Love, Unity and Respect are not just simply words, are part of the magical editions of Tomorrowland. Along the year, the People of Tomorrow have united from all corners of the globe, celebrating the spectacle of friendship besides the biggest names in the music industry. EDM NOMAD had the opportunity to get behind the scene with Debby Wilmsen, Press Coordinator & Spokeswoman of Tomorrowland, and find out more about Tomorrowland in pandemic and the new chapter that will be written this year at Tomorrowland Winter and Tomorrowland Belgium.
1. Talking about the beginning of the Coronavirus Crisis, Tomorrowland Winter has been among the first festivals which canceled the 2020 edition. How difficult was it for the whole team to decide the cancellation of the event and also to find alternatives?
The past two years were very challenging for us, our team and all our suppliers, partners and freelancers but we are very hopeful, and we are really looking forward to our Winter edition in Alpe d’Huez in France in March this year. We will welcome 18.000 festivalgoers.
2. With the cancellation of Tomorrowland Winter in France and the summer edition in Belgium, Tomorrowland created the first immersive virtual world called Papilionem, between July 25 & 26, 2020. How Tomorrowland managed the shift to virtual in just three months?
We have decided to organize a digital festival in April 2020 when our festival had to be canceled. It took us 3 months to develop and that is very short notice so we needed to work 24/7 to get everything ready. We have been working with the latest technologies in 3D design, video production, gaming and special effects to craft a new Tomorrowland location.
Tomorrowland Around the World is not a traditional livestream event with DJs in a studio or at home. Instead, it is a unique form of visual entertainment – an unprecedented technological masterpiece demonstrating a number of technological world premieres and entwining entertainment and technology in a way that has never been done before.
More than 60 of the planet’s biggest artists recorded their performances in 4 large green screen studios around the world, while 2 different platforms were used to assemble all the elements together. The digital universe of Tomorrowland Around the World had 10 times more polygons compared to a modern computer game and each stage had a 16 square kilometer surface with 32.000 trees and plants and over 280.000 virtual people who each had their own attributes, such as flags or lights.
3. Also, in 2020 Tomorrowland conceived a unique digital festival on the biggest night of the year with 3D design, video production, and special effects. What were the most difficult aspects of producing a digital festival in the age of Covid-19?
Those technologies were created by the in-house creative team and 3D artists of Tomorrowland, renowned for creating Tomorrowland’s world-famous stages and artwork, in collaboration with several partners. Bringing the live video, lighting, visuals and effects, feature film and gaming technology together resulted in a lot of unforeseen productional and technical challenges that required new integrations to be developed. Those months presented a unique opportunity to have all these teams available at the same time and allowed everyone to create a technical set-up that has never been done before, giving a huge energy boost to a sector that was badly hurt by the global pandemic.
Tomorrowland is now proud to say it has been able to bridge the gap between the real world and the virtual environment to a level beyond everyone’s expectations – Tomorrowland Around the World is the result of a gigantic team effort of hundreds of people who are working around the clock to create a never-before-seen interactive entertainment experience.
4. How Tomorrowland has stayed connected with the audience during these challenging times?
We have been organizing live stream events, 3 digital events and we are connected via One World Radio and our socials.
We are now in full preparation for our Tomorrowland Winter edition in Alpe d’Huez in France and of course, we are looking forward to Tomorrowland in Belgium this summer. We are also running our Tomorrowland Restaurant in Antwerp and we have just opened a DJ store in the centre of Antwerp.
5. In July 2021 was held the second edition of Tomorrowland- Around The World. Do you think that the live stream model could become an annual event?
Yes, it can be something that we can organize next to our in-person events.
6. Also, we are seeing lots of improvements and innovations in the music scene with the Web3 being integrated into the industry more and more. Have you ever considered expanding into the space as a brand and launching Web3 products and NFTs as a major festival?
Yes, we are looking into that too.
7. Talking about live-in-person events, do you think that we’ll see a decline in the number of people attending music festivals in the immediate future due to the Coronavirus Omicron variant?
”The past two years were very challenging for us…but we are hopeful”
We do not know for sure, but we will welcome already 18.000 festivalgoers in France in the coming weeks and we do not see a decline in attendees and we are launching our ticket sale for an extra weekend in Belgium in the next weeks. For the moment we see a lot of people registering for the sales…
8. Moreover, the music industry still faces a lot of uncertainty. Do you believe festivals may return to some semblance of normality this year? What means a new cancellation for Tomorrowland with two major festivals scheduled this year?
The past two years were very challenging for us, our team, and all our suppliers, partners, and freelancers but we are very hopeful.
9. Believing that love will reflect again, Tomorrowland Winter is planning to return next month and Tomorrowland Belgium has already announced 3 weekends (July- 15-17, July 22-24, July 29-31). What can we expect from the magnificent editions of Tomorrowland 2022?
We launch the first names today 😉
2022 promises to have a wonderful summer in store… The iconic Belgian festival Tomorrowland will exceptionally add one extra festival weekend before the traditional two last weekends of July this year, making its return by treating the People of Tomorrow to three magnificent weekends of magic. As of February 2, everyone can already pre-register for ticket sales. All ticket options, info, and prices – day and weekend passes, including Global Journey Travel Packages – are now available via tomorrowland.com. For a chance to buy tickets for Tomorrowland 2022, people will need to pre-register via the Tomorrowland Account on tomorrowland.com.
About Tomorrowland Winter, excitement is running high, as the festival sold out in no time and will welcome 18,000 participants. It will also be one of the biggest festivals of its kind in a long time. This enthusiasm is not only noticeable on the side of the festival-goers. The economic impact of the first edition of the festival on the French ski resort and on the region has indeed been significant. Today, the inhabitants, merchants and businesses of the region are eagerly awaiting the second edition.
This year, Tomorrowland Winter also sold a limited number of day-passes, allowing the inhabitants of the region to spend one day discovering the magic, the universe, and the incomparable spectacle offered by the festival. Throughout the day and evening, festival-goers will be able to enjoy performances by over 100 DJs from all genres of electronic music, including some of the world’s best and most prominent artists, such as Adriatique, Afrojack, Armin van Buuren, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Kölsch, Kungs, Lost Frequencies, Martin Solveig, Ofenbach, Paul Kalkbrenner, …
Scattered throughout the mountain landscape, the beautifully decorated stages are also accessible to non-skiers. In the evening, the festival continues on the different stages of the Alpe d’Huez ski resort, including a brand new covered and heated main stage. This will be the largest of its kind ever built in an environment such as Alpe d’Huez.
Thank you Debby and hope we can unite again once more on the Holy Grounds of Tomorrowland!
Stay informed on Tomorrowland`s events:
Tomorrowland Winter– March 19&26, 2022 Alpe D Huez, France
Tomorrowland& KNTXT- Charlotte de Witte– April 16, 2022 Ghent, Belgium
Core Festival– May 27&28, 2022 Brussels, Belgium
Tomorrowland– 3 weekends- July 15-17, 22-24, 29-31, 2022 Boom, Belgium
Swedish House Mafia– October 29, 2022, Antwerp
Dimitri Vegas& Like Mike– December 16-17, 2022, Antwerp
Photo credits- Tomorrowland
