A large fire has engulfed and destroyed the main stage of Belgium’s iconic Tomorrowland music festival, just days before the event was scheduled to begin on Friday.
“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged,” organizers said in a statement released Wednesday evening. “We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident.”
Footage from the scene showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from the festival grounds in Boom, with fireworks visibly erupting and audible in the background.
According to Belgium’s public broadcaster VRT, the main stage has almost completely burned down. Emergency services remain on site, though the fire had not been brought under control at the time of reporting.
No festival-goers were present during the incident, but approximately 1,000 staff members were working on-site. All were safely evacuated, VRT added.
Debby Wilmsen, a spokesperson for Tomorrowland, said the destruction was deeply emotional for the team. “A lot of workers were devastated to see the main stage destroyed given that it took years to build, with so much love and passion,” she said.
Despite the damage, the festival is still set to begin on Friday. Organizers confirmed that the “DreamVille” campsite will open Thursday as scheduled and stated they are “focused on finding solutions for the festival weekend.”
“Tomorrow we’re expecting 38,000 festival-goers at DreamVille, at our campsite. We’re really looking forward to it,” Wilmsen added. “We’re going to make it a great festival. It will be without a main stage. But hopefully, we can do something else, but I can’t say much about that yet.”
Local resident Morgan Hermans said she was alarmed by the sound of fireworks, which prompted her to look outside. “There was just a big cloud of fireworks and smoke very near us, so that was a bit scary,” she said.
“It’s one of the biggest events in the entire year. Our town is very small so to welcome people from around the entire world, it’s crazy and it’s so much fun. It’s a big deal so everyone in Boom was a bit terrified for a few seconds,” she added.
Local police confirmed the fire in a post on X (formerly Twitter), urging the public to stay clear of the area and allow emergency responders full access.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, according to VRT.
