APRIL | COVER FEATURE
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 a million people , with weekend tickets priced € 20 (£ 18.20 ). Wilmsem says that as a result of the digital event ’ s success , all Tomorrowland festivals going forward will be delivered as physical / digital hybrids .
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 in 2019 . The line-up included Armin van Buuren , Afrojack , Martin Garrix , Steve Aoki and Nervo . Wilmsen said it was great to see such a positive response to the on-sale from consumers , following such a difficult time during the pandemic : “ The past two years were very challenging for us , our team and all our suppliers , partners and freelancers but we are very hopeful .”
Not content to stop at three summer festival weekends , and a winter festival , the Tomorrowland team is also busy running a Tomorrowland Restaurant in Antwerp and recently opened a DJ store in the centre of Antwerp .
It is also preparing for the launch of new 25,000-capacity festival CORE , which will take place at Osseghem Park in Brussels on 27-28 May this year .
Despite all the activity , Wilmsen says it was vitally important to get clearance for the third summer event . With many of the tickets for the first two weekends having been sold in 2020 , it meant the promoters were able to sell tickets for the third event at a higher price , while also meeting strong demand from people who had not purchased them two years previously .
Naturally , We Are One World has
“ We started working on La Prima Estate before the pandemic hit but right now looks like an even more suitable time to launch the festival because of the appetite for live music .”
– Di and Gi promoter Enrico D ’ Alessandro
not been immune from the impact of the pandemic .
“ A lot of people across the event industry did find a new job but we have seen that experts , and people who are really passionate about the industry , are still there and they are starting up their business again .
“ Indeed , costs and materials are more expensive , and we have some delays with materials but we never stopped working during the Covid crisis : we have been working in our “ atelier ” so that we were ready .”
EXIT In Serbia , Exit was one of the first summer festivals to take place last year . The promoters opened the gates of the 17th-century fortress in Novi Sad on 8 July , welcoming more than
42,000 fans from over 70 countries to the 20th anniversary edition of the hugely popular event . Among the headliners for this year ’ s event on 7-10 July are Calvin Harriss , and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds .
The festival was founded in 2000 in the University Park as a student movement , fighting for democracy and freedom in Serbia and the Balkans . After the downfall of the Milosevic regime , Exit was moved to the Petrovaradin Fortress in 2001 .
Exit ’ s Sanjin Đukić says the event typically has a capacity of 56,000 , but that was reduced a little for last year ’ s event . The majority of ticket buyers are usually Serbian but Đukić says that 2021 was only the second time that foreigners purchased more tickets than locals , with around 10,000
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