Prague, August 15, 2026, https://www.fuchs2.cz
This was a bit of a happy coincidence. I happened to be in Prague on some other business. And Helena Hauff too, headlining the Fuchs2 day rave at Stvanice Tennis Court. I simply could not not go. I loved every minute of it.
The location itself was cool. Stvanice island on Vltava river is located close to the city center of Prague. It is the historical site of the first Czech Lawn Tennis Club, which built the tennis arena in the 1980s. Today the stadium as part of Czech tennis history and a bit of an architectural landmark. And it happens to be just a few hundred meters from the Fuchs2 club.
Prior to Helena Hauff there were a number of DJs warming up the crows. The line up consisted of 16:00 Nastya Muravyova, 17:00 Nina Farrina, 18:15 Midirama and 19:30 Helena Hauff. I missed the first two DJs and I arrived when Midirama, a Fuchs2 resident DJ, was playing a mix of electro, techno and EBM.
Helena Hauff did not disappoint. The only DJ without an Instagram account. And one of the few left playing vinyl only. She appears so focused and uncompromising. At the same time, she appears to be cool and easy going. She is a personification of “carpe diem” for me; enjoying and fully living the present moment. Her musical taste and selection that makes her DJ sets special. Her record collection must be incredible. Those who are on the same wavelength know, the others don’t.
The simple description of her set would be electro and techno. However, I kept being surprised as she meandered into breakbeat (quite a lot), sometimes close to speed garage, sometimes spiced up with some trance sounds or old school rave. Simply, it never got boring and there were surprising twists and turns happening all the time. She was full of energy behind the decks. Playing from vinyl made the sound even more emotional or human, as one could notice the occasional interventions when she touched the decks to minutely correct the record speeds. Even though we are of course taking about ice cold machine funk, mostly. The warmth of the bubbling Roland TB303 sound. Those who understand, understand.
The grand finale was a personal one for me. Here is the little story: All the time during her set, I was curious if there will be some track I would recognize. And the track arrived. In the very end of the set. The last record she played. Not some record I recognized. A record that is dear to me since many years. A classic so to speak. I felt connected in a very special way. Thank you, Helena. (I will keep it as a secret which record it was.) The crowd was dancing and enjoying the wonderful moment as the dawn slowly set in above the tennis court. Pure magic.
At 22:00 the lights went off and the party moved to the nearby home turf of the Fuchs2 club. I did not follow the crowds to the club. But it was a very hard thing to deny to myself after this so special set by Helena who perfectly prepared the crowds for the night.
Actually the daytime rave was not only the beginning of a wonderful night, but also the prequel of the F2 live open air festival taking place in Fuchs2 and the surrounding area (not the tennis courts anymore) from the following Thursday, August 20, 2026 to Saturday, August 22, 2026. Check out the F2 website for details.
Thank you Fuchs2 for making this happen.