One year after the Tomorrowland main-stage fire, safety measures face fresh scrutiny
A year after Tomorrowland's main stage burned down at De Schorre in Boom two days before the 2025 festival opened, VRT NWS has revisited the central question the fire left behind: has the event learned from it, and are the extra safety measures now in place…
In 30 seconds
- Tomorrowland's main stage at De Schorre in Boom was destroyed by fire on 16 July 2025, two days before the festival opened.
- No injuries were reported; the site was still under construction and closed to the public, per VRT NWS.
- The festival went ahead, opening 18 July 2025 with a reworked stage and a rebuilt main stage for the second weekend.
- One year on, VRT NWS has revisited whether the festival learned from the fire and whether its extra safety measures are sufficient.
Tomorrowland is an electronic dance music festival held each July at the De Schorre recreation area in Boom, in Belgium's Antwerp province. Run by We Are One World / Tomorrowland, it spreads across two weekends and draws visitors from more than 200 countries, making it one of Flanders' best-known cultural events. On 16 July 2025, two days before the gates opened, its elaborate main stage was destroyed by fire while the site was still being constructed and closed to the public. The festival went ahead using a reworked and then rebuilt stage.
Background
Tomorrowland grew from a single 2005 edition into a two-weekend global festival with international spin-off events. Its main stages are famous for scale and pyrotechnics, which is precisely why the 2025 fire — destroying the centrepiece structure just before opening — was so striking. The organiser's decision to rebuild rather than cancel echoed the festival's reputation for ambitious staging.
What to do
Festival-goers should expect safety confidence to rest on evacuation and crowd-flow planning as much as stage engineering; Belgian outdoor events remain governed by permits agreed with local fire services.
Impact
Regional — Boom and the wider Antwerp province host Tomorrowland's crowds, traffic and seasonal spending each July, and the municipality co-signs the event's safety permits with local fire services. How the fire's lessons are applied shapes both the town's summer and the confidence of the Flemish events sector.
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- 5 Aug 2026
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This story was assembled from verified evidence, with its sources and reasoning recorded as it was written.