Tomorrowland is a Belgian
electronic dance music festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...
held in
Boom,
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
, since 2005.
History
2005
![Tomorrowland palco principal 2005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Tomorrowland_palco_principal_2005.jpg)
The first edition of the festival took place on 15 August 2005. Manu Beers, Michiel Beers and
ID&T
ID&T is a Dutch entertainment and medium enterprise that was founded in the early 1990s. Their event Mysteryland is named the oldest electronic festival in the Netherlands, with later events like Trance Energy and Sensation. It operates many o ...
organized the festival. Performers included
Push (M.I.K.E.),
Armin van Buuren, Cor Fijneman,
Yves Deruyter
Yves Deruyter (born May 4, 1970) is a Belgian DJ and artist famous for his work on Bonzai Records.
Career
Yves Deruyter started his DJ career in 1985 and has played in Belgian clubs such as Globe, Barocci, Cherrymoon, Extreme, Carat, BBC, and L ...
,
Technoboy
Cristiano Giusberti (born December 19, 1970), known by his primary stage name Technoboy, is an Italian hardstyle DJ and producer from Bologna.
Technoboy is a DJ and producer, who started out by playing vinyl in 1992. The genre he primarily p ...
,
Yoji Biomehanika
Yoji Biomehanika, also known as YOJI, Mutant DJ, Ozaka Oz, Bionico, Biomehanika, Yōran and The Arcade Nation is a Japanese trance/ hard trance DJ. A household name in the Japanese club scene in the 1990s, Yoji entered the international scene in ...
and
Coone
Koen Bauweraerts (born 30 May 1983), better known by his stage name Coone, is a Belgian hardstyle producer and DJ.
Career
Coone first started producing in 1998 at age 15. He released his first EP in 2002, "Protect The Innocent". Under the ...
.
2006
![Tomorrowland palco principal 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Tomorrowland_palco_principal_2006.jpg)
The second festival, on 30 July 2006, hosted Armin van Buuren,
Axwell
Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello ...
, Marco Bailey, Fred Baker,
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...
, Ruthless and
DJ Zany
Raoul van Grinsven (known more commonly as DJ Zany or Zany; born 11 May 1974) is a disc jockey and former member of ''Shadowlands Terrorists'', now specialising in hardstyle. He is currently the owner of Fusion Records.
Zany's 2002 song ''Be On Y ...
. The DJ and producer
Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mas ...
was also announced on the poster, but canceled at the last moment, as he was on tour with Madonna at the time. Emjay, the producer of 'Stimulate', the anthem of 2006, performed on the main stage with The Atari Babies.
2007
![Tomorrowland palco principal 2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Tomorrowland_palco_principal_2007.jpg)
The third year, the festival lasted two days for the first time in its history, taking place on 28 and 29 July 2007.
2008
![Tomorrowland palco principal 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Tomorrowland_palco_principal_2008.jpg)
In 2008, the festival took place on 26 and 27 July. For the first time, more than 100 DJs participated. The number of visitors exceeded 50,000 for the first time.
2009
![Tomorrowland palco principal 2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Tomorrowland_palco_principal_2009.jpg)
For the fifth event,
ID&T
ID&T is a Dutch entertainment and medium enterprise that was founded in the early 1990s. Their event Mysteryland is named the oldest electronic festival in the Netherlands, with later events like Trance Energy and Sensation. It operates many o ...
led to even more venues, one ski, and much more. Sun has included an "I Love the 90's" stage, where musicians such as Push, Natural Born Deejays and SASH from the dance scene were present. La Rocca performed live at the event for the first time. The special act on the main stage was
Moby. Tomorrowland 2009 took place on 25 and 26 July and attracted 90,000 people. The festival saw the use of a theme for the first time - Masker (Mask).
2010
![Mainstage Tomorrowland 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Mainstage_Tomorrowland_2010.jpg)
Tomorrowland sold out days before the event, with a record attendance of 120,000 visitors over two days, in 2010 Dada Life,
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike are a Belgian–Greek DJ duo composed of brothers Dimitri Thivaios and Michael Thivaios. They were ranked No. 1 on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list in 2015 and 2019, and were ranked No. 2 in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020 ...
and
Tara McDonald
Tara Jane McDonald (born September 9, 1986) is an English singer-songwriter. She is signed to Play Two/Warner Records.
McDonald achieved success working and co-writing with Armand van Helden and Axwell on the chart hits " My My My" and " Feel ...
wrote the official anthem "Tomorrow/Give Into The Night",
performing the song twice on the main stage after
Swedish House Mafia
Swedish House Mafia (SHM) is a Swedish house music supergroup consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008, were placed at number ten on the '' DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJ Poll 2011, and have ...
