I’m fist-pumping while running past the all-hardstyle Q-Dance Stage in a mad dash to make the tail end of Tinlicker’s set. One of the few English speakers I met on the press shuttle, a photographer from the United States, is supposed to take shots during the performance by the Dutch deep house duo. But we left the media hotel late, so by the time we arrived to Tomorrowland and made it past security, we only had 27 minutes before they finished.
Indeed, this is the general vibe at Tomorrowland, the esteemed Belgian event that is the world's largest dance music festival. This event celebrated its 15th year this past weekend in Boom, Belgium with an all-star lineup including The Chainsmokers, DJ Snake, Alison Wonderland, Martin Garrix, Black Coffee, Camelphat, Tiga, Maceo Plex, Afrojack, Kolsch, Zeds Dead, Eric Prydz and many, many more.
We start running again, weaving in and out of the early, but still packed crowd of dancers and performers and dodging branded trash bins placed to the sides of the wooden bridge. We make it with 21 minutes to spare. Of course, the excitement intensifies once you walk through the gates alongside tends of thousands of fellow dance lovers from every continent except Antarctica. Once inside, there's something happening, with sounds from techno, to house, to hardstyle to bass to EDM to trance coming at your ears from all directions. The Tomorrowland logo is on every conceivable item, including but not limited to hats, t-shirts, fire cannon-lined lily pads, park benches and lampposts.
Completed in 2015, this bridge was a festival project that offered ad space to anyone in the world who wanted to buy and design a personalized etching in the wood planks. With all proceeds donated to charity, the bridge and festival itself isfor the United Nations as a symbol of the core values -- dignity, respect, diversity, and solidarity -- the UN strives to uphold.
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