Streaming Tomorrowland: What A Wake-Up Call

For many ravers, Tomorrowland is the ultimate dream, the pinnacle of music festivals, and the best of the best (personally, it's on my To-Do-Before-30 list). While we couldn't all be in Belgium for the festival of all festivals, we were able to live vicariously through the festival attendees via the Tomorrowland live-stream. And sure, watching the live-stream wasn't the same as being there in the flesh, but hey, I had to pay rent this month. 

I was one of the people glued to the Tomorrowland live-stream for a good portion of the weekend, and while I was disappointed that I couldn't actually be there, watching the live-stream allowed me to experience Tomorrowland from a different perspective. The live-stream allows viewers to move from one stage to the next and to view the stages, the DJs and most interestingly (for me at least) the crowd. 

There was something incredibly magical about watching the crowd during the live-stream. Most of the time at festivals, we're so focused on the producers, the stages, the special effects and all the bells and whistles- that we tend to miss things. But enjoying a festival while not actually being physically there was an eye-opening experience. 

From the unique live-streaming vantage point, I moved through, over and above the crowd. And while the music from Tomorrowland was incredible and the stages were staggering, it was the crowd that impacted me the most. There were flags from over thirty different countries. Ravers of all ages were present, from the early 20s crowd to people in their 50s. People were smiling, but it wasn’t the plastic smile you make when there’s a camera in your face. They were illuminated with pure unadulterated joy.

There was a young man carrying a cardboard sign in the crowd, during a set, I can’t recall whose. His sign said “I lost my friends, but I found 200k new ones.” It was this sign that made me realize (and remember) the true unifying power of EDM. All of us have gone to festivals, club events, or any kind of EDM show and walked away with new friends. I’ve met some of my best friends at shows, I’ve met people whose names I don’t remember, but who I’ll never forget.

It’s crazy to think about. There are people around the world who speak languages we don’t understand and live lives that we couldn’t even begin to comprehend. It’s so easy to think that we couldn’t share anything in common with them, but we do. Music. Watching the Tomorrowland live-stream solidified my belief that music is the great uniting factor. That despite differences in life experience, religion, political beliefs, sexual orientation, self-identification, race and gender, we can all be brought together by something as pure and simple as music.

At the end of the day, while it was disappointing to not attend Tomorrowland, live-streaming the festival was still a beautiful experience. It reminded me that as EDM lovers and ravers, while we may have our individual rave families, we are all a part of a much larger family. This family stretches around the globe and the members of this family all speak one language and share one love- music.

Tomorrowland is over, but festival season isn’t done yet. Check out our Festival Season Collection HERE for all your rave wear staples.