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The fire pictured from afar Alamy
Belgium
Tomorrowland main stage goes up in flames two days before music festival kickoff
The organisers said nobody was injured and the festival will run as scheduled from this Thursday.
THE MAIN STAGE at Tomorrowland has been destroyed by a fire two days before the festival was to begin.
The event, which is held near Antwerp, Belgium, is one of the most famous electro music festivals, expecting a crowd of 100,000 people in the first of the two weekends.
Tomorrowland released a statement saying that due to “a serious incident and fire,” its main stage has been “severely damaged”.
The organisers confirmed that no one was injured during the incident.
They also said that the festival will run as scheduled from this Thursday.
“We can announce that, DreamVille (the campsite) will open tomorrow as planned and will be ready for all DreamVille visitors,” they said.
“All Global Journey activities in Brussels and Antwerp will take place as planned.”
The first weekend of the festival takes place at the ‘De Schorre’ terrain in the town of Boom, about 16km from Antwerp.
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 main stage and the ‘Freedom Stage’.
Several hundred firemen had toiled to save the stage. Antwerp prosecutors have opened an investigation, though they said the fire appeared accidental.
Founded 20 years ago by two Belgian brothers, Tomorrowland has become an internationally renowned brand. A winter festival is now held in the French ski resort of Alpe d’Huez and another in Brazil.
With reporting by AFP
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