By DJ Akhil Talreja, DJ Course Director, PartyMap Academy · Est. 2011
Key Takeaways
- Tomorrowland started in 2005 with 8,700 fans in a Belgian field — by 2022 it drew a record 600,000 visitors across three weekends.
- On 16 July 2025, a fire destroyed its mainstage two days before opening. No one was hurt, and a replacement was built in 48 hours.
- The festival has run editions in the USA, Brazil, and France, plus Unite simulcasts in 9 countries — and enters Asia for the first time in December 2026, in Thailand.
- DJ Mag readers and the International Dance Music Awards have repeatedly named it the world's best festival.
- PartyMap Academy alumnus DJ Roop has played this same festival twice — 2024 and 2026.
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How Did Tomorrowland Actually Start?
In 2005, brothers Manu and Michiel Beers held the first Tomorrowland at De Schorre recreational park in Boom, Belgium, drawing roughly 8,700 attendees over a single day (Eventplanner.net). It wasn't a stadium show or a corporate launch — it was two brothers and a Dutch promoter, ID&T, betting that Belgium wanted its own large-scale electronic music festival.
Look at that first-year photo and the gap to today is obvious. A patchwork stage, a grass field, a few thousand people sitting on the hill. There's no hint yet of what this would become. Did anyone there in 2005 expect this would be a global brand twenty years later? Almost certainly not.
How Fast Did Tomorrowland Actually Grow?
By 2009, Tomorrowland had grown nearly tenfold to 90,000 attendees over two days (Eventplanner.net). By 2011 it sold out within days at 180,000 visitors. The real structural shift came in 2014, its 10th edition, when organizers split the festival across two weekends for the first time — six festival days drawing 360,000 visitors combined.
Tomorrowland's growth from a single-day, 8,700-person event in 2005 to a 600,000-visitor, three-weekend festival by 2022 is one of the steepest sustained growth curves in festival history — a roughly 69x increase in attendance over 17 years.
That two-weekend format became permanent. By 2017 and 2018, Tomorrowland was drawing 400,000 attendees a year, every year, across both weekends. In 2022, it broke its own record entirely — three festival weekends, 600,000 visitors, with organizers reporting attendees from more than 200 countries and territories. Its 20th anniversary edition in 2024 drew 400,000 attendees across two weekends.
When Did Tomorrowland Go Global?
From 2013 to 2015, Tomorrowland exported its concept to the United States as TomorrowWorld, held near Atlanta, Georgia — the festival's first attempt at a fully separate international edition (Wikipedia). It ran for three years before being discontinued.
Brazil proved to be the more lasting bet. Tomorrowland Brasil launched in 2015 and continues today. A separate winter edition, Tomorrowland Winter, runs in the French Alps, pairing the festival's stage production with snow-covered mountains. Alongside these full standalone editions, Unite with Tomorrowland simulcasts the Belgium mainstage live to satellite parties across the UAE, Germany, Spain, Lebanon, Taiwan, Malta, South Korea, Greece, and Israel — nine countries experiencing the same set in real time without leaving home.
What Happened the Night Tomorrowland's Mainstage Burned Down?
On 16 July 2025, fire destroyed Tomorrowland's mainstage in Boom, Belgium — two days before that year's festival was due to open on 18 July (Belga News Agency). The blaze started during a routine test of pyrotechnic fire bowls; flames spread to the stage's styrofoam and wood decoration and accelerated fast.
Photo: fire damage to the Tomorrowland mainstage, July 2025.
No one was hurt. The festival hadn't opened yet, so no attendees were on site — only event staff, who were not injured. The damage was severe regardless: roughly €60 million, according to industry estimates (Eventplanner.net).
Here's the part that says more about Tomorrowland than the fire itself: organizers built a replacement mainstage on the same spot within 48 hours, and the festival opened on schedule. A €60 million stage, destroyed two days out, replaced before the gates opened. That's not luck — that's an operation built to absorb a disaster most events couldn't survive.
What Awards Has Tomorrowland Actually Won?
The International Dance Music Awards named Tomorrowland Best Global Festival five years running, from 2012 through 2016, and again in 2019 and 2020 (DJ Mag). DJ Mag's reader-voted Top 100 Festivals poll has repeatedly placed it at number one, including its 2025 edition.
