“People of Tomorrowland. At the end of July, 2012, something remarkable took place. Friends from over 75 countries traveled to Belgium. Thank you, for being part of this amazing fairytale. You are by far the best crowd in the Universe……”

Every single EDM fan has heard these lines over and over again in the last year. Many, like me, have seen the entire 20-minute footage many times over. And every single time, have wished to be a part of that magical world-Tomorrowland.

When you’re old and grey, there are certain memories that you wish would be as fresh as yesterday. While pictures would remind of those good times, they might not be able to remind of you the pure joy you felt at that moment. I pen this down, so I ALWAYS remember, what those days felt like. Traveling far, with the best people I know, these days have given me one the most wonderful, & treasured life experiences till date.

The Global Journey. The people at Tomorrowland, could not have named it more apt. Me, with 4 of the most epic people I know; we thought the five of us would be enough for our Tomorrowland Mayhem. But, when they said “FRIENDS from over 75 countries…..”, I never thought they meant it; literally. A Norwegian group. A Turkish group. An American group. An Australian Group. A Spanish Group. A Swedish Group. A Mexican Group. An Italian Group. A Chinese Group. And finally, an Indian Group. We came together, and with the world’s hand- picked 56 crazy INSANE people, we became GROUP4. A name, which was shouted, sung, clicked, filmed for 6 days till even the Tomorrowland Crew knew who we were. And with Group4; our Tomorrowland Experience, went; next level.

The festival itself was a work of art. The line- up, the organisation, the production. Everything. The entrance with the Tomorrowland logo within a globe,slowly revolving to the music was an awe- inspiring sight. The bridges over the mist covered lake with fountains all over; with the sun glistening off the water, felt like LIVING the 2012 after movie. With clearly marked paths to all the 15 stages in the gigantic venue, it never felt like a task going from stage to stage. The Main Stage might have had most of the magic, but every single stage had a line- up to die for. You could stand at the crossroads of the bridge and actually wonder, whether you would want to forgo Hardwell for Afrojack or you’d rather witness the titan Markus Schulz play a 12 hour non-stop set. Whatever the choices may be, the end result was always; magnificent.Such masters in their fields, they know how to work the crowd in to a frenzy. One moment you’d beg them to not to drop the bass, and a minute later, you’d begging for it. Such is the mind of an EDM fanatic. And such is the magic, of these celebrated artists.

Flying the Indian flag high from the west stand, we stood, and witnessed dreams come true. For 12 hours we raved. All exhaustion forgotten. And as day turned to night, with the likes of Greyhound and Don’t you worry child thumping the night sky, Sebastian Ingrosso, Tiesto and finally; the creators themselves, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike; one after the other played pure joy & exhilaration from their consoles. The magical stage, launching mist and fireworks in to the night sky, in perfect sync with the beats, saw many goosebumps, many tears, many eyes; wide open; as if in a state of trance. And this was just the first day; we knew it was just going to get better.

If Day 1 was House, Day 2 was Trance. The stage “Ferry Corsten Pr. FULL ON”; saw the magic of Shogun, W&W, Aly & Fila, to name a few. Its one thing listening to Thunder, its another; standing in front of W&W mix it and mash it and serve it to the world’s craziest trance-heads. And if the first half of the day wasn’t mind- blowing enough, there was still Axwell, Avicii and Armin Van Buuren lined up for the evening. On the mist- shooting, color- launching, fire- spewing Main Stage. Avicii’s newest hit- Wake me up; redefining the genre, was once again one of the high moments of the festival. But it was the God of Trance, Armin Van Buuren that stole the show. They say, the Amazon tribal groups used music and dance to appease the rain gods. Apparently, Armin Van Buuren does the same. AvB picked up the mike and made an announcement, “I just came straight from the hospital. And I just want the world to welcome; my wife just gave birth to a son. So I’d like to dedicate my whole set to my new son.” And as the violins of Intense came on, Armin had tears in his eyes, he spread his arms wide and looked at the sky, and the most magical thing happened. The sky erupted. And it rained. And it rained like there was no tomorrow. Over the sound of the violins; over the sound of the people of Tomorrowland, it rained. And so it came to be known,that the Rain Gods cheered for Armin Van Buuren. Not just an artist, not just a DJ, but also a man who has given his life to music. Given his life to perfection. Promoted upcoming artists from all over the world through Armada Music. Ranked Number 1 in his field; he rocked Privilege in Ibiza in ’12, he rocked Mumbai in ASOT600 in March, but he moved Tomorrowland. This moment, with the most amazing firework display in the sky;and yet, there was something more. Something worthy of the grand finale of Tomorrowland 2013.

The Main Stage was the hub for the final day. Yves and Alesso rocked the sunny afternoon with some maddening beats. The crowd roared as Alesso turned the knobs on Clash. We wanted more. So much more. And we had the most intense, magical night ahead of us. Enter; the highly acclaimed, most widely known EDM personality in the world, the French Legend; David Guetta. I, like most EDM fans agreed, that Guetta had strayed from mainstream house, and focused more on commercial productions. An impression; that was further reaffirmed in Creamfields 2012. And I, like most EDM fans present at the venue when Guetta made music for 3 hours, would agree, that we were wrong. David Guetta is back. And he is here to stay. Mind blowing mixes of She Wolf, the classic Alphabeat, and the eternal- Titanium. Along with one the most nerve tingling mixes of other music in the genre. And when the crowd is as high as it could be, figuratively AND literally, began the grand finale of Tomorrowland. The Holy Trinity, as I like to call it. David Guetta, joined by the legends Afrojack & Nicky Romero.

The next 120 minutes, was Heaven on earth. The sickest House, with each Dj mixing tracks simultaneously into the each other’s tracks, creating the most pulsating beats ever heard. The sky exploded with a million colours, and non- stop fireworks. As night fell, the crowd was blanketed with the glow sticks, and you could see what joy these three felt, in spinning happiness on a console. As the crowd was about to burst with adrenaline, the three climbed the console with bottles of champagne. And in the most epic celebration of all time, they let it all loose on the people of Tomorrowland. Fireworks. Flames. House. Champagne.The Holy Trinity. Tomorrowland. Main Stage. Does it get any better?

It does.

The single most epic moment of the 3 days that was Tomorrowland 2013. The most intense 15 minutes of 36 hours of festivity. If these three had taken the crowd to the clouds, there came the man who would take them to the stars. The most electrifying DJ on the planet; Steve Aoki. As he came on stage and hugged Guetta, Afrojack and Romero, everyone expected the three to move out for Aoki’s performance. But, as unplanned as it was spontaneous, Steve Aoki joined the three on the console. And for few minutes, the four legends rocked Tomorrowland. Goosebumps, tears and every other way the human body can involuntarily express emotions, could be seen all around. It was Musical Nirvana. For every single person present at that point. And as Guetta and Romero took leave, Aoki & Afrojack made music for the final hour of the grandest festival in the whole world. With the signature No Beef, Aoki & Afro ended the festival, as it deserved to be. With Aoki rising on a platform from within crowd, going higher, and serving; what we all know as the “Aoki Cake”, with fires exploding from the stage, flames dancing atop the console, and confetti in the air. And with the massive firework showcase,Tomorrowland 2013 came to an end.

Its been 2 weeks since I have come back home. 2 weeks since I lived that dream. And even now, when I plug in my earphones and close my eyes; I can see the fireworks. I can feel the ice cannons. I can see the flames shooting in all directions. I can see every single nation represented with flags flying high. I can see the Gods of music make a million people go wild. I can see countries come together. I can feel the madness. I can feel you, Tomorrowland. Thank You.

Words by Aditya Chaudhry