Tomorrowland—the world’s most iconic electronic dance music festival—has grown from a local Belgian event into a global phenomenon since its inception in 2005. Held annually in Boom, Belgium, it spans two weekends in July and welcomes more than 400,000 attendees from around the world. Known for its fantastical stage design, powerhouse DJ lineups, and atmosphere of global unity, Tomorrowland has become a pilgrimage for electronic music lovers and festivalgoers alike—and with that comes the plethora of well-known names and, of course, unbeatable festival fashion.
This year’s edition, Tomorrowland Belgium 2025, was particularly notable—not only for its jaw-dropping performances, but for a devastating fire that broke out on the Mainstage just two days before opening. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and despite this setback, the festival team miraculously rebuilt and delivered yet another unforgettable chapter in its storied legacy.
For GRAZIA, Tomorrowland represents the cultural vanguard—where self-expression through music, beauty, and fashion collides with boundary-pushing technology and global community. It’s the ultimate real-world runway, dance floor, and emotional reset. We’re here to give you an exclusive inside look at what it’s like to attend this iconic event, including everything you need to know to attend yourself, exclusive video interviews with the legendary artists who performed at Weekend 1, top travel and style tips, and honest reflections on a weekend that felt like entering another universe.
GRAZIA’s Tomorrowland Belgium Travel Guide:
- From Flames to fantasy: nhwo tomorrowland 2025 rebuilt
- enter the world of ORBYZ
- Getting there and where to stay
- the festival Grounds: style, stages, and surprises
- the sets: soundtracking a dreamscape
- behind-the-scenes with the artists: interviews in their own words
- insider tips: what to pack and how to survive in style
- final reflections: tomorrowland as a state of mind
From the glimmer of body gems to the pounding pulse of the Mainstage, here is your all-access guide to Tomorrowland Belgium!
From Flames to Fantasy: How Tomorrowland 2025 Rebuilt
When Tomorrowland 2025 began with a fire on the iconic Mainstage on 16 July, just days before opening, some wondered whether the festival would still deliver on its promises of magic, music, and unity. What unfolded instead was a triumphant, immersive experience that only strengthened the mythos of the most legendary dance festival on Earth.
Despite the devastating fire caused by a pyrotechnic-related accident during pre-show testing, the production team miraculously rebuilt the stage in under 48 hours using infrastructure from Metallica’s recent tour. The result? A reimagined stage that offered more intimate fan experiences and a display of production agility that stunned industry insiders, and dare we say, made music history.
Enter the World of ORBYZ
Tomorrowland 2025 transported festivalgoers into a dazzling new dimension with its official theme: “ORBYZ”. This year’s narrative unveiled a mysterious civilisation that exists beneath a colossal ice cap—a subterranean world entirely forged of ice and rock. As the glaciers of this mythical planet begin to melt, a radiant red crystal is discovered, unlocking the history and power of a previously hidden species known as the ORBYZ.
According to Tomorrowland’s official lore, these indigenous beings are the custodians of harmony, community, and ritual—values that mirror the ethos of the festival itself. The red crystal, central to their story, symbolises energy, life, and emotional connection — and served as a visual motif throughout the festival’s design.
The immersive environment reflected this icy narrative with glowing blue hues, crystal-inspired architecture, and stage designs that evoked a sense of cosmic discovery. The stages featured layered silver beams and frosted detailing, while visual content across LED screens expanded the ORBYZ storyline through animated interludes and ambient sequences. This was a festival that fused mythology, sustainability, and future-forward spectacle into one singular world-building experience.
Getting There and Where to Stay
I flew into Brussels Airport and checked into the sleek and central Mövenpick Hotel, which served as the press base for media attending this year’s festival. While DreamVille—the festival’s onsite camping experience—is a rite of passage for many, staying offsite provided a touch of luxury and reliable rest after long days. The hotel’s early breakfast hours and shuttle access to Boom made it a seamless hub for navigating the weekend.
The journey to Boom felt like a parade. Groups of friends, decked out in rhinestones and Tomorrowland flags, packed the shuttles with style and anticipation. There’s a palpable sense of global unity en route—a reminder that this isn’t just a festival, but a pilgrimage.
Navigating the festival itself is a masterclass in organisation. Your Tomorrowland bracelet doubles as a digital wallet, event pass, and setlist guide, syncing with the Tomorrowland app to send push reminders before your favourite DJs go live. The MediaVillage and ArtistVillage—nestled behind the Papillon area, known for its culinary experiences, live music, wine pairings, and a variety of food and drink options—became my oasis, complete with shaded lounges, private bars, a food truck, WiFi to work, and lockers to store your belongings.
