Untold 2026: over 500,000 attendees for the ONE edition in Cluj-Napoca

The heart of the festival takes over Cluj-Napoca’s Central Park. The Mainstage dominates the Cluj Arena, while Galaxy is located in the nearby indoor arena. But limiting yourself to these two spaces would mean seeing only part of UNTOLD: between one arena and the other, environments, installations and stages follow one another, completely changing the atmosphere.

The Daydreaming Stage shifts the vibe once again. Hidden among the trees and surrounded by nature, it creates a more relaxed and immersive atmosphere through melodic, organic and Afro sounds. Going from here to the huge Mainstage or to Galaxy’s dark, underground environment means almost stepping, within just a few minutes, into different festivals.

And perhaps this is one of the aspects UNTOLD offers best to those who attend: the freedom to build your own experience. You can spend the night in front of the Mainstage superstars or get lost among smaller stages and completely different sounds.

Saturday: Lost Frequencies surprises, Galaxy goes underground
One of Saturday’s surprises was Lost Frequencies. Those who mainly associate him with the hits that made him famous worldwide might have expected a much softer set; on the Mainstage, instead, the Belgian DJ showed a decidedly more powerful, club-oriented and energetic side, without giving up the melodic component that defines his sound.
The performance also included a moment designed specifically for the Romanian crowd: Loredana Groza took the UNTOLD stage for the first time to perform a remix of “Lele” produced by Lost Frequencies.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/szjjlkc8VnQ

 

LFrom there, it only took switching arenas to enter the festival’s more underground side. At Galaxy, Joseph Capriati and Solomun helped build a night deeply tied to techno and club culture. Capriati delivered a particularly intense set, while Mau P was one of my personal highlights of the weekend: his groove gradually took over the entire arena.

At the same time, the Alchemy Stage showed yet another side of UNTOLD with Denzel Curry, bbno$, Camo & Krooked, Guess Who and Deliric x Silent Strike x Muse Orchestra. Yet another demonstration of how the program manages to go beyond what happens in the Cluj Arena.Martin Garrix and a stadium turned into a gigantic dancefloor

Saturday then reached its peak moment with Martin Garrix. Looking at the Mainstage, the production is already massive; but it’s when you turn toward the stands and see the Cluj Arena completely full that you truly feel the scale of UNTOLD. Garrix used that setting with a show built in a steady crescendo. Intro, visuals, music and special effects carried the set to a finale dominated by fireworks and light shows. In moments like this, a DJ set stops being just a musical performance and becomes a shared spectacle experienced by tens of thousands of people.

Over 120,000 people for the grand finale
On Sunday, more than 120,000 people attended the final day alone. The Mainstage opened with Romanian rapper Grasu XXL, before Flo Rida turned the Cluj Arena into a huge party built on an almost uninterrupted sequence of hits. The crowd sang along to practically every song and, between moments, roses were thrown into the audience. A performance that once again showed how, within UNTOLD, pop can perfectly coexist with an identity strongly tied to electronic music. Right after, Alan Walker brought his unmistakable audiovisual world to the stage, leveraging the huge screens and the Cluj Arena production. The day also made room for local nostalgia with Animal X, while JO and LAZY ED performed together at the IQOS Stage for the first time at UNTOLD.

MEDUZA LIVE bring their sound to the top of Europe
One of Sunday’s most interesting moments was MEDUZA LIVE. The Italian trio presented a format that blends electronic music, live-played instruments and a visual production designed for major international stages. In a huge venue like UNTOLD, the risk for a live project could be losing part of its identity. The opposite happened: MEDUZA’s sound remained immediately recognizable, proving how comfortable the Italian project now is on stages of this scale.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IrxJ8BRPOiI

Afrojack B2B R3HAB and Steve Aoki: the Mainstage at maximum energy
The final stretch of Sunday brought together Afrojack and R3HAB for one of the most anticipated B2Bs of the entire weekend. Two leading figures of global EDM shared the decks, alternating festival anthems, powerful drops and harder influences, with two different identities that found a natural balance throughout the set. Then came Steve Aoki and, as often happens in his shows, the music became only one part of the spectacle. The volume, the colorful and deliberately over-the-top graphics, and the constant interaction with the crowd turned the Mainstage into one of the most fun moments of the day. And of course, the cakes couldn’t be missing. At UNTOLD they seemed endless not to ever end: every time it seemed the last one had been thrown, another one would appear. Nearly twenty flew into the crowd in a scene of chaos perfectly consistent with what you’d expect from a Steve Aoki show.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/REepWdRxfzQ

