Hey all you festi-goers, it’s about time that I share with you my splendid experience at TomorrowLand. While I unpacked my suitcase and pulled out my rain poncho, the festival schedule/map, and a camera, the most essential items to any of the festival attendees, the unforgettable memories began to rush back to me. The hand-picked decorations around the park, the unique currency only used at the festival, and the jaw-dropping stage setups, together made each and every visitor feel like they were inside a mythical world, which also happened to be the most magical EDM music festival in the world, Tomorrowland.
All the hype and media coverage still does not do the festival its justice, it is that magnificent of a music festival, let alone a fully EDM festival. It is one of those magical places where you have to see it to believe it. It was truly unlike any other feeling on earth to feel the energy of thousands and thousands of people from all over the world coming together for one event. It’s quite the surreal experience to be surrounded with people from 75 different countries, some of those who don’t even speak the same language as you, celebrating the same music and artists you enjoy.
At the main stage I saw flags from all around the world, some of those of which were countries that were in war with each other in the past, and present. Inside of TomorrowLand you saw equality; people of all different ethnic backgrounds uniting as one. Their only focus all weekend was to party all day and night to the electronic beats going to down throughout the amazing stages.
As many of you were not aware of, the theme to TomorrowLand this year was the arising of life. This year’s theme was displayed through out fifteen different stages around the national park. The main stage is on a bowl-shaped valley that held hundreds and thousands of people, and represented the theme the best. Not only was it designed with large LED viewing screens, waterfalls and fire erupting volcano’s with an assortment of plants also surrounded the DJ booth.
Another big stage that held acts like Benny Benassi, Tommy Trash, and Green Velvet was in the shape of a mythical multi-colored butterfly that held the DJ booth in the center of the stage with two large screens on it’s wings. Four of the stages were tents; inside each one there were random objects used to decorate it. The tent that held Infected Mushroom had ginormous pieces of candy handing from the ceiling, and Saturday’s drum and bass stage had large mushrooms placed all around. It felt like I was raging in my own fairytale.
The creators of TomorrowLand, ID & T, included one of the coolest features for their guests; people were required to trade in their currency for TomorrowLand’s very own currency. Currency consisted of plastic silver coins with the TomorrowLand logo on them. Not only did it make an unique keepsake, is it an awesome concept for all the attendee’s to use the same currency inside the fest.
Another perk of attending TomorrowLand is getting the chance to ride Brussels Airline’s very own Cloud Rider, otherwise known as the huge ferris wheel with the break taking view over the entire festival.
While enjoying all the music, talking to the people around me was part of all the entertainment. I met people from at least 40 different countries, over the course of three days. Just by standing at one stage, I could hear several conversations around me, each in different languages. Being from the US I was asked about Ultra Music Festival a lot, it seemed to be the most internationally recognized American EDM festival known globally. Many of the attendee’s took on the missions to represent their country or even hometown by carrying their flag on their back.
In addition to a variety of outrageous outfits and costumes people were wearing from the green man suit to a zebra costume. Nearly everyone I met spoke two to four languages, I felt like an outsider knowing only English. Being introduced to people with completely different cultures who shared the similar music tastes with me, gave me the ultimate international EDM music festival experience. The only time I really felt a sense of a culture shock is when I noticed one of the most popular food items was Belgium fry with mayonnaise as a dip. As bizarre as that sounds, I was the weird one for not being in favor of it.
Despite the awful down pours on both Friday and Saturday night, the shows never stopped. Saturday night during Avicii, the astonishing laser displays at the main stage looked even more intense with the heavy rain. The fans did not care if there was lightning in the sky; to them it was the rage-gods sending down more energy to pump up the crowd.
My favorite (and the most underrated performances in my opinion) were the drum and bass performances. Every single drum and bass DJ featured a rapper free styling along to the DJ’s music. It created a unique sound that I found quite enjoyable. What surprised me was the amount of trap I heard from a handful of the big name artists, it is defiantly a genre on the rise for overall popularity. Top dogs like Carnage, Porter Robinson, Kaskade, and even Steve Aoki have jumped on the trap-train, inviting their loyal fans to the next on-the-rise genre.
Steve Aoki made quite the impact on TomorrowLand, not only did he host his own stage called Dim Mak on the first day, he was the closing-festival performance at the main stage. Steve Aoki is one the craziest DJ’s, his ideal show involves a lot of interlacement with the crowd. From champagne facials to throwing large cakes, lets just say you will defiantly need a shower after his set.
His Friday performance at the Dim Mak stage was a completely packed body-to-body over-flowing with people tent. But, it still did not compare to his main stage performance. Aoki stepped up his game by bring out some of his own rage family, including DJs Afrojack and R3hab. The crowd was going absolutely insane; it was an unforgettable moment seeing Afrojack and Steve Aoki play their hit song No Beef. All the fireworks, the lights, and the lasers was incredible, you could truly feel all the energy from TomorrowLand.
Steve Aoki is know for sending out blown up raft, for his fans to crowd surf in style. When sending out his raft into the crowd, dj R3hab climbed abroad. The amount of screaming fans trying to get in the raft was actually quite funny. However that wasn’t the last of surprises Aoki had planned for his set. Near the end of his performance, he disappeared out of the DJ booth. Several minutes later, he rose from the ground in the middle of the crowd, with cakes. To me the most surprising thing Steve Aoki did was closing the final main stage TomorrowLand set with his brand new collaboration with dubstep-classic Flux Pavilion. Being such a mainstream EDM artist and TomorrowLand being a prominent house festival, Aoki probably shocked a lot of attendee’s with his final song being dubstep, which is not a bad thing at all.
For some it was a once in a lifetime global journey, one to be cherished forever. The energy, the music, the people, we came together as one. We are this generation’s EDM culture. Yesterday is history, today is a gift, and tomorrow is a mystery. Catch you on the flipside in 2014, TomorrowLand.