The Tomorrowland Brothers Speak on Remarkable 2025 Edition

Tomorrowland might be the most beloved and well-known festival in the world, but the festival’s founders are notoriously private and quiet. The Beers Brothers, Michiel and Manu, prefer to blend into the crowd and watch their creation unfold without the spotlight. In fact, they refused an up-close photo for the feature, preferring to preserve their anonymity. However, Belgium’s HLN was able to score a rare interview this Fall with the Beers Brothers on the remarkable 2025 edition and how it was the most memorable ever for the festival.

Michiel mentioned how they didn’t even realize how big the global attention was on Tomorrowland during this Summer’s stage fire and the aftermath. Manu says that the image of the black smoke rising from the stage defines the moment best for him. It’s hard for them to even see those images again. They called the event the “sledgehammer blow of our lives”.

Initially, the brothers feared they would have to cancel Tomorrowland, but they were relieved to learn that there were no injuries. Then the panic set in as they remembered 38,000 people would be on site for camping the very next day. They realized cancellation was basically not an option at that point. They set into action. They remarked that a positive mindset was key and they had to keep thinking that they would solve the issue. They refer to the entire process as pure survival mode.

Once authorities cleared the site, Tomorrowland was told the stage had to be dismantled. They were lucky enough to locate a large crane in Antwerp near the Tomorrowland offices, so they called the source right away to get that crane.

The Plan

The team worked into the night on Wednesday to devise a new main stage that could be built in time. Then they had to phone Tomorrowland’s loyal suppliers, who just watched their equipment go up in flames to ask for more equipment. Luckily, everyone was willing to give everything to this herculean effort.

And that’s when it became clear how strong the bond is when it really matters and what an exceptional group of professionals comes together every year to build something in Boom that’s unique in the world – Michiel Beers

It wasn’t until Thursday night after midnight that Belgium’s largest crane arrived on site, escorted by police and special transport directly from the port of Antwerp. Michiel is still blown away that they were able to back the crane onto the festival site in that state, as they feared it would be impossible to truck in with everything assembled on site.

Two Scenarios

As the crane got to work, the team realized there were only two possible scenarios. In the first, the dismantling wouldn’t be done in time and that entire area would be closed on day 1, severely limiting capacity. In this scenario, the campers remain on the campgrounds with alternative programming and everybody else would arrive without the mainstage. The second scenario would require a later opening time, but would get the mainstage ready and allow everybody to enjoy Day 1 together. They wanted to communicate as openly and honestly as possible throughout the situation. At that point things were handing by a thread and they needed to be honest.

The Success

At around 4am on Friday morning the work began. If anything went wrong it could mean the entire festival was going to be cancelled. Then after noon on Friday the last tower came down perfectly. Immediately, the announcement went out that Option 2 would win out and the festival was saved!

As workers raced around the clock to get the new stage operational, a crowd formed to watch the team. Rather than dancing at other stages, the attendees wanted to watch the phoenix rise from the ashes. Every time something happened there was applause from the onlookers.

The brothers admit that tears were flowing as the stage opened up and the crowd rushed in. Only at the end of Weekend 2 was there time to process the enormity of what happened.

The Aftermath

The brothers remarked on all of the coverage afterwards and how media outlets around the world commented that in any other country, the festival would have been cancelled. They felt immensely proud of Belgium and the Tomorrowland organization. The interview was only made possible because the brothers were elected as “Belgian of the Year”. The brothers say that if they became a familiar face, they wouldn’t be able to sense what visitors experience anymore. They love to go and disappear into the crowd. Michiel remarks on how one time a visitor asked him to take a photo of the visitor and a chef on site, not realizing who they were asking. He took the photo.

The Future

Tomorrowland plots a future Thailand expansion but mostly hopes to keep doing the same thing for as long as possible. The brothers are proud to remain a family business without investment funds and external shareholders. For now they want to highlight the valuable contributions of the Tomorrowland team and designers for all that they do and have helped to do for 2025.

Read the full feature here.