Tomorrowland 2019: Weekend Two Highlights

John Bell
29 Jul 2019
First Published 29 Jul 2019

There it is! Another year of Tomorrowland has come and gone, and the tiredness will most likely be felt for weeks. Two explosive and kaleidoscopic weekend of EDM, progressive house, techno and all the madness in between, the Belgian giant's fifteenth birthday was one for the books – appropriate, given this year's return of the Book of Wisdom theme.

For those of you who missed out on the magic, or still reeling from the weekend, here are five our highlights from the festival's second weekend.

Salvatore Ganacci's hilarious entrance

Bosnian-born DJ Emir Kobilić, aka Salvatore Ganacci, has already earned a reputation for being EDM's biggest jokester, not least from his antics at Tomorrowland 2018, from his deprecating intro to his raucous dancing on the decks and pretending to be asleep mid-performance. This year he took the irony to another level as a narrator began to introduce him in keeping with the fairytale-style theme before admitting that the "ketamine is kicking in" and admitting he hates the upcoming act, who could be found in the crowd enthusiastically booing himself. What an entrance.

.@TheSalvatoreG started his @tomorrowland set with a wild response to anyone who thinks that he isn’t funny & doesn’t deserve to be playing

He actually stood in the middle of the crowd to boo himself 🙃 pic.twitter.com/VNbZb3G1zn
— Dancing Astronaut (@dancingastro) July 28, 2019

Armin Van Buuren celebrates 15 years of Tomorrowland

Part of the furniture from the beginning, EDM legend Armin Van Buuren has long become synonymous with Tomorrowland, so who better to celebrate its fifteenth birthday than the man himself. After a sweltering two-hour set on the A State Of Trance Stage, the Dutch icon headed back to the Main Stage to play a career spanning set that reflected the festival's own history and development.

Nicky Romero's tribute to Avicii

The passing of Tim Bergling in April of last year had a deep impact on the EDM community and the international music scene at large, raising questions and concerns of mental health in the life of touring musicians. Understandably then, tributes to the Swedish icon are still being offered, and his presence was certainly felt both weekends at Tomorrowland 2019 in spirit. Nicky Romero's Main Stage performance on Friday evening had several nods to his late friend, but perhaps the most touching was his last track.

When we got a better look at the cover of the book above the Main Stage

Another tribute to Avicii came in a strong visual form, as one of several giant books atop the main stage was dedicated 'In Loving Memory Of Tim Bergling'. It was a lovely touch, one not missed on anyone, but a rare aerial shot found by one Redditor below revealed an extra touching surprise.

The book dedicated to Tim has a cover we couldn’t see from the ground🙏🏼❤️ from r/Tomorrowland