Tomorrowland festival seeks a stolen painting's return and curbs fireworks for weekend two

Tomorrowland is appealing for the return of a painting stolen during the first weekend of this year's electronic music festival, after a second stolen artwork was already returned. Two original paintings, titled 'Love' and 'Desire,' were taken from the Tomorrowland Restaurant during the festival's first weekend, which ran July 17 to 19; they were two of six commissioned works hanging in the area.

Tomorrowland spokeswoman Debby Wilmsen said an anonymous couple returned the missing Love artwork to the festival's Lab of Tomorrow in Boom, calling their honesty something the team "appreciate enormously." The Desire painting remains missing, reportedly taken during the final day of weekend one despite security in the area, and Wilmsen said it "would be nice if the Consciencia paintings could shine for festivalgoers a little longer" as the festival called again for its return.

Alongside the theft, Tomorrowland limited pyrotechnics and halted large-scale fireworks for its second weekend, which opened July 23 with sets from Miss Monique, Calvin Harris, Sara Landry, Amelie Lens, FISHER and Bebe Rexha, part of the lineup MusicSuey has been following on the festival tracker. The first weekend had faced an outright fireworks ban after a "code orange" wildfire warning tied to drought conditions near the festival's site in Boom, Belgium.

Boom's mayor, Jeroen Baert, said at the time that "no high-speed fireworks would be allowed due to the fact that code orange applies in all nature reserves," including the De Schorre recreational area where the festival is held. For weekend two, smaller-scale fireworks with less risk of spreading into nearby woodland were permitted, with pyrotechnics restricted to the main stage; the caution echoed concerns raised over a fireworks display at Wembley Stadium just days earlier, as European wildfire warnings shaped festival safety decisions this summer.

The restrictions come as local authorities continue investigating a blaze that destroyed Tomorrowland's Orbyz Mainstage 48 hours before last year's festival, with sources pointing to an ethanol leak during testing as the likely cause. "Of course, we never want to experience anything like this again," Wilmsen said, adding that "the risk analysis also confirmed that our safety procedures were already very well organised." No update has been shared on the search for the missing Desire painting.