Tomorrowland

July 17 (UPI) — Tomorrowland music festival is still on after a fire destroyed the main stage, organizers announced on Thursday.

Tomorrowland said in an update on its website that the doors to its DreamVille campsite had opened to campers at 10 a.m. local in Belgium on Thursday ahead of the start of the music festival on Friday.

“This wasn’t just a stage. It was a living, breathing world. From the very first sketch on a blank page, to countless hours of conceptual design, artistic collaboration, engineering, crafting, and building, every single piece of Orbyz carried part of our soul,” Tomorrowland posted on its website.

The fire took place on Wednesday, no one was injured and experts are working on finding the cause. By Thursday morning, the fire had been extinguished and firefighters had left the site.

Organizers worked with the local government and safety experts throughout Wednesday night to figure out a solution for the festival.

“Cancelling the festival completely is the last thing we want to do,” Jurgen Callaerts, Mayor of Rumst said.

The campsite Dreamville has been declared safe by the local fire service as it opened for the event.

Attendees expressed disappointment in the stage not being included in this year’s festival.

“The main stage is what gives the festival its atmosphere and is what makes it so special,” said Jules Adam, a ticket holder.

“The main event is the main stage,” Stjepan Grgic said. “It’s a massive loss.”

Tomorrowland started in 2005 and it became the biggest electronic dance festival in the world.

The annual Tomorrowland festival is set to draw about 100,000 attendees, with many expected to camp on site.

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.