. The track was made by Like Mike, Dada Life and Dimitri Vegas and the vocal melody and lyrics were written and recorded by
Tara McDonald
Tara Jane McDonald (born September 9, 1986) is an English singer-songwriter. She is signed to Play Two/Warner Records.
McDonald achieved success working and co-writing with Armand van Helden and Axwell on the chart hits " My My My" and " Feel ...
. The song reached number 5 in the Belgian commercial charts and is the biggest selling anthem for Tomorrowlands to date. The festival's theme was "Zon (Sun)"
and was nominated for the Best Music Event by the
International Dance Music Awards
The International Dance Music Awards or IDMAs is an annual awards ceremony held in Miami Beach, Florida, United States as a major part of the Winter Music Conference. The awards have been held every year since the conference's creation in 1985 e ...
in 2011.
2011
![Tomorrowland2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Tomorrowland2011.jpg)
2011 marked the festival's expansion to three days occurring on 22–24 July. Tomorrowland 2011 had the theme "The Tree of Life" and the anthem "The Way We See The World" by
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike are a Belgian–Greek DJ duo composed of brothers Dimitri Thivaios and Michael Thivaios. They were ranked No. 1 on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list in 2015 and 2019, and were ranked No. 2 in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020 ...
featuring
Afrojack
Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), better known as Afrojack, is a Dutch DJ, music producer and remixer from Spijkenisse, South Holland. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album '' Forget the Worl ...
and
Nervo
Nervo (stylised as NERVO) are an Australian DJ duo comprising twin sisters Olivia and Miriam Nervo (born 18 February 1982). After signing with Sony/ATV Music Publishing at 18 years of age, the sisters pursued careers as songwriting partners and ...
.
Only a few days after the official pre-sale of tickets kicked off, Tomorrowland was completely sold out and had over 180,000 visitors. Among the artists performed in the event were David Guetta,
Nervo
Nervo (stylised as NERVO) are an Australian DJ duo comprising twin sisters Olivia and Miriam Nervo (born 18 February 1982). After signing with Sony/ATV Music Publishing at 18 years of age, the sisters pursued careers as songwriting partners and ...
, Swedish House Mafia,
Avicii
Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first re ...
,
Tiësto
Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was v ...
,
Hardwell
Robbert van de Corput (; born January 7, 1988), known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted the world's number one DJ by ''DJ Mag'' in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 ...
,
Carl Cox
Carl Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, as well as radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Hove, Sussex, England.
Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has performed at numerous clubs and e ...
,
Paul van Dyk
Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...
, Raven
Tensnake
Marco Niemerski, known professionally as Tensnake (born 1975), is a German DJ and producer from Hamburg best known for his 2010 track " Coma Cat", which appeared on at least 15 compilations that year.
"Coma Cat" reached number 85 on the UK Singl ...
,
Laidback Luke
Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen (born 22 October 1976), better known under his stage name Laidback Luke, is a Dutch DJ and music producer. He notably remixed the Robin S. song, " Show Me Love" which charted at No. 11 on the UK charts in 2009. He ...
, Brodinski, Juanma Tudon,
Basto
Jef Martens (), better known by his stage name Basto (stylized as Basto!), is a Belgian record producer, musician and DJ. He primarily produces electro house music, and he is signed to the ARS label. He has produced using various aliases such a ...
,
Mike Matthews,
De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig
De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig (The Youth of Today) is a Dutch hip hop and R&B group based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, renowned for their musical approach of irreverent, humorous lyrics and electronic beats. Their humorous style is characterised b ...
. It was voted the Best Music Event by the International Dance Music Awards for the first time in 2012.
2012
![Mainstage Tomorrowland 2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Mainstage_Tomorrowland_2012.jpg)
Tomorrowland 2012 took place on 27–29 July 2012 at the De Schorre, a provincial recreation area in Boom, Belgium, 16 kilometers south of Antwerp and 32 kilometers north of Brussels. The line-up consisted of 400 DJs, such as Ferry Corsten,
Skrillex
Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead si ...
,
Avicii
Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first re ...
, Marco Bailey,
Skazi
Skazi is an Israeli EDM DJ formed in 1998, by Asher Swissa.
History
Skazi was formed in 1998 by Asher Swissa and Assaf Bivas, producing Soft Psy-Trance Electro Punk music.
Swissa began his musical career as a punk rocker in 1990, when he fo ...
,
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...
