Weekend Two was upon us once again, and with the dates of July 24th to 26th, the music didn’t stop on the Main Stage or Freedom Stage.
Friday, July 24th: Hardwell Closes a Massive Opening Night
Volkoder announced the Main Stage and, by the time Ely Oaks took over, the groove was already pretty solid. But then he killed it, asking the audience how they were doing and generally messing up the flow before getting back on track, for no particular reason. Yves V does not make the same mistake, delivering another awesome hour from the man who has been a staple on the rotation for quite some time now.
Miss Monique comes next and makes a seriously good, massive start to her set, which means there isn’t much to say aside from the fact that it’s a must-listen, energetic, and virtually non-stop mix from the very first transition. Indira Paganotto follows after that, surprising the audience by bringing a live guitarist on stage halfway through her set. The guitarist with the long black hair who joined Indira Paganotto on the Tomorrowland Mainstage was Harald Barrett, lead guitarist of the popular Swedish metalcore band Imminence . The context that makes this incredible live collaboration possible includes the following: The “Psy-Metal” Track : Barrett joined forces to officially debut a brand new collaborative track written in only three weeks’ time for the festival, which Indira described on Tomorrowland’s One World Radio as a hybrid, “psy-metal” that fuses her “rolling 150 BPM psy-trance and techno kicks” with his “metal riffage” The Violin Bow Technique that Harrald played his electric guitar from the front of the stage using his signature “violin bow” technique, in which he creates “epic, distorted, cinematic soundscapes” via an electric violin bow that usually only appears in film scores. Zero rehearsal time as insiders noted that Barrett and Indira met for the first time on Thursday, and that the two managed to have only one run-through of the track in their hotel room on Friday before playing it in front of a sold-out Mainstage crowd.
Nicky Romero keeps the energy high. Then Kölsch gave us an absolute masterclass, and the highest level of play leading into the end of the show headliners the festival had in store for the crowd later that night. Instead of fighting it, the Danish producer embraced the sheer size of the Consciencia Main Stage, using its rock formations as a tool to shape his set. His mix was less focused on strobing lights and more on creating an entire cinematic experience around the environment. The sun was slowly setting over Boom, and the whole performance seemed to echo its constant high level of sound while an orange glow, stretching to a slow sunset. There isn’t a more appropriate place to play Kölsch’s remix of The Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition” than the Main Stage, especially during transition. It got the audience swaying and humming along to the hook, but the biggest treat was a remix of the same song, this time in the full orchestral arrangement. Hidden beneath strings was the original vocalist from Tomorrowland’s Symphony of Unity, Troels Abrahamsen, and the effect was truly breathtaking. Kölsch closed the set with an equally powerful “All That Matters,” leading into ARTBAT’s remix before transitioning into the full arrangement of the same track.
The Brazilian wizard Alok had a beautiful run before throwing the audience a curveball in terms of lighting, but it didn’t last long. He quickly moved on to his biggest hits, playing them at an absolutely stunning quality. Steve Angello, in turn, brought his Swedish House Mafia stadium anthems to the late set, and Hardwell closed the night in style, delivering a big-room, technically perfect finale, befitting of a Friday night.
Amber Broos and Juliet Fox opened up on the Freedom stage, before Enrico Sangiuliano carried the underground torch, John Newman brought an arena sized live band, Bebe Rexha ruled the pop crossover with her biggest hits, festival friendly IDs and mashups, James Hype and Fisher ramped up the energy before Alesso closed the Freedom stage for the night.
Friday highlights:
- Miss Monique never let the energy dip for her set
- Indira Paganotto’s guitarist addition to her set was unneccessary but undoubtedly added to it
- Kölsch sounds like a producer made for the premier stage
- Hardwell finished off the night with big room energy for the Main Stage
Saturday, July 25th: Armin Van Buuren Sets a Pre-Party Hook and Calvin Harris Delivers a Set that Exceeded His Debut
Saturday saw a lower start to the Main Stage, with Angemi and Mike Williams into D.O.D delivering a more traditional house groove that hadn’t yet found its teeth. MATTN, then Morten were both strong performances, with Agents of Time slotting into the set to keep everything solid and dependable, before Sub Zero Project brought in more hardstyle for the evening.
Armin Van Buuren, however, brought in a completely different edge to proceedings, and in his set, one of the most memorable performances of the festival so far. He mixed acapellas from his and Vini Vici’s genre leaping trance anthem “Great Spirit” with Skytech’s stadium rock “Sandstorm”, which got the crowd absolutely roaring at the mashup. Dimitri Vegas followed to keep his solo headlining slot on the Main Stage, playing an exclusive preview of his and Marlon Hoffstadt’s remix of Michael Sembello’s “Maniac”, which was a fitting continuation to both of them playing their first back to back set at the opening night at Dreamville. Calvin Harris then closed the Main Stage off, and it must be said that he delivered a set that easily trumped his debut last week. It wasn’t just that he slightly improved upon his second run through the festival, but that it was a full circle moment for him and his relationship to Tomorrowland. In the end, the set was absolutely massive with a huge array of material for the crowd to enjoy.
