10 things I loved about Tomorrowland

In the tiny town of Boom, Belgium, I found the most eccentric festival I’ve ever been to in Tomorrowland. All of my preconceptions were wrong; this enormous party was just as restorative as it was energising.

Here are 10 things I loved and learned along the way…

The art and design of the space is truly out of this world.

Visually, Tomorrowland is the most beautiful festival I’ve ever been to. Each stage is quite mesmerising in it’s own way, and when I first turned a corner and saw the main stage I found it quite overwhelming in a good way. If you like art then you’d appreciate all of the smaller details around this festival. They thought of everything. The bins are shaped to look like flowers. Ropes to manage traffic are detailed with posies. There is no operational touch point whatsoever that looks like a functional thing; everything is embellished and part of the experience.

I met people from all over the world.

Of all the festivals I’ve been to, I’ve never met people from as many different parts of the earth as I did at Tomorrowland. One of my favourite things to do in a new place is bring my mini mics and chat to people. At Tomorrowland, visitors had come from all over, united by a desire to feel free and have fun (and trust me to have found a bunch of Brummies in the middle of it). It made the whole atmosphere so welcoming. There was no ‘normal’, so no chance for anyone to feel ‘other’.

The grounds are grand, but not ridiculous.

Though I did a fair bit of walking each day, averaging around 20,000 steps, the grounds didn’t feel enormous. One thing no-one prepared me for before my first Glastonbury was just how enormous the space is, and Tomorrowland is much more compact by comparison. The grounds were laid out like a long rectangle with stages coming off it. What I thought was brilliant was that one plain and simple path ran through the middle of the festival, so if you wanted to get from one end to the other you could do so relatively quickly.

All senses are engaged when you enter Tomorrowland.

The reason I found myself at Tomorrowland to begin with was that the skincare brand Grown Alchemist kindly took me as their guest. They have created an official Tomorrowland collection, complete with bodycare, haircare and skincare, all designed to specifically work well for ravers.

“These are inspired by our best loved classics but tailored to match the needs of Tomorrowland”, explained Isobel from the product development team. “Let’s take the shampoo and conditioner, for example. It’s similar to the Hydra Restore Shampoo that people already know and love, but we tweaked the ingredients to make it more suitable for a festival environment. The Tomorrowland shampoo is better at thoroughly removing grit from the hair, and the conditioner is slightly richer because hair that has been out in the sun would need a bit more hydration.” My personal favourite from the collection was the Hydrating Elixir Mist. I used it throughout the day to keep cool and again to revive dry-looking makeup.

The festival itself was a total sensory overload. Here were some of the things I noticed that made it a completely immersive experience…

Touch: One of my favourite things was the Tomorrowland wristband. It was leather bound, buckle tied, and embellished with a precious stone which granted you entry and paid for your drinks. Total magic.

Taste: The food was delicious. Even my burger was embossed with the Tomorrowland logo! We also ate at Lost in Thaislation, a culinary experience designed to introvert things. Our chicken dish was based on a Pina Colada drink, and our cocktail inspired by mango sticky rice.

Smell: The Elixir of Life, the signature Tomorrowland scent, burst out of grand plinths that were dotted around the grounds.

Sight: Artworks, lights, water displays… everywhere you turned was a visual circus.

Hearing: Despite having multiple stages, no music overlapped which I thought was great. The layout and spacing were fantastic. Also, I got the Tomorrowland x Loop ear plugs and really felt the benefit of wearing them. I’ll bring them to more live music things moving forward now, they helped to drown out the crowd noise and fine tune the music itself when I saw Calvin Harris.

People weren’t rowdy.

Given I had arrived in party central, I was amazed to find that nothing felt rowdy or heated at any point. Drinks were flowing, fun was had, yet no one seemed aggressive in nature. It’s a rare thing to say in such a large group of people, and something I’ve only ever noticed at Glastonbury. The crowd were unanimously happy.

It was clean and safe.