,
Nervo
Nervo (stylised as NERVO) are an Australian DJ duo comprising twin sisters Olivia and Miriam Nervo (born 18 February 1982). After signing with Sony/ATV Music Publishing at 18 years of age, the sisters pursued careers as songwriting partners and ...
, Hardwell, Swedish House Mafia, Afrojack,
Steve Aoki, Juanma Tudon, Carl Cox,
The Bloody Beetroots
The Bloody Beetroots is an Italian electronic music project of musician and producer Bob Rifo (also Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo and SBCR, born Simone Cogo). Established in late 2006, the Bloody Beetroots were initially a duo consisting of Bob Rifo an ...
, Paul van Dyk,
Martin Solveig
Martin Laurent Picandet (; born 22 September 1976), better known by his stage name Martin Solveig (), is a French DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer. He hosts a weekly radio show called ''C'est La Vie'' on radio stations worldwide, incl ...
,
Chuckie,
Fatboy Slim, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and
Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward th ...
playing on fifteen stages each day. 185,000 people from over 75 countries around the world were in attendance, with 35,000 of them staying in Dreamville.
Because of the enormous success of Tomorrowland and the fact that it is a Belgian festival, ID&T decided to give Belgians an exclusive chance with a pre-sale (80,000 of the 180,000 tickets) on March 24. In less than one day, all of the tickets sold out and at some moments there were 2,000,000 people on the online waiting list. The worldwide sale started April 7. Within 43 minutes, the other 100,000 tickets sold out. In addition to regular tickets, Tomorrowland partnered with
Brussels Airlines to provide exclusive travel packages from over 15 cities around the world.
Other highlights of the festival were the ''Cloud Rider'', the highest mobile Ferris wheel in Europe, and the fact that 25 airlines were organized to bring spectators to the festival from all over the world.
The festival's theme was "The Book of Wisdom"
and featured the anthem "Tomorrow Changed Today" by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike.
The festival again won the International Dance Music Awards in 2013 for the Best Music Event.
Tomorrowland 2012 also won the
DJ Award
DJ Awards is a celebration of electronic music, and aims to recognise and honour DJs and individuals who have influenced electronic dance music worldwide.
Held annually in Ibiza at the end of the summer season, DJ Awards has retained the same et ...
for the Best International Dance Music Festival.
2013
![Plekklindid tomorrowland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Plekklindid_tomorrowland.jpg)
Tomorrowland 2013 took place on 26–28 July and reached 180,000 attendees at De Schorre in Boom, Belgium. Full madness passes sold out in 35 minutes, and the remainder of tickets sold out in a reported one second. Tomorrowland again offered its Global Journey packages with Brussels Airlines which had 140 additional flights from 67 different cities around the world transporting festival goers with 92 different nationalities to Boom, Belgium.
The anthem for Tomorrowland 2013 was "Chattahoochee" by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike featuring Maarten Vorwerk.
This year's edition with the theme "The Arising of Life"
saw performances from Axwell, Armin van Buuren, Hardwell, Afrojack, David Guetta, and
Sebastian Ingrosso.
2014
![Tomorrowland 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Tomorrowland_2014.jpg)
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the festival, and to meet the high demand for tickets, the 2014 edition of Tomorrowland was held over two weekends; 18–20 July and 25–27 July. The line-up for both weekends was more or less the same. In April 2014,
MTV announced that it would produce two hour-long ''MTV World Stage'' specials featuring performances from the festival (to be aired in August 2014), and that it would produce a documentary surrounding the 10th anniversary of Tomorrowland.
On April 16, composer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living G ...
and Tomorrowland announced that they had produced a classical hymn that would premiere during the 10th anniversary edition of Tomorrowland. Veteran DJ
Dave Clark, who hosted the second largest stage, believes that “a more diverse lineup that covered a wider range of underground music” was Tomorrowland 2014's top selling point. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike again were responsible for the Tomorrowland anthem, this year working with
W & W for the song "Waves".
360,000 people attended Tomorrowland 2014 which won the International Dance Music Award for Best Global Festival during the ceremony in March 2015.
2015
Tomorrowland 2015 took place on 24–26 July and saw 180,000 visitors. The theme for the year was "The Secret Kingdom of Melodia".
Performers included Avicii, Hardwell, David Guetta, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, and Carl Cox. The 2016 edition of the International Dance Music Awards awarded the Tomorrowland 2015 the Best Global Festival for the fifth consecutive year,
and the readers of
DJ Mag
''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lat ...
azine voted Tomorrowland 2015 the World's Best Festival.
