Tomorrowland 2026 review

Last year proved just how resilient Tomorrowland could be. This year, with the festival back to (nearly) full strength, it once again reminded everyone of why there is simply nowhere on Earth quite like the holy grounds.

After each of my last few trips to Belgium, I’ve spent the flight home reflecting on the weekend and reaching the same conclusion: even accounting for recency bias, the latest edition somehow eclipsed the one before it. This fourth visit to Boom — the first under the Alleined banner — only reinforced that belief.

One logistical note before getting into the weekend itself: with Delta having eliminated its direct New York-to-Brussels route, I learned that connecting through Amsterdam can actually save time, as clearing customs there is significantly quicker than the typically two-to-three-hour waits I’ve experienced in Brussels.

Once in Boom, the weekend got off to about as auspicious a start as I could have asked for. I’d only experienced The Gathering once before — something Tomorrowland allows media access to despite not staying in Dreamville — and was unbelievably excited to do it again. Within my first few moments there on Thursday afternoon, hearing ID - ID as the first song of year 4 was all I needed to know about how the rest of it would play out. The Gathering feels less like a prelude to Tomorrowland and more like a bonus festival day, especially with the names it brings in and a stage that could rival most festivals’ actual mainstages.

If Thursday was any indication of what was to come, the next three days would infinitely expand on it.

There was beauty in the simplicity of last year’s Metallica-assisted mainstage, but Consciencia was a return to Tomorrowland’s larger-than-life standard, and nothing could have prepared me for seeing it in person. At 43 meters tall and 140 meters wide, its scale alone is difficult to comprehend, let alone the hand-crafted detail and complexity packed into every inch. It’s precisely why Tomorrowland’s mainstages — and the festival as a whole — are so routinely impossible to capture through words, photos, or videos. Admittedly, Adscendo remains my favorite Tomorrowland mainstage I’ve seen with my own eyes, but Consciencia lands in a dead tie for second with 2024’s Life stage.

That evolution wasn’t limited to the mainstage, either. I loved the reimagined designs of Atmosphere and Crystal Garden, combined with Freedom’s overhaul from last year. All three stages received meaningful visual upgrades that added even more character to the grounds and continued Tomorrowland’s constant evolution.

Friday made one thing clear from the jump: another unforgettable weekend at De Schorre was underway, beginning with a stop at the Avicii Tribute Experience. From there, I bounced between Vintage Culture at the mainstage, StadiumX at House of Fortune, Max Styler and Miss Monique at Freedom, Sebastian Ingrosso at mainstage, and finally Martin Garrix, my first time seeing him on a proper Tomorrowland mainstage since my first trip to Boom in 2023. The day was an immediate reminder that Tomorrowland is playing an entirely different game than any other festival I’ve been to in my decade-plus timeline of attending shows.

That momentum carried right into the next 12 hours at the holy grounds, following in the footsteps of Saturday of Ultra 2026 and becoming my new all-time favorite day in Boom. It began with Alleined Artist to Watch alumni Merow at the mainstage, followed by Mark Roma at House of Fortune, Alleined Artist to Watch alumni Linska, the Alleined x Brit House Mafia x Drop Times meetup, HALŌ — my set of the weekend — IDEMI at Melodia, Symphony of Unity at Freedom, Armin van Buuren at Freedom, Steve Angello at Crystal Garden, and last but certainly not least, ILLENIUM at The Library. From start to finish, it was the definition of a dream festival day, about as perfect as I could’ve ever imagined.

The first two days had set an impossibly high bar, and Sunday somehow kept the streak intact. The day began with a visit to one of my non-negotiable Tomorrowland pitstops, Moose Bar, followed by stops at CORE and Atmosphere before a mainstage closing run featuring Kevin de Vries, Charlotte de Witte, John Summit, Alesso, and Calvin Harris, whose Tomorrowland debut couldn’t have provided a more fitting ending to the weekend. By the time “I’m Not Alone” hit its final bar, the conclusion I had already felt ready to make earlier in the weekend was undeniable: year 4 was the greatest experience I’ve ever had at the holy grounds.

I could endlessly write about the sets, but they really are only a fraction of what makes Tomorrowland what it is. There is so much happening across De Schorre that it is quite literally impossible to experience it all without sacrificing some of the artists you want to see. Still, I’ve always said that it’s worth carving out time throughout the weekend to explore some of the grounds’ hidden gems. You just have to prioritize what matters most to you. 

There were, however, a couple of things I found myself missing this year, though neither came close to taking away from the overall experience. The absence of weekend 1 fireworks — caused by the risk of wildfires in the area due to the drought — was the more noticeable of the two. It wasn’t until Martin Garrix closed the mainstage on Friday that it really hit me just how much fireworks would have elevated certain moments throughout the weekend. I also missed the daybreak sets at the mainstage, which gave way to DISCOVERY, essentially serving as a window for people to enter the grounds and settle in before the music began. Still, as we saw last year, Tomorrowland holds its own in more ways than one, and the festival offers far more than its production alone could ever provide.

Across four trips to Belgium, this past year left me feeling more fulfilled by Tomorrowland than ever before. By year four, I felt fully accustomed to the festival, from knowing my way around De Schorre to having a much better sense of where I wanted to go, what I wanted to see, and how I wanted to spend my time.

I genuinely never thought I’d return to Boom after my first trip in 2023, let alone make the journey three more times. What began as a bucket-list experience I assumed I’d only ever have once has somehow turned into an annual pilgrimage that now feels inseparable from my calendar.

Thank you Tomorrowland for Alleined year 1. Until year 2 (and year 5 overall) in 2027.