Each festival has its own energy, and that can hugely be swayed by the performing artists that year. But when I wandered this enormous raving universe, I was struck by how safe it felt. People were of all ages. Crowds were well managed. It was lovely. On day one, a combination of the heat and a busy week before I’d arrived, I wasn’t feeling good. I thought I was going to faint at one point, and luckily lovely Lauren and Niamh took such great care of me. But in that moment, I found a seat easily and there were shaded areas to recoup. Of all the places to feel unwell, it felt like an environment where help would be nearby in a heartbeat. (You learn a lot about a person when your light headedness has entirely derailed their afternoon, and if you’re reading this girls, I’ll remember that kindness forever.)

Coming home, I felt switched off and energised at the same time.

I am incredibly lucky that through my job I get to experience things that I might not otherwise. Though I absolutely love festivals (and mostly go to them on my own time and money), I probably wouldn’t have booked Tomorrowland. To me, it sounded like a place that would be a 24/7 rave, quite headstrong and intense, but I go to bed early most nights so I wasn’t sure we’d be compatible.

What amazed me the most about this place is that, yes, it was total party central, but it was also deeply relaxing. The grounds are green and flowery with lots of water running through them. There are places to chill as well as places to dance. It’s such a sensory overload that I felt really transported by just taking it all in. Being there on the grounds gave me a deeper understanding of why people travel all this way to come here; it felt like a fantasy world, and it was enjoyable whatever kind of experience you were hoping to have.

I was wrong about ravers.

A combination of past experiences and a lack of understanding had given me a certain impression of ravers. I try to pride myself on being open minded and someone who doesn’t judge, but I will hold my hands up and admit that Tomorrowland showed me that I did have prejudgements. I honestly thought raves were for people who wanted a crazy, wild night out, and instead I found deeply chilled out people who were just there to unwind.

I knew so much more dance music than I thought I would!

I do love all music, but I am more of a pop princess than anything else. Though I love classic dance music (the songs you can sing along to), I was expecting to hear lots of things that I didn’t recognise at all. I can’t believe how wrong I was! Wandering the stages I heard Justin Bieber, Beyonce, saw a live orchestra perform Born Slippy. It was such a brilliant mix. Of all the people to headline, I got to see Calvin Harris for his first ever Tomorrowland set and he was wicked. Seeing thousands of people singing along to Rihanna’s Where Have You Been? was a definite weekend highlight.

My fave set of the weekend was from Chris Lorenzo. I don’t know Chris personally but I knew he went to my school so I wanted to go and see him. I’ve always loved that expression ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’, and for me it was really inspiring to see the world that Chris has made for himself. If someone with largely the same starting steps as me could go on to achieve this, I took away that I could achieve the things in my head, too. I’ve been in a bit of a fatigued headspace recently, working towards little things that haven’t quite panned out, so having a reminder that big dreams can come true was just what I needed this weekend.

If you’ve got the preconception that Tomorrowland will be really heavy, or it’s just for people who are going to go berserk, I promise you, you’ve got it wrong. I thought the same and I feel silly for thinking it now. Remember when I went to Electric Picnic, thinking it would be really idyllic and quiet, and it ended up being total chaos? This was like the opposite experience to that. I could swap the preconceptions I had about both of these places to form the correct descriptions of each festival.

The tiny town of Boom has left a mark on my heart forever. And, on a side note, having stayed in Antwerp I am so excited to get myself back to Belgium. What a gorgeous country.

If you’ve been to Tomorrowland before I’d love to know how my experience lined up to yours. And if you’re thinking of going, I’d really recommend it as a place to truly engage your mind and switch off. It was a real reset and I loved it.

Thank you so much to the entire team at Grown Alchemist for the trip of a lifetime. This summer, they’re hosting Grown Alchemist treatments at various locations in London to immerse you in the world of Tomorrowland. If you want a little taster of what we got to see, it’s the perfect way to channel the scent of the rave grounds.

If you enjoyed this, I’ve written about lots more festivals here on my Substack. Glastonbury, Primavera, Coachella, All Points East, Latitude, Reading… I’ve made a beginner’s guide to all of them.

15 of the best beauty looks I saw at Tomorrowland

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Jul 27

One of my favourite things about going to a festival is that I always come away with a more positive self-image. When I see people from all over the world, in all shapes, sizes, races and genders, I find myself admiring the beauty in all of them. It always makes me wonder why I’m so hard on myself when I manage to find such magic in everyone else.