Metallica have stepped up as unexpected heroes of Tomorrowland, offering their stage to the festival after a massive fire destroyed the original main stage.
The Belgian electronic music festival kicked off on July 18 and runs through til July 27 - but just a day before it all began, disaster struck when the huge mainstage went up in flames, which left 400,000 festival-goers unsure if it would go ahead.
Enter Sandman - I mean Metallica - who swooped in to save the day. Turns out, the band had a stage stored in Austria for their European tour, and they were able to lend parts of it to the festival, The Latest News reports.
Parts of the stage, including soundboxes and a huge wall of screens, were airlifted to the festival grounds the night before the festival opened and was all set up in time for the festival to open as planned at 2pm that day (18 July).
Tomorrowland spokesperson Debby Wilmsen says it was a ‘miracle’ that the stage was able to be put together in such a short time.
“We are beyond happy. Two hours ago, we were demolishing the old stage,” she said.
Dutch DJ Martin Garrix, one of the festival’s headliners, echoed the ‘miracle’ sentiment.
He shared a photo of himself alongside Metallica’s drummer Lars Ulrich to Instagram, writing: “I can not believe I’m actually typing this… but my set at Tomorrowland is still happening!
“Massive love and a big shoutout to the incredible @tomorrowland team for pulling off miracles — and to @Metallica for coming through with the new stage parts.”
He continued, “Beyond excited to close the mainstage tonight. & this will hands down be the most unique Tomorrowland ever.”
When the metal community and the rave community work together to make shit happen - how good.
