Noisia Just Reunited, and They're Doing It Differently

On September 17, 2019, Nik Roos, Thijs de Vlieger and Martijn van Sonderen announced that Noisia was ending. On September 17, 2026, seven years to the day later, they announced it wasn't. The Groningen trio confirmed their reunion via social media, and with it a comeback show at Melkweg in Amsterdam on December 4, 2026, according to WeRaveYou and the Melkweg's own event listing. Presale opened on September 23 and general sale followed on September 25, and the Melkweg listing now shows the date as sold out.

Noisia spent two decades pulling drum & bass sideways into sound design, film scoring and studio technicality most producers in the genre never bothered to touch. Their split in 2019 was framed at the time as a full stop, not a pause, which makes the specificity of this reunion, the exact anniversary date, the deliberate return to the room-sized scale of a club show rather than a festival headline slot, worth taking seriously rather than filing as a routine nostalgia cash-in. What the three members are saying about how they plan to make new music, tested live before it ever touches a release schedule, is arguably the more interesting story than the reunion itself.

Is Noisia Back Together? The Comeback Timeline

Yes. Noisia are back together. Nik Roos, Thijs de Vlieger and Martijn van Sonderen announced on September 17, 2026, in a statement on Instagram, that they are writing music together again, according to Resident Advisor. Their first show since 2022 is at Melkweg in Amsterdam on December 4, 2026. As of October 16, 2026, we found no announced album, release date or label deal for new Noisia music, and the group have said they will take their time.

Wikipedia gives August 21, 2022 for the final show; the Beatportal report we read only says the farewell tour closed at Lowlands in 2022.

What Is Noisia Doing in 2026?

Noisia are playing a run of shows, and are not yet releasing an album. The Noisia website lists two Melkweg dates, December 4 and December 5, both marked sold out, followed by Circolo Magnolia in Milan on December 11, Grelle Forelle in Vienna on January 16, Let It Roll Winter in Prague on January 23 and Simplon in Groningen on February 13, which is also sold out. The page does not print years, so check the listings before travelling. Beatportal reports that the trio plan to play older material alongside new ideas, test the new music at shows and use crowd reactions to guide production before releasing anything. Van Sonderen continues to run the drum & bass label Vision Recordings alongside his bandmates, per Beatportal, though no new Noisia release on it has been announced.

Why Did Noisia Split in 2019?

Noisia announced their split on September 17, 2019, though the pandemic then stretched what was meant to be a farewell tour out over several additional years before the group played its last scheduled dates. The band never gave a single dramatic reason, but their own words point to deadlock rather than scandal. In Mixmag's 2021 report they said they now wanted different things and that ending the chapter was "the most honourable and respectful choice." In a statement quoted by Beatportal, they said the answer "wasn't in more trying, in more force. It was in letting go." Wikipedia, which we did not treat as a primary source, summarises the stated reason as creative differences. What's clear from the language all three are using now is that the ending was treated as final at the time it was made. Roos, Van Sonderen and De Vlieger walked away from one of drum & bass's most technically influential acts by design, not by drift, and stayed away long enough that reuniting on the exact seven-year anniversary of that original announcement reads as a considered gesture rather than a coincidence.

What Have Nik Roos, Thijs de Vlieger and Martijn van Sonderen Been Doing Since?

None of the three sat still. Nik Roos developed Sleepnet, launched the Ring Noord project alongside an artist called Former, and worked on Body Ocean, splitting his time between production, scoring and audio technology work rather than staying inside a single studio alias. Thijs de Vlieger expanded his solo alias Thys, collaborated with Amon Tobin, composed for film and contemporary dance, contributed to designer Iris van Herpen's Paris Haute Couture show, and worked with a collective called VIER. Martijn van Sonderen kept building his Zonderling alias while also producing under the name NSR, moving across house, melodic techno, pop and hip hop rather than staying anchored to drum & bass.

That spread matters for what comes next. All three members effectively used the hiatus as a genre residency, absorbing production language from house, techno, composition and sound design for stage and screen work, the kind of range that made Noisia's own productions stand out from the rest of drum & bass in the first place. A reunited Noisia isn't three producers returning to exactly where they left off. It's three producers who each spent seven years somewhere else, converging back on a shared project.

What Happens at the Melkweg Show on December 4?

The comeback performance is scheduled for Melkweg in Amsterdam on December 4, 2026, a considerably more intimate setting than the festival stages Noisia closed out during their farewell run. Presale tickets opened September 23, 2026, six days after the reunion news, with general sale following two days later on September 25, per the Melkweg listing. That listing now shows the date as sold out, with a regular price of 34.50 euros, an 18+ age limit and no support acts named, and the Noisia site lists a second Melkweg night on December 5 that is also sold out. Choosing a club show over a festival slot for the first performance back is its own kind of statement: this is a return to the room where the music actually gets tested, not a comeback engineered for the biggest possible stage.

