It’s often said that Tomorrowland is hard to compare with other festivals because it’s in a league of its own. In 2025, nature put Tomorrowland to the ultimate test, and what emerged was the stuff of legend. Through trials and tribulations that would almost certainly doom any other festival, Tomorrowland ascended to a mythical status that we didn’t even know could exist. A tragic fire at the completed Orbyz mainstage 2 days before showtime showed the world that Tomorrowland is so damn good that even losing its mainstage 2 days before the festival didn’t stop it from throwing the best festival in the world. That’s how far ahead Tomorrowland is, and there are many reasons why. However, first, let’s revisit the tragedy and Tomorrowland’s incredible response.
The Tragedy
I distinctly recall that Wednesday evening in Rome, preparing for my flight to Brussels when I received a notification in the Tomorrowland Discord about images of a fire. I quickly began scouring social media and other Discord chats for information. The images I saw were so shocking that I thought it was AI. Then the content continued flooding in, and within 50 minutes, I saw the most gorgeous mainstage design I’ve ever seen reduced to nothing but charred scaffolding. I was crushed. Immediate thoughts were that the festival would be cancelled. What could a festival do without its biggest stage? Would things get worse? Would people revolt and say they deserved refunds? Would the authorities even allow it to open? The Tomorrowland attendees were already going through the stages of grief at a rapid pace. This is something that would cancel pretty much any other festival. Or at the very best, would lead to an awkward outing where the festival tries to bury what happened and pretends its second-largest stage is the mainstage. Not Tomorrowland.
Tomorrowland, through the herculean efforts of its public face, Debby Wilmsen, projected calm confidence throughout this harrowing ordeal. From the very beginning, the public statements were measured but resolute. As the fire raged, and in the immediate aftermath, the focus was on containing the fire and ensuring nobody was hurt. By Thursday morning, the fire department left so the festival could survey the damage and propose a path forward, but most onlookers were assuming the worst. How could they make this work? Whose tickets would be cancelled? Would the local authorities allow such a risky proposition to go forward? Were they just angling to get the authorities to cancel on them so they could make an insurance claim?
And yet, somehow, Tomorrowland took this situation that everybody deemed hopeless and injected some hope and a can-do spirit. Debby announced on Thursday evening that, though the team was heartbroken, they never once considered cancelling. They worked through the night to come up with a plan, and it might not work fully, but it was a plan nonetheless. Suddenly, this situation felt like a Hollywood movie with everyone waiting on bated breath to see if they could pull it off. The Tomorrowland team would work all through the night beginning at 2am Friday morning, to try to build a brand new mainstage in the place of the original ones. If they pull it off, the festival will kick off just a few hours late. If not, then on Friday the campers would be relegated to a separate camping party in Dreamville until Saturday, when the stage could be finalized. Even then, there were doubts they could get it done in time. It was barely more than 12 hours to build a new mainstage capable of attracting 10s of thousands of fans.
The Triumph
Around noon of the 1st day of Tomorrowland, when all of the press had just gathered at the site, the news came down. Despite it all, Tomorrowland had pulled off the most mind-boggling of feats and saved the festival. They were able to complete a brand new mainstage in half a day and would be able to open to everybody with only a few hours delay. The emotions were running wild and the excitement was more palpable than ever before. Somehow Tomorrowland took everybody from despair to hope to cheering and celebrating. There was a new mainstage, and it wasn’t the largest but it was sufficient and certainly better than many people were expecting given the circumstances. A big thank you to Metallica and the production suppliers for the assist there!
It’s easy to forget that the Orbyz mainstage was not just beautiful and not just a stage. It was two years of dedication and labor by the Tomorrowland team. It was like the death of a loved one to see all of that work go up in smoke. Yet the Tomorrowland team is a family and that family is absolutely devote to the ethos of Tomorrowland. They are here to bring the world to this magical place that exists nowhere else in the world. They proved to the world that Tomorrowland is so much more than its mainstage and so much more than your typical business-oriented festival (the company lost over 15 million euros on that stage fire). Tomorrowland ascended to a legendary status in 2025. For a festival that crafts such complex and engaging narrative themes each year, who would have thought that the most powerful of all would be a real-life narrative that played out for everyone.
Much like Ultra 2024 when rain cancelled the last few hours of Day 1, there is truly something magical that happens when an amazing event is threatened by circumstance, and everyone has agreed to make the best of difficult circumstances. Sure, there were probably some people who didn’t go or requested refunds over the mainstage, but they were a tiny minority (and who would want them there anyway). From the DJs to the staff to the attendees and press, everybody was just so thankful to the Tomorrowland team for saving the day and so damn happy to be there partying their tails off in the magical holy grounds of Tomorrowland.
How Did Tomorrowland Pull It Off?
The Team
It’s already been said that no other festival could have survived this (at least not that year). So how did Tomorrowland pull it off? A huge round of applause goes to the entire Tomorrowland crew for their dedication to their craft and their relentless spirit to maintain Tomorrowland’s reputation as the most magical place on earth (sorry Disney). They worked nonstop for 3 days to do the impossible, and they totally pulled it off. Then they continued improving the stage. While initially we were told there would be no pyro or fireworks, we got pyro, fireworks, and everything we love about Tomorrowland stages.