The Festival Grounds: Style, Stages, and Surprises
Tomorrowland is more than a music festival—it’s a sprawling fantasy world. Across lakes, forests, and hills, over a dozen stages dazzled with custom architecture, each rooted in this year’s “ORBYZ” storyline. The Mainstage (despite being a last-minute rebuild) shone like a sci-fi cathedral—the remnants of the original stage still noticeable in the background, serving as a reminder of the power of this festival, and the unity it took for the show to still go on.
A personal favourite of mine was The Great Library of Tomorrow stage. A thematic masterpiece worthy of all your Tomorrowland dreams. A pleasant surprise was also the small, but electric, Elixir Stage right outside of the Papillon area—always playing contagious, energy-filled sets fusing hip-hop and pop tracks with house music. Annabel Stop It’s set had the crowd moshing in glitter boots and chainmail crop tops. It was the perfect example of Tomorrowland’s magic: unexpected, visceral, and deeply connected.
Fashion here is an art form—both personal and performative. Festivalgoers plan outfits months in advance, with TikTok and Pinterest moodboards guiding their looks. Sequins, leather, fringe, mesh, micro shorts, vintage finds, rhinestone body jewellery, and statement beauty looks all made appearances. More functional glam also took the spotlight, like platform boots and on-trend sneakers paired with metallic bodysuits, elevated intimates, and accessories from oversized belts and sunglasses to headscarves, which made the whole outfit.
For many of the artists, their fashion is a very crucial part of their performance and stage presence. And at Tomorrowland, those on the lineup take their stage looks just as seriously as those in attendance.
Jax Jones donned a vintage-inspired Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tee with a bright green baseball hat and matching neck bandana, paired with “jewellery that is hella expensive to make it look cool,” for his back-to-back set with MK. The DJ calls his current style “borderline cringe,” while living in the high-low fashion “paradox.” MK added that fashion and music always go hand-in-hand—proven with his new track “Dior.”
Sofi Tukker embraced bold and colourful festival fashion, with Sofi sharing with GRAZIA, “Tukker usually decides what he’s wearing, and then Tukker helps me decide what I’m wearing. So I would say less collaborative, more Tukker.” Tukker chimes in, adding that how he dresses on stage is a direct reflection of how he dresses in everyday life—but on the stage, he sometimes makes it “a little more shiny and reflective, or maybe a little louder.”
Maddix wore a street-inspired style for his set, featuring a graffiti-esque, jersey-style tee with pastel blue and orange detailing, paired back to light-washed, cargo denim. “I love fashion, actually,” Maddix shares with us. “I’m always trying to look for new, cool clothes that no one has.”
My own festival fashion kit? Inspo from Spring/Summer 2025 trends, as seen on the runways but reinterpreted for a festival, including boho chic, sheer fabrics, micro skirts, lots of layering—both with apparel and accessories—and embellishments. A black, logo-embossed Alexander Wang Ricco crossbody bag with silver detailing, oversized belts and jewellery, metallic body glitter and matching face gems, and, of course, fashionable yet functional footwear, were the rockstars of this festival season’s necessities for me.
The Sets: Soundtracking a Dreamscape
Across three days, I danced, I sang, and I lost my voice—all to sets that felt like cinematic crescendos. MK and Jax Jones delivered a vibrant back-to-back set. In the MediaVillage, MK tells us his favourite part of Tomorrowland is “the crowd and the other DJs that are here.” While Meduza shares his immense gratitude for the 2025 festival even happening. “I feel grateful, especially for what happened two days ago to the Mainstage; how it completely burned down. I think the guys did the miracle here to make this happen. As I said, I will be forever grateful to give us this opportunity to play here today.”
James Hype marvels at the production’s magnitude: “Back when I first started out DJing, it was literally my dream to play Tomorrowland. And I know how much it means to the people in the audience as well. People save up their money, they travel for thousands of miles.”
Lost Frequencies, a Belgian hero at Tomorrowland, delivered a genre-defying, ecstatic set. “I made a version of Sweet Disposition from The Temper Trap, which is actually a really big track that I didn’t want to remix in the first place—because there is already an amazing version from John Summit and there’s an amazing version from Axwell,” he lets us in on. “But the guys reached out to me from The Temper Trap and they were like, ‘We want you to make a remix.’ I was like, ‘If you’re going to ask me, I’m not going to say no.’”
Dillon Francis calls it a “spectacle,” not just a music festival, when describing what makes Tomorrowland different. And Sam Feldt praises its storytelling. “I feel like if you just walk around here, it feels like a Disneyland, right?” he explains. “They got the best people in the world working on the experience versus, here’s a stage and here are artists. They have the biggest artists, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about disappearing into this magical wonderland that they’ve created.”
Whether it was Meduza’s signature deep-house surge or Lost Frequencies performing on his home turf, each artist brought their own magic. “It’s truly an honour to play Tomorrowland,” James Hype says humbly. “So, we’ve got to make it special for everyone.”
