Sometimes, a track doesn’t need to conquer everything right away and ‘Stampedo’ by Nemke is proof of that: released in April 2025, it slowly began to make its way through the scene before returning to the spotlight more than a year later, backed by some of the biggest names in global trance and turning 2026 into its breakthrough year. We at Trance History have followed this remarkable evolution every step of the way
In an era of music increasingly dominated by speed, where new productions follow one another at a frantic pace and quantity often ends up taking precedence over quality, trance continues to stand as a welcome exception: a genre capable of evolving and keeping up with the times without sacrificing the value and longevity of its productions.
In today’s music landscape, the lifespan of a track within podcast playlists and DJ sets seems to have gradually become shorter. New tracks arrive every week, replace those that came before them and, more often than not, are quickly pushed aside by even newer productions. It’s a dynamic that has inevitably affected trance and progressive as well, but one that has not stopped certain tracks from challenging this logic.
And this is precisely one of the most interesting aspects to have emerged from 2026 special because alongside the productions that have immediately captured the attention of the scene, there are also those that have taken a completely different path: a track released more than a year ago that, instead of disappearing from the radar, has continued to grow slowly, eventually becoming a staple of the sets of some of the biggest DJs on the global scene. This is the story of Stampedo by Nemke.
On April 25, 2025, Monster Force, the British label belonging to the Monster Tunes family, released a production by Serbian producer Nemanja Matovic, better known as Nemke: at the heart of the track lies a driving, pulsating electro-trance progression, although perhaps one that was not immediately accessible. Despite the quality of the production, the recognition did not come right away: what initially seemed like one of many excellent tracks destined to pass through the playlists slowly began to take a different direction.
The first to recognize what was hiding behind Stampedo was Paul van Dyk: the German pioneer began including it in his sets and, as the summer of 2025 arrived, the track became an increasingly frequent presence in his performances. Festival after festival, Stampedo began travelling alongside one of the names who has contributed more than almost anyone else to building the history of trance.
Paul van Dyk’s support continued into the autumn, leading up to one of the most anticipated events of the entire 2025 season, the one that would ultimately give the track its decisive breakthrough: Dreamstate SoCal; during the same event In Long Beach, on November 21, Tiësto returned with a heavily trance-oriented set to celebrate Dreamstate’s tenth anniversary, and Stampedo found its way into his playlist. A choice that, in hindsight, would prove to be hugely significant. For the Breda phenomenon, it seemed to mark the beginning of a genuine love affair with Nemke’s track: from that moment on, Stampedo began to move beyond its status as an overlooked production and enter the radar of an increasingly wider audience. Throughout 2026, Tiësto continued to bring it back to some of his biggest appearances, including one of the most prestigious stages in electronic music worldwide: EDC Las Vegas. On May 16, 2026, he once again included the track in his set.
At that point, it could no longer be described as mere support: Stampedo had become a recognizable presence in the sets of one of the biggest artists in the global electronic music scene.
And Tiësto was not the only major name to embrace the track. M.I.K.E. Push also included Stampedo in his set at Tomorrowland 2026, adding another prestigious stage and another heavyweight name to the track’s remarkable journey.
And the story did not end there. During 2026, another major figure in trance began to recognize its potential more and more: Markus Schulz. In May, during Global DJ Broadcast, Schulz introduced Nemke as one of the most interesting emerging talents of the previous twelve months, highlighting how Stampedo had already “lit up” stages around the world and revealing that he had been playing it in his sets throughout the year.
The connection between Schulz and Nemke, however, did not stop with Stampedo: in April 2026, the Serbian producer released Earthquake on Coldharbour Recordings as a follow-up to the track, further strengthening an artistic relationship that had meanwhile found one of its strongest supporters in the US label’s head.
On June 25, at the 2026 Luminosity Beach Festival, Schulz once again included Stampedo in his set. In recent weeks, the track received yet another important accolade, being featured in his playlist for In Search of Sunrise 22, further confirming how firmly it has now established itself within his musical universe. Meanwhile, Paul van Dyk also returned to Stampedo at the Luminosity Beach Festival, exactly one year after first presenting it on the same stage, playing it on two separate occasions, including his set alongside John 00 Fleming. And this is where the trajectory of Stampedo takes on an almost surprising dimension.
It’s virtually impossible to mention every single event in which Stampedo has played a starring role throughout its remarkable journey. It is the beautiful story of a track that, in almost complete silence, gradually earned the support of some of the biggest names in the global trance scene, only to break through in a year that, as we know, has been absolutely extraordinary.
And that is how Stampedo has become something far greater than just another track: it is one of the most surprising stories to emerge from the trance scene in this period.