The Deep Ties to the Community
Tomorrowland is a point of pride for Belgium, but especially Boom. The festival goes above and beyond to include them in the festivities and listen to their feedback. They even host a special event for locals and their families in between weekends. If this happened to a festival in the US you can be sure that the local residents and/or the local government would shut it down right away, with complaints that it is unsafe or something else. In the end the decision to go ahead rested with the local Mayor who gave a big thumbs up without reservation, and that’s pretty amazing. The festival is so beloved around the world that artists and production suppliers were all chipping in to help and offer support.
Leaning In
Tomorrowland didn’t hide from the tragedy or shrink in embarrassment at its makeshift mainstage. They leaned in completely. They lit up the wreckage of the Orbyz mainstage and incorporated it into the new mainstage area. They even added a little butterfly on the excavator arm, and I could swear the flood lights were meant to evoke the silhouette of the Orbyz stage. They didn’t use the Libary as the mainstage and pretend the mainstage area didn’t exist. They kept the lineup and set times mostly unchanged except for some cancelled sets early Monday. The festival didn’t even cancel the media tour that occurs on Friday morning before the gates open. They had nothing to hide and much to be proud of.
The photos and the Aftermovie feature the new mainstage and celebrate it. Many DJs even commented on how much they enjoyed being closer to the crowd than on the gargantuan mainstages, where the crowd is quite far away and below them. They ditched the Orbyz theme interludes and opted for a more stripped-down approach that focused on the emotions everybody was feeling that weekend and the realizations we were all feeling. They rewrote their closing speeches to focus on the fact that Tomorrowland is so much more than the mainstage and so on. It feels like a teachable moment that might impact future stage designs and will certainly remain a key part of Tomorrowland lore. It was stellar PR work from Debby Wilmsen and her team!
15 Other Amazing Stages
Tomorrowland really is much more than the mainstage. Each of its 16 stages has its own charm and vibe. There’s never a stage that feels underwhelming or lesser than the others. Each stage is catered towards the types of music played there. Some are more about nature or the forest or the lake and some are more about the lighting and the lasers and the visuals. You could go the entire weekend without the mainstage and still have an amazing time (this applies to most festivals btw). Tomorrowland can easily get by with a smaller mainstage because the other stages are so cool on their own.
The Vibes & The Little Things
Tomorrowland is blessed with a gorgeous park setting, featuring lush greenery, stunning lakes, cool forests, and an incredibly colorful sky. A parking lot festival this is not, but the good vibes extend beyond the grounds of De Schorre. Another thing that creates happiness is all of the little Tomorrowland quirks that make you smile. From the moment you arrive in Brussels, the Tomorrowland representatives remain cheerful and excited, in spite of the difficult situation they were all in. Immediately, it lifted people’s spirits, and the effects were contagious. On days when it was incredibly hot, the staff had trays full of sliced watermelon and were handing them out to people as they walked by – although I do miss the free ponchos when it rains. There are bars and restrooms everywhere, and never too far from the action. Even as Tomorrowland was forced to implement the EU’s reusable cup mandate, they made it as easy as it could possibly be.
The Performances
Surprisingly, the DJ sets are just one piece of the puzzle here, but that doesn’t mean they were anything less than amazing. Every set I saw was incredible and the crowds were super nice and fun. On Weekend 1, it all culminated in the best set of the weekend on Saturday night at the Crystal Garden. Not Swedish House Mafia, but Axwell x Sebastian Ingrosso x Steve Angello playing the most special, emotional, beautiful set I’ve ever seen from them and possibly anyone. The incredible energy of that set juxtaposed with the gorgeous symphony of fire, water, and light at the Crystal Garden left everyone speechless. Ask anybody from Weekend 1 and they will tell you it was the best set in years, and I’ll try to explain why in a future editorial. It was that same magical energy that was created in the saving of the festival channeled into one set. Over 3 hours of musical and visual bliss, featuring the perfect mix of new fresh sounds and also reworks or originals of nostalgic favorites. I’ve never seen a crowd that was having a better time than at that set. It was like Swedish House Mafia if Eric Prydz stayed on as a member. That alone more than made up for the lost Orbyz stage, but there were so many more incredible sets all around from ANNA & Antdot, Argy, Agents of Time, Anyma, Eric Prydz, Max Styler, Artbat & Kolsch, FISHER, Dyzen & Sideral, Aaron Hibell and so much more.
Don’t Miss Out
If you are able, you need to experience the magic of Tomorrowland at least once in your life. Luckily, it’s getting easier around the world to do so. Tomorrowland wants to have a presence on every continent (except Antarctica) and so we will soon see expansions into Asia and even Australia. In the Fall we see Tomorrowland team up with Insomniac for a residency at the Sphere, and in 2026 the CORE stage will venute to LA. We hope this Insomniac partnership means we’ll be seeing CORE in Miami for Art Basel or Music Week soon as well. Tomorrowland has its second largest festival in Brazil in the Fall and Tomorrowland Winter in March, not to mention Terra Solid in Dubai and Garden of Madness in Ibiza (with more Ibiza plans for 2026). All of that being said, the truest and most magical experience comes from visiting the holy grounds of Tomorrowland Belgium, and you won’t forget it if you do.
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