2016
![Tml 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Tml_2016.jpg)
Tomorrowland 2016 took place on 22–24 July. The theme for the year was "The Elixir of Life"
and saw 180,000 visitors. The 2016 edition of Tomorrowland saw a surprise set from Tiësto on the Thursday prior to the weekend and was sponsored by
Budweiser
Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States.
''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrela ...
. Other performers included
Axwell Λ Ingrosso
Axwell & Ingrosso (stylised as Axwell Λ Ingrosso) is a Swedish DJ duo consisting of Swedish House Mafia members Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso. They made their debut performance at the 2014 Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City in Jun ...
,
Martin Garrix
Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram and GRX, is a Dutch disc jockey and music producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—201 ...
,
The Chainsmokers, and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike.
2017
2017 saw Tomorrowland expand to a two weekend event for the first time since their tenth anniversary in 2014.
The theme, "Amicorum Spectaculum",
and dates were announced in January 2017, and was scheduled for 21–23 and 28–30 July. This year, a record number of tickets was sold – 400,000 tickets spanning the two weekends. The festival saw a massive increase in the number of performers to span the 16 stages, including festival regulars and new artists making their festival debut.
Regular headliner Martin Garrix premiered his song "
Pizza" as the closing song of his set. The song was originally intended to be a Tomorrowland exclusive before it was released as a single a month later.
In 2017, the festival was nominated by the
European Festivals Awards The European Festival Awards were initiated in 2010 by the European festival association Yourope and the festival website Virtual Festivals Europe. The awards are presented annually in January of the following year at the European music conference ...
and the
Electronic Music Awards The Electronic Music Awards is a music award show focused on electronic music genres that debuted on September 21, 2017 in Los Angeles. It was created by Paul Oakenfold and entertainment company Hunt & Crest and produced by Live L!ve Media. The sh ...
for World's Best Festival. The festival was also visited by
King Philippe and
Queen Mathilde.
Towards the end of August, Tomorrowland 2017 became the biggest social media music events in the world at the time, reaching over 1.2 billion views from over 200 million people. Regular headliners Armin van Buuren and David Guetta stated the following with regards to the festival's achievements:
2018
![Tomorrowland 2018 mainstage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Tomorrowland_2018_mainstage.jpg)
The 2018 edition of Tomorrowland saw an attendance of 400,000 people for the second year running across the two weekends. The festival took place on 20–22 July and 27–29 July, with tickets for the two weekends selling out in an hour. Mainstage performers included Armin van Buuren,
Black Coffee, David Guetta, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Alan Walker and Martin Garrix. This edition also marked the return of Hardwell, who headlined the festival three years after his previous set in 2015. The theme for the 2018 edition of the festival was "The Story of Planaxis".
Tomorrowland 2018 also saw numerous Avicii tributes to commemorate the death of the Swedish DJ, which occurred three months prior to the festival. Avicii's songs "
Levels" and "
Wake Me Up" came second and eighth respectively in Tomorrowland 2018's most played songs. Tributes to Avicii came from Axwell Λ Ingrosso,
Don Diablo
Don Pepijn Schipper (; born 27 February 1980), better known by his stage name Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ, digital artist, record producer, musician and songwriter of electronic dance music from Coevorden. He is one of the pioneers of the future h ...
,
Nicky Romero
Nick Rotteveel (; born January 6, 1989), professionally known as Nicky Romero or Monocule, is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer from Amerongen, Utrecht Province. He has worked with, and received support from DJs, such as Tiësto, Fedde le ...
, and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. ''Digital Spy'' described the event as "the most elaborate festival on earth", with the only downside being the admission pricings.
2019
![Tomorrowland mainstage 19juillet2019](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Tomorrowland_mainstage_19juillet2019.jpg)
For its fifteenth anniversary, Tomorrowland returned to "The Book of Wisdom" as its mainstage theme, previously used in 2012.
The festival took place on 19–21 and 26–28 July, and saw regular performers such as The Chainsmokers, Armin van Buuren,
KSHMR
Niles Hollowell-Dhar (born October 6, 1988), known professionally as Kshmr (pronounced "Kashmir" and stylized in all caps), is an American songwriter, DJ, music producer, and musician. He was ranked 23rd on ''DJ Mag''s 2015 Top 100 DJs poll and ...
and David Guetta return. Non-EDM artists like
Bebe Rexha
Bleta Rexha (; born August 30, 1989), known professionally as Bebe Rexha ( ), is an American pop singer and songwriter. After signing with Warner Records in 2013, Rexha received songwriting credits on Eminem's single " The Monster" (which lat ...
and
ASAP Rocky
Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper, music producer and record executive. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a membe ...
were also on the lineup, however, the latter had to cancel his appearance following his arrest in Sweden. The mainstage design featured a tribute to Avicii, to whom tributes were also paid the previous year.
