New York’s trance scene is getting a proper winter showcase. Trance, Bro! Winter Festival is set to take over Brooklyn for a two-day run, bringing together a lineup that spans trance’s biggest legacy names alongside the genre’s current rising talent. The inaugural event lands across two venues, with an opening party, a full-scale main event, and an afterparty rounding out the weekend.
December 4
The festival kicks off with an opening night at One77 Brooklyn, a recently remodeled venue formerly known as Quantum, located at 177 2nd Avenue. Leading that lineup is Nilsix, the collaborative project between Norwegian trance veteran Ørjan Nilsen and Dutch producer Mark Sixma. The pairing has built a reputation for blending driving, festival-ready energy with the kind of melodic, emotional trance that’s kept both artists relevant across their respective solo careers for years.
Joining Nilsix on opening night is Daxson, a name who’s become one of the standout figures in the modern uplifting and progressive trance movement. Daxson’s sets have increasingly crossed genre lines lately, picking up support from techno crowds as well as trance purists. Local support comes from Sunryse b2b Derya Zor and 4YU, rounding out a night designed to set the tone before the main event.
December 5
Saturday is where things really ramp up, with the festival’s centerpiece taking place at Warsaw Brooklyn starting at 2 pm. The main event lineup is stacked: Bryan Kearney, John O’Callaghan, Solarstone, Sander van Doorn performing a rare producer set, Adam Scott, and Billy Gillies, with more names still to be announced.
Irish trance staple Bryan Kearney has built his career on technically sharp sets that move fluidly between uplifting, harder-edged, and emotionally driven trance — a versatility that’s made him a fixture on festival bills for years. Fellow Irishman John O’Callaghan brings a catalog full of genre-defining anthems and a reputation as one of trance’s most consistent innovators, known for pushing the sound in directions that keep his sets feeling fresh decades into his career.
Solarstone remains one of trance’s most influential figures, largely thanks to his role spearheading the Pure Trance movement, which has helped keep the genre’s melodic, emotional core alive for a generation of fans who came up on that sound. Dutch producer Sander van Doorn adds a different flavor entirely — a career that’s touched trance, techno, and house at festival scale — and his appearance here comes with a twist. Van Doorn will be playing a producer set, meaning the entire performance draws exclusively from his own catalog, a rare treat for fans used to hearing him weave in other artists’ work.
Billy Gillies, out of Belfast, has emerged as one of the bigger names among the newer wave of trance artists, known for explosive sets that swing between soaring uplifting moments and harder tech trance. He’s quickly become a headline draw on the global trance circuit. And then there’s Adam Scott, the New York City DJ and producer behind the Trance, Bro! brand itself. Scott has built himself into one of the top trance acts in the U.S. and is signed personally to Armin van Buuren’s Armind imprint — a co-sign that carries real weight in the trance world. Local support on Saturday comes from TCOS.
Tickets
Together, the two-day lineup covers a lot of ground — from the genre’s classic, emotionally driven roots to the high-energy, peak-time sound that’s dominating trance rooms right now. Warsaw Brooklyn, a well-known room for the city’s electronic music crowd, gives the main event a fitting home to bring it all together.
Trance fans in the New York area — and anyone willing to make the trip — should keep an eye on the Trance, Bro! socials for lineup updates and set times as the December dates get closer. Tickets will be available here beginning at noon on 8/14.
