Tomorrowland vs. Tomorrowworld

Things may be in full swing with Tomorrowland in Belgium but here in the USA things are just gearing up in preparation for Tomorrowworld. Shawn Carter, the man who is managing the Tomorrowworld project, spoke to Billboard. He says that Tomorrowworld will be very similar to Tomorrowland:

[the festivals are] identical in the sense that the reason we chose that site [Chattahoochee] is really the lush green nature that it brings..The entire area that we’re talking about is around 8,000 acres. We’ll be using around 500 this particular year, and we have it scaled to build that out even further. Also, as you see around us [at Tomorrowland], we’re nestled in between many houses and local businesses, and there’s little scale to grow, which is one of the reasons why we’re bringing [Tomorrowland] around the world.

So [the farm] is a very, very large space. It’s 30 minutes away from the airport, 20 minutes from the city, so it’s very easily reachable, but also unlike here, it’s very secluded. One of the secret benefits of the whole thing is that you’re really in another place. Here you’re around lots of houses and cars and people, and if you’re at one of the other festivals in the U.S., one of the bigger ones, you’re generally in the city or in a very dry place. So you’re always reminded that you are kind of in civilization. And what makes TomorrowWorld pretty special in that sense is that you’re really on another planet.

Interestingly enough, the promoters of Counterpoint, the festival that used to reside in Chattahoochee, will be helping out with Tomorrowworld:

The organizers of that festival approached Tomorrowland and said, ‘Hey, do you want to meet up and maybe there’s something that can happen?’ And then we scouted it and fell in love with it. We went to Counterpoint itself [September 27-29, 2012], and then in the end, we made an agreement with [Counterpoint organizers] and with the [farm] owner to shift TomorrowWorld there because it’s just such a perfect site. [TomorrowWorld actually took Counterpoint’s pre-reserved 2013 dates.] And they work with us now; they’re actually in charge of [camping area] Dreamville. Their festival has moved from that location, of course, but they’re cooperating really closely on TomorrowWorld.

Something that was very important to the organizers when coming to the USA was to make the festival 21+.

I think one thing was, for a couple of reasons, a very important decision was the age restriction. We’re the only U.S. festival this size that is a 21-plus festival. The first reason that we did it was we really want the experience to be complete. So when you come into this event, we don’t want you every day to have to have a new check of your ID. We don’t want to ruin the experience. You’re in a dreamland, a fantasyland, so we really want it to be pure.

Source: Billboard