Supergroup
Swedish House Mafia
Swedish House Mafia (SHM) is a Swedish house music supergroup consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008, were placed at number ten on the '' DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJ Poll 2011, and have ...
were rumoured to close the event following
Steve Angello
Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis ( el, Στέφεν Πάτρικ Γιόζεφσον Φραγκόγιαννης; born 22 November 1982), better known by his stage name Steve Angello, is a Greek-Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record ...
's claim in the autumn of the previous year that the group would play at the festival "by any means necessary". Rumours became even stronger when the group's signature "three dots" appeared on the Tomorrowland lineup. However, the "three dots" were announced last minute to be
3 Are Legend, leading many to believe that the group pulled out last minute. Axwell and Steve Angello claimed that the group were never booked for the festival.
2020
The year after the anniversary, Tomorrowland chose "The Reflection of Love" as its theme, which had been surreptitiously revealed on the main stage in 2019, as there was a book with that theme title near the right center of the stage with "2020" in Roman numerals.
On 15 April, Tomorrowland announced that the 2020 edition of the festival would not take place due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
On 4 June, Tomorrowland announced a virtual festival would go ahead in place of the 2020 edition. The virtual event, titled Tomorrowland Around the World, took place on 25 and 26 July, and utilized
Unreal Engine 4
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal (1998 video game), Unreal''. Initially developed for Personal computer, PC first-person shooters, i ...
for the creation of the virtual environments used during the event.
Tomorrowland also organised a virtual
New Year's Eve festival on 31 December, taking place from 8pm to 3am in each time zone.
2021
On 17 March 2021, Tomorrowland announced it would delay the return of the festival until the final weekend of August and the first weekend of September. The move was an attempt to make the festival more secure in light of declining COVID-19 infection rates and the
vaccination programme. The move would have seen the festival occur five weeks later than its usual dates at the end of July. In April, Tomorrowland announced that a second edition of Tomorrowland Around the World would take place during the traditional July dates.
Despite Belgium planning to allow large-scale outdoor events with up to 75,000 people starting from 13 August 2021, on 17 June, the mayors of Boom and Rumst jointly announced that they would deny permission for Tomorrowland to be held, citing international travel concerns and the
Delta variant
The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India in late 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The ...
. On 23 June, the festival was therefore cancelled for a second time.
2022
![Mainstage Tomorrowland 2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Mainstage_Tomorrowland_2022.jpg)
In December 2021, Tomorrowland announced that the festival would expand once from two to three weekends in 2022, taking place on 15–17 July, 22–24 July, and 29–31 July. The theme was "The Reflection of Love". The festival welcomed 600,000 visitors from 200 countries.
Event summary
Venue
![tomorrowland_venue](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Tomorrowland_venue.jpg)
Tomorrowland is held at public recreational park
De Schorre in the town of
Boom in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. The park is administrated by the province of
Antwerp. When not in use as the Tomorrowland venue, the park serves its normal purpose of providing green recreational spaces to the local population.
Stages
Mainstage
The mainstage is the centrepiece of the festival and has grown and evolved from its debut with the festival itself in 2005. Since then it has become largest and most elaborate stage of any festival across the globe. The mainstage features all the headline artists to tend to be more mainstream, and continues with sets until 1am. The mainstage design changes each year; which, since 2009, has been designed based on the festival theme for the year. For images of some of these designs, see the "
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
" section.
Atmosphere
Atmosphere was introduced to Tomorrowland in 2018, and is located inside a
circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...
top tent. The stage is 32 metres tall and 20 metres wide, and is suspended from a custom-built crane. It is known for its
LED lights
An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps
and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...
and laser displays, which are produced from 18 arrays of 4 Kara each making up a 270° screen. The stage contains an
L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound system.
Cage
Cage is located behind Rave Cave and is home to harder styles of
electronic dance music. The stage has darker lighting than the other indoor stages.
Casa Corona
Casa Corona was introduced in 2019 in place of the House of Masks.
It is a small stage that functions more as bar than a stage despite music being played. The stage in located on the water's edge near to the Freedom stage.
Core
![Core stage TML2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Core_stage_TML2022.jpg)
Core is located away from the main festival area and in part of the surrounding forest. The stage incorporates the local woodland into its design and makes use of wooden paneling and soft lighting to give the stage a more natural atmosphere.
