Fire ‘severely damages’ Belgium’s Tomorrowland stage ahead of Friday start

A huge fire has engulfed the main stage of Belgium’s globally-renowned Tomorrowland electronic dance music festival, two days before the event was due to open to an expected audience of 100,000.

“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged,” festival organisers said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident,” it added.

Several hundred firefighters had fought to save the stage from the flames, and Antwerp prosecutors have opened an investigation, though they said the fire appeared accidental.

The annual Tomorrowland festival, held in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, is set to begin on Friday and approximately 100,000 participants are expected to attend, with many planning to camp on site for the duration of the event.

The 2025 edition is scheduled to run over the next two weekends.

Organisers said the festival’s campground will open as scheduled on Thursday, when attendees are expected to begin arriving, and emphasised that they are focused on finding solutions for the weekend events.

Several dozen DJs and electronic music stars, such as David Guetta, Lost Frequencies, Armin van Buuren and Charlotte de Witte, are to perform from Friday for the first weekend, with two-thirds of the events split between the now destroyed “Mainstage” and the “Freedom Stage”.

Founded 20 years ago by two Belgian brothers, Tomorrowland has become an internationally-renowned event. A winter festival is now held in the French ski resort of Alpe d’Huez and another in Brazil.