TOMORROWLAND ORGANISERS FEELING “VERY POSITIVE” AS BELGIUM GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO 75,000 CAPACITY FESTIVALS
“We are very happy to receive this news, but we will wait for the conditions and rules before we will communicate about the organization of the festival”
Tomorrowland’s organisers are feeling “very positive” about the their 2021 real world events following the Belgian government’s announcement that large scale, outdoor festivals can restart from 13th August, for crowds of up to 75,000.
As per reports in the country’s media, including news site HLN, the decision comes with several caveats to keep attendees and staff safe. These include mandatory presentation of a COVID-19 ‘safety ticket” proving vaccination status, or a negative coronavirus PCR test result.
Currently Tomorrowland is set for two late-summer weekends, 27th – 29th August and 3rd – 5th September. While these now look hopeful, the team confirmed to Billboard that new rules, and what they mean for the event, were still being understood.
“We are very happy to receive this news, but we will wait for the conditions and rules before we will communicate about the organization of the festival,” a Tomorrowland spokesperson told Billboard. “We are very positive, and we look forward to organizing a festival [at the] end of August.”
In May the Belgian government proposed a date of 1st September for a full reopening of the country and society, although it did not confirm what this looks like for event capacities. At the time of writing, only gatherings for a maximum of 400 people outside, or 200 inside, are being authorised to run by health officials.
Tomorrowland welcomes around 400,000 attendees over both weekends, equated to some 70,000 per day. Its 2020 instalments were cancelled due to the pandemic, and 2021’s edition has already been moved to later in the year to try and avoid another postponement. If it goes ahead, it will be the first large scale dance festival to be held since the virus hit Europe and the US last spring. Tomorrowland’s digital offering, Tomorrowland: Around the World, will run on 16th and 17th July 2021, and the event just unveiled its third annual Top 1000 tracks list, decided by global vote.