Christopher BarrettOrganisers of dance festival series Tomorrowland, in Belgium, said they have been given permission to operate a third weekend event this summer and the 200,000 tickets for it sold out in 17 minutes. Some 400,000 tickets had previously been sold for the other weekends of the postponed festival series.
After a two-year hiatus, and losses of around £21 million following the cancellation of six festival weekend events due to the pandemic, Tomorrowland will return in July. The event will, for the first time, take place across three weekends – 15-17, 22-24 and 29-31 July.
It will see around 700 acts perform across 14 stages, including headliners Diplo, Alesso, Sofi Tukker, Marshmello, Martin Garrix, DJ Diesel and Major Lazer.
“We got permission of the Province of Antwerp, the City of Boom and Rumst to organise, exceptional and only in 2022, an extra festival weekend to compensate the losses of the last year,” said Tomorrowland’s Debby Wilmsen.
During the pandemic, Tomorrowland’s organisers staged digital versions of the event, including the live streamed Tomorrowland Around the World in July 2020 that had an audience of more than 1 million people, with weekend tickets priced €20 (£18.20).
The Tomorrowland team is currently preparing for its second winter edition, set to take place in the French Alps from 19-26 March in the village of Alpe d’Huez, where the festival’s first winter event was held for 30,000 people in 2019. The line-up included Armin van Buuren, Afrojack, Martin Garrix, Steve Aoki and Nervo.
Said Wilmsen, “We are very happy to welcome 600,000 festivalgoers at Tomorrowland in Belgium this summer. It is great to see that people [remained] positive in those challenging years and we are looking forward to share love, music and friendship soon.”