Metallica Saves EDM Music Festival

2025-07-20

Metallica

Metallica came to the rescue after Tomorrowland’s stage burned down, allowing the massive festival to go on as planned. – Author: Charles Ken, Photo from Ross Halfin

Last week, the main stage for Tomorrowland, the huge Belgian EDM festival that takes place outside of Antwerp, caught fire and burned down just two days before the festival was scheduled to begin. Belgian news outlet VRT confirmed the news after photos and videos of the massive fire started showing up online around 12:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday July 16. According to VRT, the main stage was “almost completely destroyed.”

Thankfully, no festival attendees were reported to be there at the time of the fire, as the event was scheduled to start its first weekend on Friday, July 18. The festival features big EDM acts such as David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Deadmau5 and others.

After the reports surfaced, Tomorrowland shared a statement to their official website, confirming that, happily, nobody was injured during the fire and that they were working on “finding solutions for the festival weekend.”

“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged,” the festival stated. “We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident. We can announce that, DreamVille (campsite) will open tomorrow (Thursday, July 17) as planned and will be ready for all DreamVille visitors. All Global Journey activities in Brussels and Antwerp will take place as planned. We are focused on finding solutions for the festival weekend (Friday – Saturday – Sunday). More updates and detailed information will be communicated as soon as possible.”

Metallica to the Rescue

Well, they found a solution. The great Metallica came to the rescue after the fire incident, letting the festival borrow their massive stage that was in storage in nearby Austria.

Metallica’s set was perfect, offering a wall of video screens from their “WorldWired Tour.” The set was being stored in Austria, so it wasn’t too far away, and it was airlifted to Belgium overnight, according to HLN.

Dutch DJ Martin Garrix, who performed on Friday, took to Instagram to share a photo of himself with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and announced, “I can not believe I’m actually typing this… but my set at Tomorrowland is still happening! Massive love and a big shoutout to the incredible @tomorrowland team for pulling off miracles — and to @Metallica for coming through with the new stage parts.”

He added that he was “beyond excited to close the mainstage tonight” and that “this will hands down be the most unique Tomorrowland ever.” He also said “let’s make history,” and they certainly did.

“Tomorrowland is one of the largest and most iconic electronic music festivals in the world, taking place every year in July in Boom, Belgium,” the festival says on their website. “The first edition of Tomorrowland was held in 2005 as a one-day festival with 9.000 visitors. Today, Tomorrowland stretches over two weekends, welcoming 400.000 People of Tomorrow from all over the world. Tomorrowland caters to all genres in electronic dance music with hundreds of renowned artists performing across more than 15 different stages.”

The festival adds, “DreamVille, Tomorrowland’s official campsite located right next to the festival grounds, is a vibrant city that welcomes tens of thousands of festival visitors after an exuberant day at Tomorrowland. DreamVille offers a unique camping experience with a wide range of accommodations, so everyone can find a place to fall in love with.”

Charles Ken
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Posted by Charles Ken | Metal, Music, Rock News

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