Why Are Noisia Testing New Material Live Before Releasing It?

Rather than rushing toward a finished album or a streaming drop, the trio say they plan to test new ideas and works-in-progress live first, building a feedback loop between the crowd and the studio before finalizing anything for release. Van Sonderen described the process in blunt, practical terms: "Getting a rough idea from the guys and letting my own ideas loose on it. That already feels exciting again." Roos put the reunion itself more simply: "Noisia is in motion again. We don't know where it'll lead." De Vlieger, for his part, called the reunited group "an unknown future prospect again," language that treats Noisia's second act as genuinely open-ended rather than a nostalgia lap with a predetermined finish line.

That live-first approach also lines up with a wider shift in how independent artists are choosing to control their own release timing rather than defaulting to a label's calendar, a dynamic that's shaped how independent labels have grown their US market share in 2026. Testing a track on a Melkweg crowd before it exists as a finished master is the extreme version of that independence: no streaming release date locks the music in until the trio themselves decide a track is done. Individual solo projects, Sleepnet, Thys, Zonderling and the rest, continue running alongside the reunion rather than being folded back into it, which keeps the reunion itself lower-stakes than a full-time comeback would be.

What Does Noisia's Reunion Say About Drum & Bass Right Now?

Drum & bass's commercial momentum has been building for a while, part of a broader jump in US electronic and dance streaming that saw the genre post the largest streaming-share gain of any format tracked in the first half of 2026. That's a different, faster-moving story than hard techno's parallel climb in the US market, but both point to the same underlying shift: underground dance music built without major-label infrastructure is finding real audiences on the platforms that measure listening now, years after the scenes themselves did the actual work. Noisia's return lands into a moment where drum & bass doesn't need to prove its commercial relevance the way it might have needed to in 2019. That gives the trio room to reunite on their own terms, at club scale, without a label push or a festival system demanding a finished product on a fixed timeline.

Another drum and bass pillar is making news too: Roni Size is playing the world's deepest rave in a Welsh slate mine.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Noisia announce their reunion?

Noisia announced their reunion on September 17, 2026, exactly seven years after announcing their split on the same date in 2019. The announcement came via the trio's social media channels.

When and where is Noisia's comeback show?

Noisia's first performance since reuniting is scheduled for Melkweg in Amsterdam on December 4, 2026. Presale tickets opened September 23, 2026, with general sale following on September 25, 2026.

Why did Noisia break up?

Noisia have not blamed a scandal or a feud. In 2021 they told Mixmag that the members now wanted different things and that ending the chapter was the most honourable and respectful choice. In a statement quoted by Beatportal, they described a deadlock in which the answer was in letting go rather than trying harder. Wikipedia summarises the reason as creative differences.

When did Noisia break up?

Noisia announced the end of the group on September 17, 2019. The pandemic delayed the farewell tour, and the last show of that tour was at Lowlands in the Netherlands in August 2022, per Beatportal. Wikipedia dates that final show to August 21, 2022.

Is Noisia back together?

Yes. Nik Roos, Thijs de Vlieger and Martijn van Sonderen announced on September 17, 2026 that they are making music together again and will play live. Their first show since 2022 is at Melkweg in Amsterdam on December 4, 2026. They continue their solo projects alongside the group.

Is the Noisia comeback a one-off show?

No. The Noisia website lists a second Melkweg night on December 5, plus dates in Milan, Vienna, Prague and Groningen. Both Melkweg nights and the Groningen date are marked sold out. The page does not print years for these dates.

What is Noisia doing in 2026?

Noisia are preparing their first shows since 2022, starting with Melkweg in Amsterdam on December 4, 2026. They plan to play older material alongside new ideas and test the new music live before deciding on any release. No album or release date has been announced.

Why did Noisia split up in 2019?

Noisia announced their split on September 17, 2019, and the pandemic delayed and extended their farewell tour by several years. The group described the ending as a final decision at the time, not a pause, and said they were at a deadlock before choosing to let go.

What have the members of Noisia been doing since the split?

Nik Roos worked on Sleepnet, Ring Noord (with Former) and Body Ocean, alongside production, scoring and audio technology work. Thijs de Vlieger expanded his Thys alias, collaborated with Amon Tobin, scored film and contemporary dance work, contributed to Iris van Herpen's Paris Haute Couture show and worked with the VIER collective. Martijn van Sonderen continued as Zonderling and produced under the name NSR across house, melodic techno, pop and hip hop.

Is Noisia releasing a new album?

Not yet, and not on a fixed timeline. The trio have said they plan to test new ideas and works-in-progress live first, using shows like the Melkweg date to build a feedback loop between the crowd and the studio before finalizing anything for a formal release.