Sound in the Garden 2026, Day 4 (Michael Rother plays NEU!, Harmonia & Solo Works)

From 12 – 16 August 2026, Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie once again presents the open-air concert series Sound in the Garden, featuring ambitious live concerts specially customised to the venue and a multi-generational line-up crossing genre boundaries. After four nights of live concerts, Sunday will be dedicated to special sound installations created in honour of Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, who is presenting a site-specific fog sculpture in the sculpture garden of the Neue Nationalgalerie.

On this night we spotlight legendary krautrock and Kosmische Musik architect Michael Rother. Celebrating over fifty years of musical innovation, he’ll be performing tracks from his seminal work with NEU! and Harmonia alongside his highly influential solo catalog. Rother’s performance centers on the motorik beat, a relentless and forward-surging pulse mimicking the sensation of tearing down an empty highway at midnight. Looped shimmering guitar melodies and warm analog synthesizer notes layer over this steady foundation, building into a wave of euphoria. By replacing standard verses and choruses with infinite, hypnotic repetition, Rother laid down the structural foundation for everything from the post-punk of Joy Division to the soaring arrangements of Radiohead. Hearing these tracks is a direct encounter with the source material that forever redefined how musicians use rhythm and space.