Behind-the-Scenes with the Artists: Interviews in Their Own Words
GRAZIA sat down one-on-one with a number of the artists for quick but revealing interviews pre- and post-set, to get you the inside scoop on the pure magic they bring to Tomorrowland. From a look into their curated setlists to their unique sense of stage style, what emerged were moments of honesty, humour, and shared reverence for what Tomorrowland represents.
Dillon Francis
Dillon Francis: “Right now, I’m very much going back to a lot of the trap stuff that was from 2015, 2016. So that, and then house as well. It’s just such a fun genre right now. I feel like there’s so many different sub-genres in it.”
James Hype
James Hype: “I tend to put quite a bit of pressure on these types of sets because they mean a lot in the dance music calendar. People will look forward to, ‘What’s James Hype got for Tomorrowland?’ So, I need to make sure I’ve got loads of new IDs and some new transitions.”
Jax Jones
Jax Jones: “I guess my USP is I write songs from scratch on the guitar, and then I convert them into dance records. I love collaborating. It’s probably where we get the best results.”
Lost Frequencies
Lost Frequencies: “Every year now, for the last few years, I’ve been hosting the stage, Lost Frequencies & Friends, which is at The Library. And every year, I try to get Netsky to close the stage. I think that’s every year my favourite moment of the festival, because my show is done, my work is done, the stage hosting is done. This is the last moment of the day, and he always manages to get a lot of people coming to the stage to see him.”
Maddix
Maddix: “It’s my first time at Tomorrowland, and this is something as a kid you dream about when you start making music. I’ve been making music for 16, 17 years, and finally I played it. So it was actually also emotional, and it was a really special moment for me.”
Meduza
Meduza: “Performing in a nightclub, it’s more, I would say, easy, because you just get into the club and then see the mood of the venue and the vibe, and then you just follow the journey. And then just change the music if something goes wrong or right. Festival, I think it’s more just like a show. You need to entertain people. You need to give them your music, or maybe a different edit of your music, but it’s your show.”
MK
MK: “My best remixes have been songs that sound nothing that could be remixable. Those are the best ones.”
Sam Feldt
Sam Feldt: “I call it Future Tropical. That’s a mixtape series, same name, started this year. Specifically, also, because I do see that that’s coming back. You have Afro house, progressive house, all making a comeback because I feel like people are just a little bit tired of just hearing the beats. They want the melodies again, they want the vocals again, the euphoria that’s associated with electronic music, instead of just having the tech house or the techno, which, of course, has its place and has a huge hype. But I feel like there’s a countermovement on the way.”
Sofi Tukker
Sofi Tukker: “We know it’s a big deal. We know it’s a big festival. It’s a big privilege to be able to play. So, that’s why we were talking about it so much before this. We want to make it great. We want to make it excellent.”
Insider Tips: What to Pack and How to Survive in Style
When it comes to what to wear, we have to talk about one of the most important packing choices of the weekend: shoes. We recommend going with footwear with cushioned soles. Personally, I alternated between cowboy boots with inserts, chunky sneakers, and rain boots. When it comes to your beauty routine, primer and setting spray are essential. And yes, gemstone face stickers are back. The key here is to pack like a fashion and beauty editor, but think like a marathoner.
If you’re going VIP or media, bring an extra bag for your press materials, which you can easily store in a locker. You’ll want to balance sparkle with strategy. A few must-haves: practical pieces like a refillable water bottle, hand fan, and portable charger. Pro tip: waterproof everything. Downpours can hit fast—this year, Fisher’s set turned into a literal rain rave.
Food-wise? Truly impressive. Honestly, don’t even think twice about worrying what to eat because Tomorrowland has got you covered. Don’t just take our word for it; check out the multiple food influencers in attendance who recapped the highlights across the festival. Pad Kra Pao, Dim Sum, Smashburgers, Gyros, Belgian Fries, and Belgian Waffles (to name a few) made dining a highlight. There were luxe touches, of course, too—Rosé by the bottle, mocktail stations, and VIP snack carts (even an oyster bar) serving up dishes from opening until closing.
Final Reflections: Tomorrowland as a State of Mind
What struck me most was not just the scope or spectacle—but the emotion. Even after a fire nearly threatened its start, Tomorrowland roared back with beauty, precision, and a kind of chaotic harmony that felt spiritual. It’s a place where DJs get emotional mid-set, where strangers link arms during a drop, and where you leave somehow better inside (even if your boots are trashed on the outside).
For GRAZIA readers dreaming of a once-in-a-lifetime music experience, Tomorrowland is a luxury of a festival in its purest emotional form—not about things, but feelings, and, of course, fashion fusing with music. But Tomorrowland is also more than just music—it’s emotion, artistry, community, and a sense of coming home to strangers. After the fire, it could have faltered. Instead, it soared.
So, take our guidance and get ready to experience the magic for yourself. Trust us, you won’t want to miss Tomorrowland 2026!
This article first appeared on GRAZIA USA.
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