Minimal Music Festival 2026 - Closing concert: The Necks

Legendary Australian trio brings intoxicating improvisation.

Intoxicating acoustic improvisations of slow, intense beauty: that is the signature of Australia’s The Necks, a sound they have perfected for forty years. The New York Times simply calls them ‘one of the greatest bands in the world’. The cult band has kept their original line-up intact since the 80s and recently released their twentieth studio album. The recipe remains unchanged: with piano, drums and double bass, the trio creates expansive, meditative improvisations of a staggering sonic wealth.

The name ‘The Necks’ may sound like a run-of-the-mill band, but the close-knit trio of Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums) and Lloyd Swanton (bass) is an utterly unique musical phenomenon. They prefer to define their sound by what it isn’t: not quite avant-garde, not quite minimal, ambient or jazz. A little bit of all of that, perhaps. But above all, they are a creation machine driven by intuition, chemistry and deep musicality, starting every night with a blank canvas and conjuring something miraculous onto it.

Arrangör: Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