Come along quickly

• Around 6:30 PM a fire was reported at the main stage of the Tomorrowland festival in Boom
• Around 7:30 PM the fire was extinguished, most of the decor appears to be destroyed
• It is unclear whether Camping Dreamville will be able to open on Thursday, one day before the official start of the festival
• For now there are no reports of casualties

9 minutes ago

Leonie Van Gerven

Video | Huge clouds of smoke above Boom

Tomorrowland's stage also caught fire in Barcelona in 2017

This isn't the first time a Tomorrowland main stage has caught fire. In 2017, the main stage also caught fire in Barcelona at a sister event of Tomorrowland. At that time, the festival was already in full swing, and the site had to be evacuated immediately.

The event took place at Parc de Can Zam, in northeast Barcelona. The fire broke out just before closing DJ Steve Aoki's set, which was subsequently canceled. Over 20,000 festival-goers were evacuated. The cause was declared a"technical defect" at the time.

Unite was an initiative where Tomorrowland organized sister events in eight different countries. Visitors could also watch some acts in Belgium livestreamed on large screens via a satellite connection.

30 minutes ago

Can the festival go ahead?

Now that the fire appears to be under control, the key question is whether the festival can go ahead. There's been no communication on this yet. Fortunately for the organizers, the De Schorre site in Boom is large and has 14 other stages, most of them much smaller than the main stage.

The question now is whether the 70,000 visitors can be safely distributed across the rest of the site, just like the artists scheduled for the main stage. A further question is whether other infrastructure necessary for the festival's safety, such as the generators for the lighting and emergency exits, was also damaged.

32 minutes ago

Max De Moor

Dimitri Vegas shares message of support on Instagram

DJ Dimitri Vegas, one half of the DJ duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and a main stage regular for years, shared his condolences to the organizers on Instagram. In his post, he shared a visual of a broken Tomorrowland heart.

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45 minutes ago

Max De Moor

Images show that the fire on the main stage has been largely extinguished: only the steel structure remains standing

Images show that the fire on the main stage has been largely extinguished. The entire set has burned down. What remains is a steel skeleton around which the entire stage is being clad.

A colossal stage in the flames

What a major international artist is for Rock Werchter, the main stage is for Tomorrowland. The main stage is the true face of the festival. The main stage isn't actually a real stage, but a huge wall with screens and fantasy set pieces. The DJs who perform on the main stage stand on a small platform. The stage's dimensions are gigantic: 160 meters wide and 45 meters high. This year's set also included 65 fountains and two waterfalls. The stage is constructed from Layher scaffolding, combined with Stageco tower elements. The set pieces and screens are attached to these. The images also show the sound towers and large LED screens ablaze. The sound and lighting equipment alone, now ablaze, cost millions of euros.

56 minutes ago

Max De Moor

Camping Dreamville should normally open its doors tomorrow

Normally, campers would already be arriving near the festival grounds tomorrow, a day before the official start of the festival. That's when the Dreamville campsite opens with The Gathering, a party for tens of thousands of campers. The organizers can't yet say whether that will go ahead.

58 minutes ago

Max De Moor

Map of the Tomorrowland site

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Today 17:13

Stijn Decock

Three quarters of the stage already burned down

The main stage already appears beyond repair. Images show that three-quarters of the main stage's decor has already burned down. The main stage is only one of sixteen stages at Tomorrowland. Today 5:12 PM

Max De Moor

Alert to local residents:"Close windows and doors"

Local residents are receiving a message on their phones from the government service Be-alert asking them to close their windows and doors."There is currently a fire raging on the Tomorrowland site, with fireworks exploding. Close your windows and doors. Smoke is a nuisance but not toxic," the full message reads.

Today 5:10 PM

Stijn Decock

No reports of injuries for the time being

According to VRT, there are currently no injuries. However, all residents have been asked to keep their windows and doors closed due to the heavy smoke.

Today 17:09

Max De Moor

All employees asked to leave the premises

According to our information, all employees were asked to leave the site for safety reasons. The fire department is present and trying to get the fire under control. Little appears to remain of the main stage, the annual centerpiece of the festival.