25 years in, C2C Festival continues its avant-pop and experimental ethos with unmatched curatorial prowess to unite music heads from around the world across a massive four-day audiovisual feast.

While the festival’s large Italian contingent is still very much present, it is the first time the C2C Festival’s audience was made up mostly of international attendees. It doesn’t take a second look to understand that most of my flight from Heathrow is also headed the same way; the Primavera Sound tote bags and Nothing headphones are a blatant giveaway. They definitely know who ML Buch is. 

I land, find the shuttle to Turin Porto Nuova, head to my first Osteria of many on this trip – Osteria Vanchiglia – and have a life-changingly good menu of the day after communicating in Spanish and putting on an attempt at an Italian accent. I then check into my room in a gorgeous, centrally located apartment and get ready for the C2C Festival’s grand opening.

As a first-time attendee, I have no idea what to expect from both C2C Festival and Turin itself. But after a few strolls around my apartment’s neighborhood, taking advantage of lucking out on the weather, seeing the city’s cobbled streets, chilled, modern, and Italianate architecture, cuisine, and nature (with the mountain views and Po River bordering the city), I’m instantly enamored. I meet up with some friends and run into Shygirl’s team, as we all share the same mission: looking for an open bar serving some Aperol Spritz. We accomplish our mission, and after having a chat and sitting down, we rush our way to C2C Festival’s grand opening at the massive post-industrial cultural, art, and tech hub OGR.

First, we catch a bit of Danish composer ML Buch’s gorgeous performance with the Pessoa Quartet, followed by DJ Python’s A/V live show, which he debuts at C2C following the pattern of major producers using the platform and legacy for a significant live debut performances. The spacious synth pads and celestial atmospheres really scratch my brain right. The Avalanches’ trippy visuals and electronic parade of clattering beats stitched together soundtrack our eternal wait at one of the bars at the venue. With (almost) everyone having had a drink, Shygirl and her new band walk out onto the stage, and I audibly gasp when she revisits tracks like “Woe” and “FREAK” but then also raises an eyebrow at some more rock renditions of fan favorites. Nonetheless, it was also interesting to hear fresh cuts off her upcoming album Swallow. I make it back to my apartment and call it a night.

I start the next day off right at my Turinese balcony, downing some cappuccinos and tasteful Italian pasticceria before making my way to the antifascist protest going on that same day – good taste always goes hand in hand with good politics. After heading down to the opera house Teatro Regio for curated talks and workshops, we get ready to make it to the iconic Lingotto Fiere further down in the city in time for Chanel Beads. It only makes sense that such an eclectic and iconic lineup would be converging under a historic former Fiat car factory.

underscores’ Italian debut is in the best way possible. Her exquisite blend of hyperpop, indie-rock instrumentation, glitching vocal synthesis, and intricate visual storytelling, all layered over dense, bass-heavy productions, had literally everyone jumping. Oklou followed with a flawless showing, culminating in a transcendent “harvest sky” bringing underscores out and closing out her Choke Enough tour, rounding off with a message of support to the Italian protestors.

Next, I catch Robyn’s smooth pop and am more than impressed, so much so that I decided to revisit her latest album on the spot. It is pure euphoria and deeply cathartic, ending on a literal glitter waterfall. I end the night with Arca, whose experimental set was stopped twice by sound issues. Not that it dampened things; I love when she plays some Toxe, and Gyrofield’s blend of techno and drum and bass was a highlight too. From there, it is back into the city for the unofficial afterparty by Trrmoto, with London it-girl and Club Stamina founder Mina Galan and Latineo founder and Barcelona it-girl m8nse.

The next morning begins in velvet and gilt. SMERZ’s matinée at Teatro Carignano marked the theatre’s first big return in eleven years, and the room feels like it’s holding its breath with an intimate and utterly majestic hour. Afterwards, I get a quick and very impressive trip to the Egyptian Museum (mummies before noon, as one does), sealed with a well-deserved gelato. Then it’s costume time. Being Halloween, I threw together my best last-minute DIY vampire look and head back to Lingotto Fiere, arriving in time for a bit of Fine, whom I was very excited to see off the back of her latest album. But all of it is a warm-up for the absolute best part of the entire festival, Kelela. Her seamless transitions stitched her latest album and fan favourites into one unbroken current, and watching it unfold, surrounded by fellow vampires and other niche Halloween costumes (the real estate agent fish from SpongeBob being one) was breathtaking. It is celestial and jaw-dropping. I stop filming and forget about my fake fangs and just let it wash over me.

Yung Lean and Bladee’s cloud rap was eclectic and hazy in all the right ways, but the moshpit that grew around it is a lot more than I signed up for, so I take a step back. The consolation prize is spotting Robyn in the crowd, dancing along like any other fan, which is so unexpectedly wholesome that it made up for every elbow I’d dodged.

Chuquimamani-Condor’s set is easily another instant favourite. Their experimental project was the kind of set that rearranges your sense of what a live show can be, equal parts disorienting and hypnotic, mixing all kinds of genres and sounds. Dancing with Arca was an unreal touch too before winding down with Crystalmess’s Afro-trance. And then, the grand finale, a surprise B2B set by Arca and
 Bill Kouligas on the Dazed stage. With the lights slicing through the dark and the in-the-round staging pulling the crowd in close on every side, it is a proper send-off, and honestly, it feels like the real Arca set we all deserve. Demential Brazilian funk edits, bubbling sounds, and so much more make for the absolute perfect closing.

In the blink of an eye, the last day arrives, and the sleep debt I’ve been quietly racking up is starting to get serious (worth it). After one more round of cheap, delectable eats, I drag myself back to OGR, the venue that kicked the whole thing off, for a proper finale. First up was Grouper, whose haunting drone set feels less like a performance and more like a fog rolling slowly through the room, with half of the crowd sitting down for it. Then comes Marina Herlop and her band, which is like a  Catalan Björk with otherworldly vocals bending around unique arrangements. Lorenzo Senni has the honour of closing it all, and he does so with heavy percussion and bass-driven euphoria, turning a mostly drained and sleep-deprived crowd into a roomful of ravers one final time, a club-style closer for a festival that deserves nothing less.

It’s the last night, and I make my way back to my apartment in Turin one final time, with a train to Milan waiting for me in the morning. I lie there replaying the whole weekend, still thinking about Kelela, and drafting my dream lineup for next year in my head. I land back in London with a fever and eye bags you could pack a suitcase in. C2C Festival has absolutely everything I look for in a festival, with a fearless and genre-bending lineup in a city that tempts me to ditch my flight home. It might be its 25^th anniversary but it seems like they are just getting started with sharper curation and realisation than ever. Ciao e grazie mille, Torino, sei incredibile.

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Words – Kaan Korukcu