Awards from an industry trade body are one thing. Getting voted there by the people who actually go is another. Tomorrowland has both, repeatedly, across more than a decade — which is the harder thing to fake.
Tomorrowland is the only festival to win the International Dance Music Awards' Best Global Festival five years consecutively (2012-2016) and still get voted the world's best festival by DJ Mag readers nearly a decade later, in 2025 — a rare case of trade-body and fan recognition staying aligned for almost 20 years.
What's Next for Tomorrowland in 2026?
In December 2026, Tomorrowland enters Asia for the first time with Tomorrowland Thailand, set across 11-13 December at Wisdom Valley in Pattaya (EDM.com). The 237-acre site is built to host seven stages, including the festival's signature Mainstage, CORE, and FREEDOM stages, with capacity for over 50,000 visitors a day.
The lineup already includes Martin Garrix and Swedish House Mafia performing in Thailand for the first time, alongside Afrojack, Alan Walker, Steve Aoki, Alok, and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike — more than 100 artists from over 20 nationalities, including 20-plus Thai acts on the bill. It runs under the same "Consciencia" theme as the 2026 Belgium edition. After 21 years confined mostly to Europe, Brazil, and a brief US run, Asia is genuinely new ground.
What Does This Have to Do With PartyMap Academy?
One of our own has stood on this stage. DJ Roop, a PartyMap Academy alumnus from Kolkata, debuted at Tomorrowland Belgium in 2024 on the RISE Stage — among the first Indian DJs to ever play there. Read his full origin story and exclusive Q&A here. He returns on 18 July 2026 for a set on the Old Spice Boat stage, on the same weekend bill as Martin Garrix and Calvin Harris — see the full details on his 2026 return.
The festival in this article — the one that grew from 8,700 people to a global brand, rebuilt a stage in 48 hours, and is about to open its first Asian chapter — is the same one our student plays. DJ courses at PartyMap Academy are open in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Thane, and Guwahati for anyone who wants to start down that same road.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Tomorrowland and when?
Tomorrowland was founded by Belgian brothers Manu and Michiel Beers, along with promoter ID&T. The first edition was held on 14-15 August 2005 at De Schorre recreational park in Boom, Belgium, drawing roughly 8,700 attendees.
How many people attend Tomorrowland now?
Tomorrowland has grown from 8,700 attendees in 2005 to a record 600,000 visitors across three festival weekends in 2022, with organizers reporting attendees from more than 200 countries and territories. The 2024 edition, its 20th anniversary, drew 400,000 attendees over two weekends.
What happened to the Tomorrowland mainstage in 2025?
On 16 July 2025, a fire destroyed Tomorrowland's mainstage in Boom, Belgium, two days before the festival was due to open. The blaze started during a pyrotechnics test and spread to the stage's flammable decor, causing roughly €60 million in damage. No one was injured, and organizers rebuilt a replacement mainstage within 48 hours so the festival could proceed.
What countries has Tomorrowland been held in?
Beyond its home in Belgium, Tomorrowland has run TomorrowWorld in the USA (2013-2015), Tomorrowland Brasil since 2015, and Tomorrowland Winter in the French Alps. Its Unite with Tomorrowland simulcast events run across the UAE, Germany, Spain, Lebanon, Taiwan, Malta, South Korea, Greece, and Israel. In 2026, Tomorrowland Thailand becomes its first-ever Asia edition.
What awards has Tomorrowland won?
Tomorrowland won the International Dance Music Awards' Best Global Festival five years running, from 2012 to 2016, and again in 2019 and 2020. DJ Mag readers have repeatedly voted it the World's Best Festival in its Top 100 Festivals poll, including in 2025.
Has any PartyMap Academy student performed at Tomorrowland?
Yes. DJ Roop, a PartyMap Academy alumnus from Kolkata, debuted at Tomorrowland Belgium in 2024 on the RISE Stage and returns for a second slot on the Old Spice Boat stage on 18 July 2026 — the same festival covered in this article.
Sources: Wikipedia, "Tomorrowland (festival)" · Eventplanner.net, attendance figures · Belga News Agency, mainstage fire cause · DJ Mag, Top 100 Festivals 2025 · EDM.com, Tomorrowland Thailand 2026
Photo credits: 2005 and 2011 mainstage photos by Ossila and Me109zito; 2018 mainstage by Drunkgummyboy; TomorrowWorld 2013 by DazelK — all via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA license.