Tomorrowland Belgium might be the most dreamed-about and elaborate EDM festival in the world. Across the two weekends of the festival this year, 400,000 attendees represented countless countries. I was lucky enough to represent the United States at Weekend 2.
Thursday morning, I hopped off my shuttle from the airport and headed towards a huge rainbow marking the entrance of the festival camping grounds. As I got closer, I could read a sign that said “Welcome Home” over the gates leading inside. It gave me the chills. My anticipation grew, which I didn’t think was possible at that point. A short while later, I was passing under the rainbow and into Dreamville.
Dreamville
The first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of space set aside for solely Dreamville campers. Fortunately, I was one of the first 30 people to enter the campsite, so I got to pitch my tent at the end closest to the fest entrance. I shouldn’t say “close” though, because I later found the walk to the entrance to be an easy 20 minutes.
Inside Dreamville were multiple Freshpoints (toilets, sinks—one had showers) so campers wouldn’t have to walk a mile to access them. Information huts with speakers blasted the Tomorrowland radio, grills were placed here and there, and a camping store supplied things like air mattresses, tarps, and canopies.
I think my favorite amenity, though, was the gym. Yes, an outdoor gym equipped with a DJ had been set up for the enjoyment of Dreamville citizens, and a good number of people actually used it. Not only that, but trainers and exercise classes were also offered. It was a really cool concept—and one I wish existed in the real world—but I personally chose to save my energy for dancing inside the fest.
Tomorrowland’s Marketplace
Just past Dreamville was the Marketplace, a large open area lined with food trucks/stalls, a donut shop, bakery, radio station, charging station, laundry facility, hair salon, MAC store, grocery store, the official Tomorrowland store, a camping store, technology/fix-it store, First Aid, loads of picnic benches and decorations, and a huge stage. One of my camping neighbors waited in line at the hair salon for two hours to get a mohawk styled on Day 2 of the fest. I wondered which sets she missed.
The Gathering
On Thursday, all campers were treated to an event called The Gathering. From 1pm to 1am, a lineup of artists, including Lost Frequencies, performed on the elaborately-designed stage in the Marketplace. By the end of the night, the whole place was teeming with energy. I hit the hay a bit earlier, though, to save energy for the rest of the weekend.
That was a great call because I averaged 14 miles of walking each day of the fest. Add aggressive dancing for hours on end and you can see why I never made it to afties.
Tomorrowland Day 1
Friday morning, I headed into the fest early to give myself plenty of time to check everything out before the first artist I wanted to see came on. After journeying to the entrance, I arrived at heaven’s gates and was inside before long. According to the map, the Main Stage was located right by the entrance. I looked in that direction and saw the top of a striped circus tent poking out. Double-checking my location because I couldn’t believe the Main Stage was that small, I walked closer and melted into the ground.
As I got closer, more and more of the stage was revealed. You see, this stage was built in a ditch the size of a football field. By the time the whole thing came into view, I was speechless. It was absolutely MASSIVE. And gorgeous. All I could say as I stood on the hill and stared at the stage was, “Wow.”
‘Wow’ is actually all I could say the entire time I was at Tomorrowland.
It was so worth getting an early start and walking around to see all the different stages and areas. There were 16 stages to see, each uniquely-designed, many elaborate enough to be Main Stage at any other festival. One of my favorites was the Rave Cave, a hole in the wall that seemed like it could fit only about 50 people. The other favorite of mine was Freedom Stage, an electrifying tunnel that sucked you right into the music and lights.
From Mediocre to Mind-blowing
I was back at the Main Stage to see Bassjackers first, and I was pretty disappointed by how mediocre their set was. I expected to be amped up much more than I was, considering this was one of the first sets of the entire festival. Unfortunately, I felt the same about Kaskade’s set later that day. I was with a big fan of Kaskade’s, and he agreed. Someone else thought it sounded like Kaskade was pressing play on his 2015 album. Yikes!
Gregor Salto, on the other hand, blew my mind. I knew he was going to slay me because he’s so OG, plus I love his sound. But I wasn’t ready for him. He opened with his latest, “Magalehna,” dropped some Wiwek, and played my all-time favorite song (“Can’t Stop Playing” – Oliver Heldens & Gregor Salto Remix). I actually cried. (Not kidding, there’s a video.) One of the friends I was with had never listened to Gregor before and absolutely loved him as well. I think turning people who have never heard your music into instant fans after one performance is a talent.
Tchami Throws Down
Next came my favorite set of the entire festival: Tchami. Everyone’s got a list of songs they want to hear live. Recently, I’ve come to find that Tchami consistently drops tracks that I love but that I wouldn’t necessarily expect to hear live in anyone’s set (outside of the original artist’s). So you can imagine how amazing the moment I realized he was dropping “Came to Get Funky” by Cazztek was. As much as I wanted to hear it, that was a track I wasn’t expecting anyone to drop, and it was perfect.
Tchami showcased talent from his Confession record label by following up with a quirky track, “Devils,” by ANGELZ, an artist with only 30,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. I respect Tchami for selecting these tracks rather than playing it safe with mainstream music, especially since he was playing Main Stage at Tomorrowland, where artists might be tempted to play it safe. I might be biased, but I don’t think a single person was complaining.
