TOMORROWLAND attended , which these days doesn ’ t sound a lot but back then it was really big .
“ Straight after that event our new partner went abroad , and said he wanted to do parties again in South Africa . After about a month , he came back , and we had a meeting . We said , ‘ You want to focus on things outside Belgium , but we want to take our steps here where we started , so let ’ s split ’. He said , ‘ Okay , but the money that ’ s on my account stays on my account and what you have stays on your account . We were like , ‘ but you got the full turnover of the event , the ticketing income and the bar revenue , and we just paid all the invoices . Our bank account is at zero , and you have the turnover ’.
“ This sounds super naïve but when you ’ re young , you ’ re just focusing on doing the event , taping up posters and making sure people are coming . We never signed a contract with him , and so the harsh reality was that he took off with the turnover .
“ We lost our office , our furniture , everything . And although we did a good , profitable , event , we were bankrupt , which was so surreal . The liquidator said , ‘ you don ’ t have anything on paper , you can start a lawsuit but knowing the Belgian law , in five or six-years ’ time , you will still be in court and you probably won ’ t get anything ’.
Tomorrow ’ s another day “ We were still very motivated , we had never done a big event that made a loss ,
TOMORROWLAND TIMELINE
2015 2016
2017
2018
Tomorrowland Brazil
“ WE WERE YOUNG AND WE FELT THAT WE WERE NOT BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY .”
and we had grown over time . We were back in my bedroom at my parents ’ house , and we wanted to start again . So , I went to a lot of banks to get a loan but of course , if you ’ re young , you don ’ t
2019 2020
2021
Tomorrowland Winter
have any warranties , you don ’ t have any money on your account or a house to give to the bank as a guarantee for the loan . It ’ s very difficult . No none would give us a loan except for one person . His name is Francis , and he ’ s a hero . He gave us a loan of € 75,000 . He was the only person that said , ‘ I ’ m going to make sure you get a loan so you can continue . I believe in you guys . It ’ s my risk , and I don ’ t need any guarantee ’.
“ The beautiful thing about this story is that we ’ re still with him today , so many years later , all our accounts are with his bank , because he believed in us back then . Loans are very hard to get for young entrepreneurs these days , it all goes through computer systems that make the decision if you get a loan or not . My advice to banks and investors is to take a personal approach and support young entrepreneurs , because that is vital – it was Francis ’ belief that saved us .”
2022 2023
2024
The first edition of Tomorrowland Brazil was staged . |
Some 38,000 guests stayed at DreamVille , and almost 19,000 booked a ‘ Global Journey ’ package .
To celebrate its collaboration with Brussels Airlines , Tomorrowland received its own airplane , Amare .
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Tomorrowland saw an attendance hit 400,000 , with acts including Armin van Buuren and David Guetta . |
Tomorrowland Winter was launched , taking place in March at Alpe d ’ Huez in the French Alps . |
The pandemic led to the launch of virtual edition , Tomorrowland - Around the World . |
The second edition of Tomorrowland – Around the World was adapted to all time zones . |
Tomorrowland returned to De Schorre park and ran over three weekends for the first time .
The festival returned to the two-weekend format , with 750 acts across 16 stages .
More than 400,000 people from 200 countries celebrated Tomorrowland ’ s 20-year anniversary edition , which had the theme ‘ Life ’.
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