Tomorrowland, the biggest electronic dance music (EDM) festival, is back with its 11th edition this year. Last year, over 400,000 EDM lovers attended the festival and this year, the number is expected to be more.
Ahead of the festival, which is set to take place between 24 and 26 July in Belgium, Tomorrowland founder Michiel Beers exclusively spoke with IBTimes India about their decade-long journey, what Tomorrowland 2015 holds for its fans and their future plans.
1) How did the concept of Tomorrowland come into existence?
Tomorrowland is a baby brought to life by the Beers brothers. Manu and I (Michiel) have worked really hard with a small team of experts to create this huge festival. A magical date in the history of the Kingdom of Belgium, known throughout for its beer, chocolate, waffles, cobblestones, diamonds, poorly-named French fries, instant legendary World Cup soccer match against the United States of America and mussels from Ostend. Out of nowhere, a brand new festival came about, transforming the town of – if ever there was an appropriate name – Boom into a fairy tale dominion, where enchanting electronic music was to be heard from behind every tree and out of every rabbit hole. Electronic music was a genre that everyone was aware of, Tomorrrowland became the way to give music fans and artists an enchanted experience.
2) What does Tomorrowland 2015 hold for fans? How different is it going to be from the last 10 editions?
As every year, there are different elements that make the festival a memorable experience for the fans. The line-up is very interesting and artists love to release their tracks and give fans their best. One thing to look forward to in this year's event is the doors opening to Unite: The Mirror to Tomorrowland, which is a simulcast between Belgium, Mumbai and Mexico. The screens will have the artists connecting with their fans in both the cities and vice versa. We are pretty excited about this.
3) After a decade-long journey, where do you see the festival standing? How has it evolved/ grown over the years?
Tomorrowland is world's No.1 EDM festival. This itself speaks volumes about how the festival and brand has grown or evolved over the years. We hope to continue this journey ahead, spreading love, peace and unity through dance music. We have set foot into doing shows like Unite, which gives our fans in other countries also an experience of Tomorrowland.
4) What makes it the biggest music festival in the world? How and what makes Tomorrowland different from other popular music festivals?
The entire experience shared with the fans, who are called 'People of Tomorrow'; their journey into this mystical magical world where they only enjoy music and happiness. Every festival has its own USP, we guess for us it was the emphasis on the experience and creating and living the story of a world that is extremely magical and syncs in with the music.
5) What does it take to make those EDM fans keep coming back?
Tomorrowland has created its own identity with EDM fans. People of Tomorrow take back a happy journey each time they visit the festival.
6) Why did you in particular choose Mexico City and India to host Unite: The Mirror to Tomorrowland live events?
We have fans from across the world, however, we realised a major chunk of the People of Tomorrow come from these two countries. India has a huge fan following and it is not possible for everyone to attend the festival, thus, we decided to bring our fans a Mirror to Tomorrowland.
7) Would you define Tomorrowland as a culture or the pilgrimage?
It would be a culture for the ones who have just set foot into listening to EDM music and the world of music festivals. And, it's a pilgrimage for those, who swear by music and their love for Tomorrowland.
8) Is there any possibility of bringing Tomorrowland to India? If not, then why?
We are still exploring possibilities. For now, we have Unite, which is going to be in India in less than two days. Our India team is working extremely hard to give fans an unforgettable experience.
9) Do you think India has the potential to host a large scale event like Tomorrowland?
Well, for us the potential lies with the People of Tomorrow, they are more important to us.
10) What's the next big thing for Tomorrowland? Where do you see it going?
We organise Tomorrowland Belgium, Tomorrowland Brasil and TomorrowWorld USA and those three festivals are very important for us. We share the same love and passion for those three festivals and our plan is to make these even bigger.
Tomorrowland is set to take place between 24 and 26 July in Belgium.