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OBi7_ZfXg3U

Galaxy and Alchemy until the very end
While the Mainstage was racing toward the grand finale, the other stages didn’t slow down. At Galaxy, Jamie Jones brought his unmistakable house groove, followed by the cinematic and hypnotic atmosphere of MRAK. Sara Landry then took control of the arena to carry the techno night through to the festival’s final moments.

At Alchemy, Andy C closed with all the energy of drum & bass. Even in the final hours, then, UNTOLD kept offering real alternatives to the Mainstage: not just secondary stages, but musical worlds with their own identity.

Who better than Padre Guilherme to close UNTOLD?
After four days, nine stages and hundreds of thousands of people, there was still someone tasked with officially saying goodbye to the Mainstage: Padre Guilherme. His entrance immediately carried a different tone. Before even starting to play, he stopped to greet the crowd, creating a direct connection with the entire arena. Only then did he step behind the decks, bringing that blend of electronic music and messages of hope, joy and unity that has now become the hallmark of his performances. After hours of fireworks, drops and massive productions, UNTOLD didn’t choose to close by chasing an even bigger explosion. Padre Guilherme gave the festival a different ending, more emotional and symbolic. The people behind the festival Some of the best memories, however, came away from the stages.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qugD-K9Ya-Y

During the interviews carried out by our reporter Vittorio Bendinelli for youBEAT, it became clear just how international UNTOLD’s audience is and, above all, how deeply they actually know the music they come to see. A group of dancers we were interviewing even turned the conversation into a small performance, culminating in a backflip in front of the camera.
A fun episode, but one that captures the energy you constantly feel throughout the festival.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8tnrcRgB5XM

Behind this lightness, though, there’s an important fact: many people cross entire countries to see these artists, they know DJs, tracks and different electronic scenes, and they build real trips around events like UNTOLD. It’s the simplest proof that festival culture and electronic music still have enormous power.

ONE BILLION FOR GOOD

UNTOLD 2026 also tried to leave a mark beyond entertainment with the launch of ONE BILLION FOR GOOD, a global initiative designed to connect and amplify acts of kindness, regardless of their size.

The project aims to support causes capable of producing a concrete impact in communities and, at the same time, to turn good intentions into real actions. The principle is simple: every gesture counts, and millions of small gestures, added together, can turn into a positive global movement positive.
https://1billionforgood.com/

Final thoughts
After over 500,000 attendees, nine stages, and four days and four nights of music, UNTOLD ONE 2026 once again confirmed its international stature.
The lineup tells only part of the story: Sting, The Chainsmokers, Zara Larsson and Lewis Capaldi in the first days; Lost Frequencies, Joseph Capriati, Solomun and Martin Garrix on Saturday; Flo Rida, Alan Walker, MEDUZA, Afrojack B2B R3HAB, Steve Aoki, Jamie Jones, Sara Landry and Andy C on the closing day, before Padre Guilherme’s final goodbye.

But what stays with you from UNTOLD isn’t just the list of names on the poster. It’s the gigantic portal that lights up at night, the flags over Central Park, a DJ playing in front of a tram full of people and foam, the Daydreaming Stage hidden among the trees, Galaxy packed with techno fans, and an entire stadium singing and dancing in unison.

It’s exactly this variety that best explains what UNTOLD offers those who attend: not a single show to watch, but a festival to move through and build around your own tastes. You can chase the massive Mainstage production, discover a small set at TIME, dive into Galaxy’s techno, or step away for a moment among the trees at Daydreaming.

UNTOLD is one of those festivals you have to explore to truly understand its scale. After experiencing the last two days from inside Cluj-Napoca, it’s easy to see why it continues to be considered one of the most important events on the international scene.

A special thanks to the UNTOLD Press Team for the hospitality and for making this coverage possible, and a sincere thank you to Matteo Villa and Stefano Bonizzoni of youBEAT for the support throughout this experience. See you again in Transylvania!