Talk about EDM (Electronic Dance Music) festivals and the first name that comes to mind is Tomorrowland! Held in Belgium, since 2005, it is the largest and certainly the craziest EDM festival on the planet and I will tell you exactly why.
The first major and well, amazing thing about this festival – it takes place in the Belgian town of BOOM! Oh yes, I mean what better name could a city have which boasts of and hosts an event like this! Organized by ID & T Belgium, Tomorrowland, in it’s very first year had performers like Mike (P.U.S.H), Armin van Buuren, Cor Fijneman, Yves Deruyter, Technoboy, Eddie Halliwell, Jon O’Bir, Yoji Biomehanika and Coone!(CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?) Well, it obviously received such a warm reception that the very next year it saw guests like Armin van Buuren, Axwell, Marco Bailey, Fred Baker, David Guetta, Ruthless and DJ Zany performing there. (NOW, BEAT THAT)
After this there was no looking back. Tomorrowland’s craze spread like fire. In its fourth year itself, Tomorrowland was attended by more than 50,000. The number became almost double two years later and believe it or not, Tomorrowland 2014 was attended by more than 400,000 people!
With increasing number of artists each year (more than a 100 DJs performed in 2008 itself) and the ever growing number of visitors, the organizers wisely decided to make this a two day event instead of one. Hoping to provide some relief to the security men stationed there, this decision on the other hand only made the people more fanatic. Ticket sales sky-rocketed. Previously, the tickets would be all sold out some days before the actual event, now; they would all be sold out within a few minutes. To keep the fans happy and satisfied the organizers expanded the scale of this musical celebration. More artists, bigger celebration, themed stages (and as many as 20 stages), Tomorrowland became the ultimate stop for all the crazy music and dance lovers.
On its fifth anniversary, an “I Love the 90’s” stage was added, where musicians such as Push, Natural Born Deejays and SASH were present, with La Rocca performing live at the event for the first time followed by a special act by Moby (Could this get any better?)
In 2010, the ID & T decided it was time to come up with an exclusive Tomorrowland anthem and there it was. Titled “Tomorrow/Give Into The Night”, it opened at Belgian music charts at number 5. Composed by Dada Life, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Tara McDonald (who also penned it down), it still remains to be the most popular Tomorrowland anthem.
Tomorrowland 2011 has so far had the most eye-popping stage ever. An “Alice in Wonderland” inspired stage; it included giant oak trees, mushrooms, lasers shooting out of the characters’ eyes and functioning waterfalls (Woaaaah!! Imagine that). And if this in itself wasn’t mind-blowing, the artists that performed here certainly were – David Guetta (OMG), Nervo, Swedish House Mafia (this one was a jaw-dropping performance), Avicii (OH MY FREAKING GOD!), Tiesto, Carl Cox, Paul van Dyk,Tensnake, Laidback Luke, Brodinski, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, and dozens of others. It was unanimously voted as the best festival of its kind in the world at the International Dance Music Awards in 2012 (NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT, EH?)
Following the massive success of 2011, Tomorrowland 2012 did nothing but out do the previous year’s magic. I specially feel the need to mention this, because, Oh for God’s sake, why couldn’t I be there? Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Skrillex (wanna bangarang anyone?), Avicii, Marco Bailey, Skazi, David Guetta, Nervo, Hardwell (Spaceman’s here ), Swedish House Mafia, Afrojack, Steve Aoki,Carl Cox, The Bloody Beetroots, Paul van Dyk, Martin Solveig, Chuckie, Fatboy Slim ( Ka-boom!), Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Pendulum playing on fifteen stages each day. And no, this wasn’t the only reason why I couldn’t suppress the urge to specially mention Tomorrowland 2012. The real high light (at least according to me) was the Cloud Rider, the highest mobile Ferris wheel in Europe put up there, specially for the visitors!
The After movie of Tomorrowland had more than 95 millions views (118,042,560views to be exact) #cuckingfrazy
Having already raised everyone’s hope with such amazing and mind-numbing events, I was very curious to know, what more could these people possibly do to celebrate their very special 10th anniversary. And, I must say, Tomorrowland 2014 was anything but disappointing. First of all, keeping in mind the high demands, this time the fest was held over two weekends instead of one. MTV specially made a documentary to air on MTV world stage (which I specially watched online because I couldn’t catch it on VH1 India) to appreciate the contribution of Tomorrowland in popularizing such music fests. Not just this, composer Hans Zimmer (remember The Lion King?) and Tomorrowland announced that they together would create a classical hymn for the 10th anniversary edition of Tomorrowland. Music like never before, madness unheard of, it surely was a ‘legen-wait for it-dary’ celebration for an awesome festival.
A musical festival obviously needs to have a good number of internationally renowned artists. But, what sets this one festival apart from the others? I wish there had been a one-line answer for that but there’s definitely not! Let’s see what makes Tomorrowland, well, Tomorrowland — (I am sorry, but I couldn’t make any comparisons here).
This festival doesn’t just promise you a good musical experience. The organizers work just as hard to create an awesome ambiance for its visitors. Each year they spend a lot of time and funds into creating the most magical stages ever. So of course, if you try tampering with the decoration, you’ll be thrown out. So do control your excitement and hands when you’re out there.
Building 20 stages at a same time is no easy task, but have you given it a thought why in the world do they need so many stages? Well fellas, with so many artists performing simultaneously you of course you need these many stages. So, take this is as a warning, being at the fest doesn’t mean you will be able to attend every artist’s performance (unless of course you have stumbled across Hermione’s time turner).
Well if these manmade decorations do not win your heart, there is something else that surely will – Lakes! Yes the site where Tomorrowland takes place has many beautiful lakes that will surely make you fall in love with them. Oh and one more amazing thing, when purchasing the tickets, you will get a specially computerized bracelet which lets you into the festival and past the security. The bracelets should be activated before entering the fest but, once activated it can’t be sold to anyone i.e. only the person for whom the bracelet has been activated can attend the fest. Although, I should probably warn you to make sure how the bracelet thing works before you reach the venue. The officials there aren’t known to be very helpful when it comes to the tickets and bracelets.
So you see, with much more than just music going out there, Tomorrowland had surely changed the entire concept of a music fest. Today it is more than music and fun; it is a culture in itself, an experience of its kind, an opportunity you really shouldn’t lose out on and an awesome way of meeting the craziest bunch of people ever!
