The main stage at Belgium’s Tomorrowland music festival was destroyed by fire two days before the electronic music event’s first weekend was set to begin.
Tomorrowland will still go ahead as planned, organisers said. The festival had estimated that 400,000 people would attend across Tomorrowland’s two weekends, on 18-20 July and 25-27 July.
“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged,” wrote Tomorrowland.
“We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident.”
The fire began around 6 pm on Wednesday, local time. Its cause is currently unknown. Firefighters managed to contain the blaze before 8 pm, per the local newspaper Gazet Van Antwerpen, and left the site on Thursday morning.
The festival’s main campsite will open near Antwerp on Thursday as previously planned, Tomorrowland said, with organisers set to decide on new scheduling and whether the remains of the stage will be demolished.
All the main acts will still perform and additional events in Antwerp and Brussels will go ahead, according to Tomorrowland.
The 2025 edition of Tomorrowland will be its 19th, and will feature DJs like David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, Charlotte de Witte, and Swedish House Mafia.
Tomorrowland unveiled a partnership with TikTok earlier this month that would allow TikTok to livestream the festival, as well as offer exclusive behind-the-scenes content. It has also planned music events at Shanghai’s Hero Dome and the Las Vegas Sphere for later in 2025.
The global music festival market was valued at US$2.16 billion in 2024, with Europe’s share representing $647.46 million. The sector has been hit hard by cancellations in recent years, with at least 94 being cancelled worldwide so far in 2025.
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