Freedom
![Tomorrowland 2017 stage Bud](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Tomorrowland_2017_stage_Bud.jpg)
Freedom is often described as Tomorrowland's second stage. The stage is a two floor open
warehouse
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...
design where performances can be viewed from the ground floor or numerous first floor balconies. Again this stage makes heavy use of LED lighting. In 2019, the roof was removed following a partial roof collapse due to the
2019 European heat wave.
In 2022, Freedom received a redesign. An extra floor was added, bringing the total to 3 floors (ground, first and second). Furthermore, the LED panels covering large parts of the roof were replaced with butterflies containing LED panels.
Garden of Madness
Officially known as "Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike presents Garden of Madness", the stage is built over the water and is a circular shape. The stage is in the centre of the circle. It features hanging plants growing from the ceiling and water fountains surround the stage. Since 2017 Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike have brought the Garden of Madness to
Ushuaïa for an annual summer residency. In 2018, they also collaborated with
Creamfields
Creamfields is an electronic dance music festival series founded and organised by British club promoter Cream, with its UK edition taking place on August Bank Holiday weekend, with a number of international editions held across various territ ...
for a special one-off event.
Harbour House
Harbour House is a small stage located above the water between Q-Dance and Casa Corona. The stage is house shaped and makes use of bubble and smoke machines.
Kara Savi
Kara Savi was introduced in 2019 and replaced The Tulip.
The stage is a medium sized stage with a sea shell shaped design. It has a sand dancefloor and generally sees a large gathering of dancers, with dancers dancing around the surrounding banks.
Leaf
Leaf is a fairly small
house music stage located on the walkway across the lake that divides the Tomorrowland site. The stage has a geodome design.
Lotus
Lotus is a grass
amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
with a concrete dancefloor and grass terraces. The stage is generally sparsely populated with dancers. The stage has a very relaxed atmosphere with dancers mostly choosing to sit or lie down and simply listen to the music. The stage sees a mix of established artists and newcomers to the industry.
L'Orangerie
L'Orangerie is another stage built over water and is a semi-circular shape. The stage has a metal dance floor and is built out of
stained glass and exposed metal beams. It saw its debut at Tomorrowland Winter 2019.
Q-Dance
Q-Dance was debuted as its own stage in 2019 replacing Theatre Formidable (French for "Great Theatre"),
and is home to harder styles of
electronic dance music. The stage designed features a giant sword piercing the earth which can be seen from most places across the site. This stage also makes heavy used of LED lighting.
Rave Cave
Rave Cave is the smallest Tomorrowland stage. It is converted from a tunnel under a bridge which has one entrance blocked off. The stage is very intimate and can only host a small number of dancers.
Rose Garden
![Tomorrowland hugel 2018 dragon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Tomorrowland_hugel_2018_dragon.jpg)
Rose Garden is one of the oldest stages at Tomorrowland. The stage is semi-circular and had a lattice framing. The stage's most iconic feature is a giant mechanical dragon which is moving constantly, including mouth opening and blinking. Steam jets are located inside the mouth and nose to give the impression that it is breathing smoke.
Youphoria
Youphoria (pronounced "Euphoria") is a fairly large stage which is half covered at the rear of the dancefloor. The stage has a fairly plain design apart from the giants mushrooms which appeared to grow from the DJ booth.
Source: 2019 Stages:
Flag
![CxKhNFfXUAMS6Kh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/CxKhNFfXUAMS6Kh.jpg)
The festival's flag features the Tomorrowland logo on a background split into four quadrants diagonally, each separated by a white diagonal stripe, which in turn is bordered by a black diagonal stripe on each side, expanding towards the corners.
The festival logo features a
butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...
,
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
and an
eye. The butterfly symbolises
freedom, the
beauty of nature, and the
purity of the human soul. The crown symbolises
equality
Equality may refer to:
Society
* Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing
** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...
and
stewardship, where as the eye encourages people to look out for each other and appreciate nature's beauty. The four background colours represent the
classical elements of nature –
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
,
earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
,
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
, and
air
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...
.
For every flag bought, Tomorrowland donates €5 to the Tomorrowland Foundation, a global charity aiming to teach music, dance, and arts to children across the globe.
Catering and accommodation
![Tomorrowland 2013 IMG 2271 (9454002322)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Tomorrowland_2013_IMG_2271_%289454002322%29.jpg)
Tomorrowland's Dreamville currently has seven camping areas ahead of the 2021 event. The camping options range from the Magnificent Greens Area which houses basic campers to the Terra Soils Area which is their most luxurious camping option featuring lockable suites. Tomorrowland also offers mansion packages where guests stay in a privately rented mansion in the local countryside, and hotel packages where guests can stay in a variety of
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
hotels.
