It’s currently August. For one, that means that festival season is coming to an end, which is a sad time for dance music fans. However, looking back at this year’s season so far, it’s clear that 2015 sported a plethora of events for festival-lovers to attend, but there is one festival that year after year comes to minds regardless of what other festivals pop-up: Tomorrowland.
The Belgian festival just concluded its 10th anniversary this year and this monumental occasion marked a very special moment for the ID&T-produced festival. It means that for 10 years, the festival has been able to continue their reputation as the world’s largest annual electronic music festival. Yet, many dance fans around the world have not experienced the magic of Tomorrowland because of its location. Migrating to Belgium for three days of magic can be costly and difficult to coordinate. Since the US skyrocketed EDM’s worldwide status only a short few years ago, a new market has emerged of millions of crazed ravers who want to see what all the buzz is about one of the world’s most renowned festivals.
Seeing the problem in front of them, ID&T looked to accommodate to the explosion in the US and thus, TomorrowWorld was born in 2013. Finding the perfect location in the US was crucial. Ultra was the city festival, Coachella was the SoCal festival, Electric Forest was the, well, forest festival, and EDC Las Vegas was the desert festival. After carefully examining the countries locations, the rolling Chattahoochee Hills near Atlanta, Georgia, were the final decision.
Sporting a lineup comparable to that of any massive, international event, TomorrowWorld 2013 saw a mind-boggling success. With stages curated by Mad Decent, Pete Tong, Fool’s Gold, Dirtybird, OWSLA, and more in addition to a Main Stage led by Tiesto, Axwell, Afrojack, Hardwell, and David Guetta (to name a few), any dance fan would drool at a lineup with so many of the scene’s influencers kicking off a newly formed festival.
In 2014, TomorrowWorld stepped it up a notch. In addition to bringing back names like David Guetta, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, and Steve Aoki, ID&T saw the EDM landscape changing and booked acts that had influenced the scene over the past year. Bassnector, Diplo, Kaskade, Martin Garrix, Richie Hawtin, Maceo Plex, and Skrillex were highlight of the 2014 festival. But it wasn’t until the yearly financial reports of how TomorrowWorld impacted the area that we saw why this festival is such a success.
For 2015, TomorrowWorld looked to make it bigger than ever. Slowly revealing amenities and new formed features like Breakfast Beats to new stage, fans anxiously awaited who would be leading the lineup. After a headliner announcement video series that proved to be more diverse than ever and following up with even more depth on Phase II, the full lineup was no surprise that it was incredible. From trance to tropical house to future genres to the first ever live performance stage, TomorrowWorld looks to not only be a great US festival but the best.
Following along TomorrowWorld’s history until right this moment, the question reverts back to the title: why is TomorrowWorld the Ultimate US Festival? The funny thing is, there is no one answer. Analyzing what we’ve gone through, it comes down to a couple key points: the history, the reputation, the lineups, the economic impact, the past successes, the innovation, the mindset, and the magic.
It’s hard to conceptualize the reason of why TomorrowWorld is the ultimate US festival in concrete terms. You have to experience it. It’s one of the most exciting festival in the US market, and this year is going to be its best yet. Don’t wait, live the magic of TomorrowWorld. Limited tickets are awaiting here.
