Four hundred thousand people ‘Adscendo’ on Tomorrowland
| 2nd August 2023
The magical festival of Tomorrowland Belgium was sold out in under a minute this year, with ravers from more than 30 countries and 57 cities worldwide gathering as one in the Belgium Town of Boom over two weekends from July 21st-23rd and 28th-30th.
This 17th edition of Tomorrowland revolved around the theme ‘Adscendo,’ turning De Schorre into a spectacular destination high on the horizon.
NEW THIS YEAR
Tomorrowland Train
New this year was the special Tomorrowland party trains with live DJ sets traveling from Amsterdam and Dusseldorf to Antwerp, bringing the People of Tomorrowland to the festival in style!
Terra Solis Dubai opened last year in the UAE and was proud to welcome the Terra Solis stage at Tomorrowland in Belgium with a lineup of fantastic artists, including Airrica, Biesmans Live, Biscuit, Danny Howard, and more.
Nestled in the green nature full of beautiful plants and summery vibes was the new Rise Stage, giving young and aspiring DJ talents worldwide a platform to showcase their skills in collaboration with the Tomorrowland Academy. DJ Michelle, who lives in the UAE, became the youngest DJ who ever performed at Tomorrowland at 11 years old.
VIVA HIGHLIGHTS
Rise Stage
Day 1. German DJ and producer Purple Disco Machine hypnotise the mainstage crowd with his vintage funk and disco flavour sounds, which made a nice colorful change of pace from other Tomorrowland EDM performers; plus, the sun was shining for his set, which didn’t much over the weekend!
British Drum and Base DJ and RAM Record label owner Andy C rocked The Rose Garden stage with Manchester MC Tonn Piper dropping some fresh drum and bass remixes of Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys, and Eurythmics.
Swedish dance music legend Eric Prydz returned to Tomorrowland’s packed Freedom stage with his spectacular HOLO performance. One of dance music’s most innovative visual performances, renowned for its astonishing three-dimensional visual aspect, we were blown away!
Eric Prydz
Day 2. VIVA’s favourites, Nervo, had a packed-out Mainstage performance. Liv looked super cool in an all-in blue and orange jumpsuit while Miriam rocked a wild leopard printed leotarded. They played some Nevro hits, including ‘Faded’ plus their latest release ‘Could’ve Been Love’ and a tear-jerking moment when they dropped a remix of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ as a tribute to Sinead O’Connor.
Steve Aoki closed the main stage on day 2 with the usual Aoki madness, combining a handful of the craziest edits and mashups with the freshest releases from his record label Dim Mak Records. Kid Cudi, Lil Jon, John Martin, and fashion icon Paris Hilton joined him on stage.
But the set of the day goes to Gorgon City on the Rise By Coke Studio stage. We are big fans of the English duo and can safely say their performance was epic from start to finish. The pair began with ‘Voodoo,’ and the set continued to get bigger and bigger, playing sweet, vocal, melodic house music into the Tomorrowland evening with the crowd pleaser being ‘You’ve Done Enough.’
Nervo
Day 3. We spent most of the day down at the Library stage in the pouring rain, which didn’t spoil our mood as we rain danced to Ben Nicky pumping out a complete set of the ultimate classic anthems.
The fabulous Paris Hilton arrived on the Library stage dressed in a sparkly pink outfit and wowed the crowd with her fun, poppy dance set, blowing out an EDM version of Aqua’s Barbie Girl, which sent everyone wild. We loved it when she told the girl in the crowd holding a sign saying, “We know you’re not mixing,” where to go! Paris reacts, saying, “To the girl with the sign, just because I’m blonde and hot doesn’t mean I’m not mixing” YES, Paris, you go, girl!
But we were mostly excited to see Timmy Trumpet teaming up with Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. Timmy, with his mad dance moves and trumpet tunes vs Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike’s legendary EDM mixes, was the show of all shows, with special guest Danna Paola bringing some Mexican vibes.
In the funniest moment, Timmy Trumpet tells all the lads in the crowd to take their tops off and do the helicopter. It was tipping it down with rain and freezing. I think under half of the lads in the crowd took them off, haha!
BACKSTAGE GOSSIP
Paris Hilton and Steve Aoki
Standing out from the crowd backstage was Nervo, who compared their white funky pulled-up socks with us!
We bumped into Paris Hilton, who was taking pictures with her hubby Carter Reum. Paris was lovely and invited us out of the rain into her car for a couple of snaps.
Timmy Trumpet and Dimitri Vegas were having a few drinks in the Library backstage bar, giving out VIP wristbands to punters to join them on stage.
The Dutch DJ Hardwell, who closed the Mainstage on day two, was having fun with friends on the last day and told us he loves playing at Tomorrowland!
FANCY DRESS
VIVA Girls with Timmy Trumpet, Paris Hilton and Nervo
The People Of Tomorrowland went all out this year with the fancy dress, including us, who dressed as Kevin and Perry go large, plus Paris Hilton look-a-likes!
We saw a guy with a cone on his head, a lot of Super Mario Brothers and bubble men, plus our favourite, who we bumped into last year, a guy called Darryl Rees dressed as a granny again with a zimmer frame!
Fancy dress at Tomorrowland, Kevin & Perry, Paris Hilton, Raving Granny
Tomorrowland will return to South America for a new edition of Tomorrowland Brasil on October 12th. The beautiful area of Parque Maeda in Itu, a municipality of Sao Paulo, will be the home again of the three-day global gathering with a collection of the planet’s finest electronic artists. Ravers will be dancing under the Brazilian sun to the sounds of ACRAZE, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, NERVO, Tiesto, Bassjackers, Los Frequencies, plus many more.
For more information about Tomorrowland, head to www.tomorrowland.com
Adscendo Tomorrowland 2023