The Freedom Stage was just as busy, with Symphony of Unity opening up on the live orchestra arrangement of the festival’s anthems, with Mosimann and ELFIGO following on. Andromedik threw in a very welcome dose of drum and bass before Massano provided excellent production with equally excellent visuals that followed every beat. Argy then delivered a slice of Afterlife style melodic techno, and there was no argumenting that he did so with quality. Sebastian Ingrosso closed his part of the night off with stadium scale energy that powered through his Swedish House Mafia era classic material, with Timmy Trumpet taking the midnight slot on the Freedom Stage with live trumpet, psy trance and bounce for a raucous and loud set, very fitting for the final night of the festival.
Saturday highlights:
- Armin Van Buuren provided one of the loudest crowd reactions of the festival with his mashup of “Great Spirit” and “Sandstorm”
- Dimitri Vegas continued his pre-party set from Dreamville at the opening night by playing the exclusive preview of his and Marlon Hoffstadt’s remix of “Maniac”
- Calvin Harris topped himself and his debut set last week on the Main Stage
- Massano and Argy were both standout performances on the Freedom Stage
Sunday, July 26th: A Latin Crossover Moment with Farruko and Greeicy and Martin Garrix Closes the Bill
Odd Mob, Cyril and Lucas & Steve opened day three of the festival, with Chase & Status joining the Main Stage to deliver his DJ set, which leaned more towards hip hop and dancehall with IRAH, the MC that has toured with them and was present in the arena for the entirety of their set. I think it did work as he added ghimself in appropraite places without at all being over bearing. They are quite crazy sounding when all is said and done too. It was perfect for the corwd at the time of day and it being Sunday and I am not even sure why. It was a lot of craziness and I think it also provided a different edge to the Main Stage that wasn’t unwelcome. Sara Landry delivered an incredible heavy, gritty hard techno set ever at the world-famous Tomorrowland Mainstage in Belgium for Weekend 2. To crown the colossal performance, she invited ALT8 onstage to perform a much-anticipated unreleased track (ID) with her, making the entire festival crowd lose their minds in the process. It has proven to be the start of a much bigger journey for the dynamic pair. If you are based in the East Coast, Sara Landry and ALT8 will be back in your neck of the woods this Friday, July 31, 2026. The former has scheduled an outdoor concert at Under the ‘K’ Bridge Park in Brooklyn with ALT8’s inclusion on the billing.
Afrojack and R3HAB followed in one of the most anticipated back-to-back sets on the Main Stage, delivering some of Dutch house music’s greatest classics. Lost Frequencies followed with his signature melodic, vocal-driven productions, performing a lineup of hit songs that have become mainstays of his consistently high-level sets. Steve Aoki was next, and he made his set all about his catalogue and collabs, running through his “No Beef” collab with Afrojack and “Promises” with Sub Zero Project, before the highlight moment of his set, the live performance by reggaeton superstar Farruko and rising Colombian star Greeicy of their brand new single “YAPAQUE” that saw both of them performing in front of the sold out crowd at Tomorrowland. Martin Garrix closed the Main Stage off for the final time, and it was fitting that he did so with another The Edge collab on U2 “Fireflies”. The track debuted live last week ahead of its official release, and it was clear to see that the entire crowd absolutely loved it as they roared their approval throughout the set. Garrix played an enormous set full of material, and it was hard to fault any part of it with the sheer volume and length of the festival.
The Freedom Stage continued its own brand of high energy shows, with Korolova providing the deep opening mix, before Fideles continued the underground vibe of the set. Cassian and Joris Voorn played back to back, and it was one of the most anticipated sets of the entire festival, and they played well, with Cassian’s sharp modern Afterlife productions blending very well with Joris Voorn’s progressive house classics at points, with the production value often hitting the level of an Anyma set. Their set was so good that it could arguably be placed among the highest tier of sets for the entire festival, without any consideration given to style. ARTBAT then came on and absolutely reset the energy in the arena for their set, with the opening segment that utilised the entire stage being perfect for a set on such a large scale. Those guys also played over an hour and a half sets. The visuals were excellent. Amelie Lens finished off the Freedom Stage for the weekend with her AURA showcase, being relentless and peak time for the entire show, going past midnight easily with the sheer length and intensity of her set. It was a pretty sick evening of music on the ole Freedom Stage today.
Sunday highlights:
- Sara Landry’s slow build set led to one of the best endings of the weekend
- Steve Aoki, Farruko and Greeicy all combined for the biggest crossover moment of the weekend with “YAPAQUE”
- Cassian b2b Joris Voorn was the standout back to back set on the Freedom Stage
- Martin Garrix closed the Main Stage for the final time at Tomorrowland 2026, with his “Fireflies” collab with The Edge live and U2 in general now being a fully released track
- Amelie Lens closed the Freedom Stage with her relentless show in AURA
Three days, two stages and countless festival moments that will appear in recap videos for years to come, once De Schorre has finally been emptied of its visitors. Most of all, I cannot wait to pklay these sets here on Tomorrowland Live. They should be available after editing at some time this week.