What did the DJs say when they cancelled?
On July 22, tech house and indie dance DJs Punching Polly and Sophie Cut announced they were pulling out of their sets at Bachblyten Festival, a four-stage techno, tech house, indie dance, psy techno, goa and drum'n'bass event set for July 24-26 at Flugplatz Schwesing near Husum in Schleswig-Holstein. Per Groove Magazin, the pair cited "serious allegations against a leading member of the festival's organizing team" and signed off with a blunt warning to fans: "Passt auf euch auf" (look after yourselves). They gave no further detail and told anyone who wanted specifics to ask the festival directly.
Why did the festival first call it 'rumors'?
Bachblyten's initial public answer, posted the same day, was to distance itself from the claims. Organizers said they had heard rumors "from various sources" but had received no "concrete information or understandable context" despite asking around, and called the allegations "falsch" (false) in a comment beneath the DJs' own statements, per Groove Magazin and FAZE Magazine. That framing drew exactly the reaction you'd expect from a scene that has spent years pushing festivals to take safety complaints seriously: commenters accused Bachblyten of shielding the accused person rather than the people making the allegations.
It didn't hold. Within a day, six more artists cancelled: Sabura, Fab Massimo, Mauricemino, DJ Nasendusche, Roman Adam and skkinvelvet, bringing the total to eight, according to FAZE Magazine.
What changed, and what happens now?
On July 23, one day before doors opened, Bachblyten reversed itself. In a new statement, organizers said they were removing "all persons connected to the raised accusations, including a person in a leadership position, from all tasks" and excluding them from further participation in the festival, effective immediately, per Groove Magazin. They called the situation "very serious" and promised a "comprehensive review" with external professional help once the event was over.
"Wir nehmen die Situation sehr ernst." ("We take this situation very seriously.")
The festival opened as planned on July 24 at Flugplatz Schwesing, but the controversy overshadowed the start of the weekend, as the regional daily shz.de reported. Bachblyten has not said who the accused leadership member is, and none of the reporting has named them. What the promised review turns up, and whether the festival publishes it, is the part the scene will be watching for.