In terms of catering, the Tomorrowland site has numerous food outlets across the site serving a variety of street foods from across the globe; as well as local Belgian specialities.
Promotion and economy
Sponsorships and social media
Tomorrowland currently has twenty six official partners including
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
History
Pepsi wa ...
Max, Budweiser, and Brussels Airlines which do various work to promote the festival. Since 2011, Tomorrowland has been filming the event and posting the sets on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. The filming is also used to make an official aftermovie in which extra emphasis is put on the festival goers aiming to expand ticket sales for the following year. The film crew is made up of about 200 editors, producers, and camera people.
Tomorrowland's YouTube channel has over 1,828,744,611 views as of July 2022, and over 10.2 million subscribers as of July 2022. Elsewhere on social media, Tomorrowland has over 7.8 million followers on Instagram, and over 2.4 million followers on Twitter.
The 2012 edition of Tomorrowland saw the debut of the Tomorrowland's Global Journey packages in partnership with Brussels Airlines. The package includes a weekend ticket in addition to flights and hotels and saw 25 flights carrying 2,000 passengers from 17 departure cities. 2013 saw a large increase in popularity for this package seeing 140 flights carrying 8,000 passengers from 67 cities with the top five flight destination being Basel, Tel Aviv, Geneva, Oslo, and London. Buyers of the Global Journey packages had the option to upgrade to party flights of which there were twenty; ten standard, eight with streamed music and two with live DJ sets.
Previous Global Journey setlists have come from Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Yves V, and Romeo Blanco. Since 2017, Tomorrowland has been partnered with Dance FM UAE allowing live setlists from the festival and exclusive interviews with the performers to be broadcast on the station.
*;YouTube Creator Awards:
![YouTube Diamond Play Button](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/YouTube_Diamond_Play_Button.svg)
(10.4 million subscribers - October 2022)
Employment and economic impact
![TomorrowLand 2014 (14689460411)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/TomorrowLand_2014_%2814689460411%29.jpg)
Tomorrowland 2013 brought €70 million to the Belgian economy, €19 million of which was spent by people living outside of Belgium. In 2016 the festival brought €100 million and employed 700 people full-time before and during the festival.
2017 reported a similar value, again bringing €100 million to the local economy but this year employing a reported 12,000 people during the festival. A crew of 12,000 was also employed for the 2018 edition.
The 2019 edition saw an expanded crew, with 15,000 staff members employed, and was estimated to have made €20 million in profit.
Spin-off festivals
TomorrowWorld
On March 20, 2013, ID&T Belgium and SFX Entertainment announced that it would begin organizing an American spin-off of Tomorrowland, known as TomorrowWorld.
The festival is held at the Bouckaert Farm in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, located 48 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Atlanta. The site was specifically chosen due to its resemblance to the Boom location in which Tomorrowland is traditionally held.
The inaugural edition of TomorrowWorld, held 27, 28, and 29 September 2013, reused the "Book of Wisdom" design used for the main stage at Tomorrowland in 2012. The festival played host to over 140,000 attendees over the weekend. TomorrowWorld brought more than music, dancing and stunning visuals to the area that year - it brought an economic boost. Officials reported TomorrowWorld 2013 brought $85.1 million into the Georgia economy, including $70 million directly to Atlanta. That $70 million matches the impact the city got from hosting the NCAA Final Four in 2013.
Nearly 140,000 attended the event, and their direct expenditures added $28.7 million into the local economy in areas such as lodging, restaurants and sight-seeing, TomorrowWorld officials said.
The 2014 edition of TomorrowWorld was held on 26, 27, and 28 September 2014. The theme was "The Arising of Life," and used the volcano main stage which debuted at Tomorrowland in 2013. The festival hosted a pre-festival concert called "The Gathering" on Thursday 25 September 2014 for attendees staying in Dreamville, the camp grounds of TomorrowWorld. Over 40,000 people camped at Dreamville, selling out the basic camping option. More than 160,000 people attended TomorrowWorld 2014.
The third and final edition of TomorrowWorld was held on the weekend of September 25, 26, and 27 2015. The event descended into chaos after being marred by inclement weather. Rain showers resulted in muddy terrain at the festival grounds, and entrance roadways to the grounds becoming unusable. On Saturday, due to the road conditions, organizers restricted shuttle service for attendees traveling back to Atlanta; those who were not stranded without shelter at the grounds overnight were required to hike miles towards areas where taxi cab and Uber drivers offered rides back to Atlanta at high prices. The following morning, festival organizers announced that the remainder of the festival would only be open to those who had camped on-site, and that refunds would be issued to those who were affected by the transport issues or had bought tickets for day 3.
