Tomorrowland 2024 - Best. Year. Ever!
Another year of Tomorrowland is in the books, and wowee, I have to say it was the best ever!! If you’re not familiar with this music festival, take a look at the beauty in last year’s Aftermovie (beware: you will be amped up after it!)
For me, Tomorrowland is more than partying for a weekend. Yes, I do that too, but it’s so much more. It’s a place to be free. To experience joy. To appreciate art - large scale artwork like their massive stages, as well as experience the best DJs in the world. To connect with others. To express oneself. This year took the cake in all these regards for me.
Arrival Day
On day 1, Thursday, I arrived into open arms from my friends from around the world. Every year this is our thing. We all make the effort to come every year, no questions asked. My friend group typically consists of: 4 of my closest Swedish friends, 4 Dutch Friends, 5 Germans, and, of course, my girlfriend Laura (whom I met at Tomorrowland 2 years ago!).
This year, though, friends from the past 5 years kept showing up… one after the other, I was reconnected with friends I’d met throughout the years and in total our group of ~15 became a group of ~25. Words cannot express the feelings that are experienced with such a surprise. The weekend is always something I look forward with excitement, but to have this added surprise on top, I truly couldn’t be happier <3.
Camp life
One of the special things about Tomorrowland isn’t even the music or festival - it’s the camping. People lug their tents from around the world (or buy one there) and a field of grass turns into 40,000+ tenters. Music playing, beers flowing, barbecue on the grills provided, comfortable hot (or cold) showers, and kicking back with old friends to catch up from the year of being apart. We’re all one here - dirty, stinky… but happy :)
Festival time
The music starts on Thursday at the special campground “pre-party”, which goes until midnight. The next day, the main festival opens at noon, but we head in around 3 or 4 pm because it turns into quite a long weekend. 1am every day, standing and dancing for ~10 hours… ahh… it’s painful, yet blissful :)
The artists
The artists I loved the most this year:
- Gryffin - he’s my all-time favorite DJ for the past gazillion years. Again, a huge blessing that he played this year on our weekend.
- MORTEN - a comrade to the old school house DJ, David Guetta, he really put on a show in the indoor arena they have on the festival grounds
- Adriatique - a new artist for me. A nice techno-like vibe, but with melodies.
The stages
There were two new stages - Core with a change, and Planaxis - but the cream of the crop is always the main stage (See pic). WOW! The colors, the level of detail. It gives me goosebumps thinking about it. The mastery of such a work of art gives me so much appreciation for artists. I read an article last year (in the daily newspaper they print and hand out at the campground, nonetheless) that they begin the designs of a new stage two years prior (!). And the results speak for themselves!
Take home
“It’s not for everyone”. It’s 40,000 steps, every day, for 3 days in a row. It’s nonexistent sleeping. It’s many drunk or high people being silly. But for me, it’s something to look forward every single year. To feel at peace with myself and my life. A moment to recenter and kick ass for the next 12 months until we meet again.
If you feel you can find the beauty in it all, then I recommend it’s something to experience at least once in your life <3