoor space. He’s right, during Creepy Teepee every square meter came alive, from the cigarette zone in front of Fuchs, by the main road, to the end of the area behind Bike Jesus. The festival was a great testament to these industrial spaces and it would be great to have more similar events here.
From the third day, I especially remember the performances of Izzy Camina, Violent Magic Orchestra, Hornet, deBasement and Kamixlo‚s new hardcore project The Mass Transit Incident. Izzy Camina was for me probably the most original combination of different genres, pop melodies with club electronics, as if she took the energy of a rave party, reduced its intensity, and conquered it for her singing. Everything about Camina makes sense when I found the playlist of her favorite music (Lorde, Xxyyxx, King Krule, Lorn, Gesaffelstein…)
VMO played probably the funniest and most action-packed concert of the festival. In addition to the traditional crazy grimaces, the members ran around the entire festival area several times, lifted a child in the air, stood on fans, moshpitted together, and the like. Despite the heavy metal riffs, the singer’s dark growling, and hard electronics, we all watched them with a smile. 10/10.
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Veronicami:
“The last time I was at Creepy Teepee it was still in Kutná Hora, so it was really interesting to experience the first Prague edition. Moving the festival into the Fuchs2 / Bike Jesus complex turned out to be such a good decision. Having an existing club infrastructure made everything feel more practical, comfortable and safe. With bars and toilets spread across the whole site, I barely had to queue for anything. And having three stages — one outdoor daytime stage and two indoor club stages for the night — just made the whole experience flow really naturally.
One of my favourite additions this year was the Awareness Team. They had their own stand and chill-out space where you could take magnesium or electrolytes, grab a snack, raise your blood sugar, pick up free drug-testing kits, and just talk to people who genuinely knew what they were doing. They were there not only to help if needed, but also to spread awareness and encourage safer partying. It was great to see this become such an important part of the festival.
The lineup, as always, was full of niche Anglo-American and post-club artists you rarely get to see in this part of Europe. I had the chance to chat with Jawnino, Saraunh0ly and Ideas For Conversation, and they all told me how excited they were to be back playing this festival and this part of the world. It was also really nice to hear how warmly they spoke about the festival team and the level of artist care they experienced.
What I love most about Creepy Teepee is how it embraces so many different scenes while still having such a distinctive identity. From LA emocore to Drain Gang-inspired cloud rap, from extreme Japanese gabber to sensual post-R&B — somehow it all makes perfect sense together. It’s honestly incredible that after 16 years the festival still feels fresh and progressive, while constantly staying a few steps ahead of everyone else.”
My highlights:
• Jawnino is not just a “classic rapper” — more like someone documenting a specific emotional landscape of modern UK underground culture. There’s a feeling of isolation, speed, survival, and humor mixed together. Jawnino brought that very specific UK energy — somewhere between grime, jungle and raw storytelling, making chaos feel intimate.
• Zaffer 9 was my personal discovery – the contrast of brutality and tenderness. Their music can feel violent and confrontational, but underneath there is a lot of vulnerability and emotional release.
• ideasforconversation are another discovery of mine. Their performance was less about a traditional “show”, and more about creating a strange, digital and slightly surreal world. ideasforconversations created one of those moments where the line between concert and internet dreamscape disappeared.
• The Frost Children. It’s not my first time hearing them at Creepy Teepee, and I personally believe they are the essence of this festival — maximalist, ridiculous, emotional, chaotic and completely free. And it’s not just about their sound — it’s about attitude as well. Creepy Teepee has always had this mix of weirdness, sincerity, chaos, youth culture and “outsider pop”, and Frost Children embody that.
• Car Underwater felt like another example of Creepy Teepee’s ability to find artists who don’t fit neatly into any category. And as a millennial, it felt incredibly soothing and nostalgic to lose myself in their emo anthems — songs that brought me straight back to the Myspace era, with a strange kind of utopian freedom.
• VMO – not my first time but they always deliver! Although a daytime outdoor show definitely hits differently
• Ship Sket was my personal highlight — after following his music for years and hearing him multiple times, he still manages to make every set feel unpredictable and completely alive. The best DJ out there ATM (in my personal opinion).”
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Text by: Krištof Budke + Veronicami / Follow Creepy Teepee on Instagram
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