On March 2, 2016, the official TomorrowWorld Facebook page announced that the festival will not be held in 2016.
Tomorrowland Brasil
As announced on July 20, 2014, by David Guetta's streamed Tomorrowland set to Brazil, and on the Tomorrowland website, the next edition to Tomorrowland Brasil was held on May 1–3, 2015 in Itu, São Paulo. Various DJ's performed such as W&W, Hardwell, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Showtek, Steve Aoki, and many more main stage performers. Some of the stage hosts were Revealed Recordings, Dim Mak Records, Dim Mak, Smash The House, Q-dance, Q-Dance, Super You & Me and many more.
The mainstage again reused the "Book of Wisdom" theme. All 180,000 tickets sold out one day after being announced.
The second edition of Tomorrowland Brasil took place once again at Itu in São Paulo, Brasil during April 21–23, 2016. The lineup included Axwell & Ingrosso, Ferry Corsten, Laidback Luke, Loco Dice, Markus Schulz, Afrojack, Alesso, Armin van Buuren, Chris Lake, Infected Mushroom, Nicky Romero, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Solomun (DJ), Solomun,
Steve Angello
Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis ( el, Στέφεν Πάτρικ Γιόζεφσον Φραγκόγιαννης; born 22 November 1982), better known by his stage name Steve Angello, is a Greek-Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record ...
, and many others.
In November 2016, it was announced that Tomorrowland Brasil would not return due to concerns over the country's economic instability. In December 2022, after a six-year hiatus, a new edition of the event was confirmed for October 12, 13 and 14, 2023.
Tomorrowland Winter
In March 2018, Tomorrowland announced the coming of a new festival, Tomorrowland Winter, to take place annually during the second or third week in March in Alpe d'Huez in the French Alps.
The first Tomorrowland Winter took place between 13 and 15 March 2019 and used the theme "The Hymn of the Frozen Lotus". It featured Martin Garrix, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Armin van Buuren,
Martin Solveig
Martin Laurent Picandet (; born 22 September 1976), better known by his stage name Martin Solveig (), is a French DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer. He hosts a weekly radio show called ''C'est La Vie'' on radio stations worldwide, incl ...
, Afrojack, DJ Snake, Steve Aoki and others. For the participants, the choice of 4 or 7 day passes were available for packages including accommodation and skiing.
On 13 August 2019, Tomorrowland announced that Tomorrowland Winter would return to the Alpe d'Huez for the 2020 edition which will be on the 3rd week of March with ticket sales opening in September. On 5 March 2020, the French Government decided to cancel the 2020 edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 6 October 2020, it was announced that the 2021 edition would also be cancelled due to the pandemic.
Unite with Tomorrowland
![Tomorrowland UNITE 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Tomorrowland_UNITE_2016.jpg)
Tomorrowland has also organized ''Unite with Tomorrowland'' events in other countries, which serve as a satellite link to the main event in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
featuring live streams from the festival with synchronized effects, joined by in-person headliners. ''Unite with Tomorrowland'' currently operates in the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Spain, Lebanon, Taiwan, Malta, South Korea, Greece, and Israel.
Incidents
On the 29th of July 2017, the Unite event in Parc de Can Zam, Barcelona, Spain was cut short after the stage caught fire due to a "technical malfunction" causing over 22,000 people to be evacuated. Firefighters on the scene hypothesised that the fire was caused by a failed pyrotechnics display however this was never officially confirmed. Twenty five percent of the stage was destroyed and twenty people were treated for minor injuries or anxiety.
In a statement, Tomorrowland said:
In 2019, after Weekend 1, The Freedom Stage ceiling went down due to a storm, and it was kept closed for Weekend 2. The Freedom Stage was converted into an open air stage outside the doors of the stage.
Awards and nominations
DJ Awards
DJ Magazine
European Festivals Awards The European Festival Awards were initiated in 2010 by the European festival association Yourope and the festival website Virtual Festivals Europe. The awards are presented annually in January of the following year at the European music conference ...
Electronic Music Awards
Festicket Awards
International Dance Music Awards
Pre-2016
2018-Present
MTV Europe Music Awards
Red Bull Elektropedia Awards
UK Festival Awards
See also
*List of electronic music festivals
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Electronic music festival
Music festivals established in 2005
2005 establishments in Belgium
Electronic music festivals in Belgium
Boom, Belgium
Summer events in Belgium