Garmiani’s Empty Stage
One act I was really excited to see, Garmiani, was unexpectedly disappointing. Not because of his performance—he was throwing down a great set—but because there was no one at his stage… I didn’t understand at which stages all 200,000 people were dispersed without any of them being at Garmiani’s, but the vibe was super low-energy as a result. He even stopped playing to tell the crowd lingering towards the back to move up because “the front is where the party’s at.” Shame on everyone who didn’t come to his set.
I closed the night out at Freedom Stage with Vini Vici. No joke, I actually time-traveled during their set. I’ve never seen or heard anything like that before, and it was epic watching the pair throw down racing bpm’s and shoot green lasers at me. I now understand what psychedelic trance means.
Tomorrowland Day 2
I got a decently early start on Saturday as well, which allowed me to catch some acts of entertainment happening around the fest. For example, a 3-person band was cycling around on a huge wheel; they were each seated in their own smaller wheel which turned to keep them upright as they, along with two helpers seated on either side of the main wheel, pedaled. It looked as complicated as it sounds, and it was incredible.
I also ran into human butterflies and deerfolk, and was nearly run over by a clown who was seemingly about to eat it off his unicycle the whole time he was riding it.
One set I was super intrigued by and had to catch that day was Moksi B2B Chace, what I thought was an interesting setup for a B2B. It turned out to be easily one of my favorite sets. They fluidly mixed a range of sounds into a party playlist. They also teased a handful of IDs that I craved the release of, one of which was Moksi’s killer remix of Dillon Francis’s “Say Less.”
Leaving their stage early to catch the beginning of Armin van Buuren at Main Stage was the move though. He had us in a trance (pun intended) from the start, partially due to the mesmerizing light show accompaniment. Watch the insane intro of his set and you’ll know.
Alesso Impresses
Alesso closed out Main Stage that night. I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting to be impressed by Alesso’s set; however, he won me over with a perfect balance of house music (including his new track, “Move Like That”) and his classic hits. The soundwaves of his heartfelt anthems—enhanced by the breath-taking stage production—poured out over thousands of people from all over the world. It made for an emotional moment.
But the best part of his set was when he dropped back-to-back Brohug, my favorite producers at the moment. First was their latest release, “If I’m Wrong” (the song Tchami used in his intro for a while), and the other was their remix of Alesso’s “Falling.” The time period over which those two songs played at the Main Stage of Tomorrowland was my favorite of the entire festival.
It was after Alesso’s set that it truly hit me: I didn’t know how I was supposed to return to real life after Tomorrowland. But I still had another day to go, so I tried not to think about leaving.
Tomorrowland Day 3
Sunday afternoon, I was on a mission to see Dante Klein at 4pm. He didn’t play any of his own music as far as I could tell (I did leave his stage early), but he was a great DJ and threw us a party. I still think he’s going to pop off—you heard it here first.
I made it to the Heldeep stage early enough to make my way up to the front for Chris Lake. Although I tried his whole set, I could not put out his fire. The two main takeaways I got from his set are: one, WOW, and two, he really needs to release that ID he’s been teasing for far too long. If that’s your USB, can I borrow it to leak that song?? I promise I’ll give it right back! (“Give Her Right Back” has, THANKFULLY, since been released.)
Chocolate Puma came on right afterwards and immediately burst into flames as well when they opened with Billy Kenny. You don’t really notice how old these guys are until you’re just a few feet away from them, but they are unquestionably still in the game. The real treat of the set: Oliver Heldens made an appearance onstage to show support for the duo. He grabbed the mic and shouted “’Ellooooo Tooomorrowland!!” and we all uncontrollably broke out into delighted smiles and laughter (see 30:00 of the livestream).
Sidenotes
While I’ve mentioned many of the highlights of the fest, I didn’t want to dampen the review with these cons:
- It seemed like none of the workers had information on anything going on inside the fest. My friends and I had an incredibly difficult and frustrating time getting simple information. We were constantly misled and directed back and forth in opposite directions, which was the worst considering the scale of the fest grounds.
- There was no soap or hand sanitizer at the Dreamville bathrooms. Not sure how this was overlooked considering the sheer amount of people using the same facilities all weekend, and also the fact that water alone doesn’t kill germs.
- My female friend and I experienced consistent sexual harassment by males all weekend. I mean, a dude actually bit her ass at one point. Her boyfriend’s presence didn’t prevent any of it either. It just sucked because we were expecting the vibes to be so much more positive! We thought everyone would be in love with life and with each other because of the whole concept of Tomorrowland.
- The food was mediocre for the most part. I got into a bit of a tussle with a worker at the burger stand because it was apparently impossible to get a burger with no sauce. The machines that cook the burgers have the sauce built into them, so sauce is deposited onto every single burger.
All in all, I have to give Tomorrowland Belgium four out of five stars on TripAdvisor. As a feminist, (slight) germaphobe, and picky eater, I couldn’t get past some of the cons to give the fest a perfect score. That is not to say I didn’t experience another three best days of my life! Check out our Tomorrowland Aftermovie for the proof!
Tomorrowland, you were extraordinary and utterly unforgettable.
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