Talking to the People of “Tomorrowland”

Tomorrowland is without a doubt one of the best festivals in the world. Every DJ wants to play there, every party lover wants to be there. This is the holy ground for people all over the world. Party flights from around the globe heading towards Brussels airport each year loaded with the ones that are indulging themselves in to a weekend full of magic, unity and loads of love.

With 600.000 people spread across three insane weekends and a line-up of the who is who in the music scene, crowds saw Afrojack, Charlotte de Witte, Hardwell, Steve Aoki, Major Lazer, and W&W just to name a few. This year’s theme “The Reflection of Love” was spread across the whole festival. From elaborate stages, crazy costumes, loving people and most importantly great people working behind the scenes to make everything happen. What better way to explore this all than to talk to these people and get to know their story? During the weekend we met several interesting people. These are their stories.

One of the people we met was Gaetan van lijsebetten. He was providing DJ lessons for Coca Cola at one of their hangouts. People weere able to be their own DJ at a Silent disco. And Gaetan was providing the help the eager party crowd needed. When we asked him about what he thinks about Tomorrowland and why he is here he had the following to say:

We met Gaëlle D. when she was working for One World Radio. She had the following to say:

“Tomorrowland means magic, happiness, love, unity of all countries. A few years ago I worked for a company in the event sector as a promo boy for Coca Cola. Through a friend I got in contact and they needed a DJ with my experience. I was lucky to be able to provide that service. Since I was younger I was fascinated with music. When I was sitting in the backseat of my parents’ car I already listened to music through my headphones. It was here where I started mixing tracks in my head even before I knew djs existed. When I was 10 years old I received my first mixtape. Even better my parents met in a disco.”

“For me it is the first time here but this is not my kind of music. But being from Belgium you have to be there at least once in your life. People are coming from across the world and that is great, but I feel like a lot of them are not dancing. I am mostly into other music but I also like techno a lot. Here it is funny to see that djs play differently compared to smaller events when you see them. Charlotte de Witte for example will play tonight but it will be so different when she plays a small club. For me, I always like to dance all out when I hear good music. Yesterday I really enjoyed Dax J B2B Kobosil.”

Later that day we sat down with Edith K. She was working security at the Core stage.

“I have been working in the security business for quit some time now. I am solely here for the money. My favorite music is metal. I am a metalhead through and through. It is great to see that people are enjoying the music and the atmosphere. But I myself will be enjoying “Wacken” next year, that is music. Nevertheless I could have a worse security detail at the moment.”

While strolling over the festival we bumped into Felix L who was selling ice cream. We had an interesting conversation:

“I love Tomorrowland and I’m so happy to be here. I have been here once before as a guest but now working here is a different feeling. I enjoy the music and the atmosphere. So many great people you meet while working who I wouldn’t meet as a regular guest. Of course there is a difference between a guest and working. We have a schedule and certain commitments but it is not all bad. While listening to some great music I make some money on the side.”

Lastly we talked to Mira S. a photographer running from stage to stage:

“I am so grateful to be part of one of the best media teams in the world. It took me a while to get there but this is living the dream. Do not get me wrong it is a hard job hauling all this equipment from stage to stage. I really enjoy it, it keeps me fit haha. No seriously it has it ups and downs but for the most part I am very happy. I get to see some amazing artists and best of all take some incredible pictures of them. I have a schedule of where to be and at what time, and then it is up to me to get some incredible shots. In the end I take a couple thousand pictures just to delete most of them haha. Anyways I have to run to the next stage. Enjoy Tomorrowland.”

It was an honor talking to these people. Everyone was super friendly and took their time for us. Again, we want to thank them for sitting down with us. We often overlook these people when we go to a festival. For us they are sometimes invisible or we take them for granted. But without these people there would not be a Tomorrowland. We say thank you to these unsung heroes for making it even possible for us to enjoy this amazing festival.