The Nations of Tomorrowland (and Their Opinions of Each Other)

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The Nations of Tomorrowland (and Their Opinions of Each Other)

The Belgian festival is the Olympics of Rave. But just what does everyone think of their fellow man?

Tomorrowland went down last weekend, July 24-26, in Boom, Belgium. In celebrating its 11th edition, the fest further cemented its reputation as the world's dance festival. Ravers from over 100 countries poured in to get down and prove that this whole dance music thing is one of the our planet's great unifiers.

With that in mind, we hit the dancefloor to mingle with some of the nations and find out just what they think of each other. Here's what we found:

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NORWAY

What do Norwegians bring to the party that nobody else does?
Viking spirit! We came to conquer Tomorrowland. What we do is get apeshit wasted and we bring a lot of fun to the party. We are known all over Europe for our drinking. We have a mean drinking culture. It's not good, not good at all. But! We're always happy, so it's all good.

Any thoughts on your fellow international ravers?
There's a lot of Australians, surprisingly. They might be the one people who drink more than we do, our main competitors.

GUAM

What's the rave scene like in Guam?
The dance music, EDM scene, is just starting off. We just had our second annual EIF, Electric Island Festival. Unfortunately, our population on Guam is not as big as this, but we had about 3000 people show up, which was good for us. But we, as Guam, wanna experience more music festivals, so about 10 of us Guamis flew out and we're really enjoying Tomorrowland.

What are your thoughts on your fellow international ravers?
Our Guam flag is the rarest flag here. And no one has Guami hafa adai spirit like we do. Turn up! I noticed that the Swiss took all their flags and took over part of the hill over there. Three people put a flag up and then twenty minutes later, there were like fifty people up there. That was really cool. Next year, we're all gonna big bringer flags and take over the hill too.

INDIA

I'm surprised to see so many desis here!
Yeah, actually, Tomorrowland is so famous in India now that everybody wants to come. So we are here! We're partying! It's all of our first time. It's insane. It's beautiful. And everything about Tomorrowland is crazy. Even in the rain!

Do you have any thoughts about all the other nations represented?
All I see is Indians! I see Indian flags everywhere. And obviously Belgians. This place is so beautiful. Thanks to Belgium for hosting such a wonderful festival for all the world.

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IRELAND

What do the Irish bring to the rave that nobody else does?
Unity! Togetherness! We unite people! Apart from the music, we unite people. This weekend has opened my eyes to…the best festival IN THE WORLD. This place is crazy.

What are your observations about other nations?
Oh, Swedish women are the hottest. And this group of guys is the drunkest, right here. The Irish are always the drunkest.

USA

What do you yankees bring to the rave, then?
Energy. We're way more energetic than most. When a good song comes on, we're jumping around more. It's weird! I guess we're more fun, I dunno?

How does this compare to parties back home?
Las Vegas is near to us, so we learned how to party. We've been to EDC every year except this year. It's different. Everyone's dressed. At EDC, all the girls are naked, basically. Here, it's more like they're supporting their country, their nationality. It's like a boiling pot.

Any observations about a particular nation?
Swedish girls are the most beautiful.

ISRAEL

What are Israelis like at the rave?
Well, we're mad. We never stop dancing. Never. Look at these guys. We're a little weird sometimes with how we dance. We never stop!

What are your thoughts on any particular nation represented?
I love the Dutch. They're so nice, they always dance with us…and they're gigantic!

PAKISTAN

Holy shit! You're from the P-stan. Me too!
I've seen a lot of Pakistanis here. Around 10. There is a rave scene in Pakistan, but it's kind of restricted, only for rich people. It's invitation only. There are a few DJs that come, but they are not very famous.

What are all the other countries like here?
People are really nice even though they have misconceptions about our country. I'm going to be an ambassador of dance music in pakistan.

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MEXICO

How do Mexicans party?
We party for every reason. We party at funerals, we party for birthdays, we party on Sundays. We don't need a reason!

What makes this place so special?
This is our second time here. It's not the music. Okay, it's the music, but it's also the union of all the countries. It's pure love. Everyone here is pure love.

CANADA

What do Canadians bring to the rave?
An openness, open minds. We're very willing to just open ourselves to any culture, meet anyone. We're just generally friendly! There's a lot of great representation of cultures here. But even outside of that, everyone intermingles and is willing to hang out together. It's really nice to see.

What countrymen are you most stoked to run into?
I would say that the Swedes are the most similar to us. We click together, we understand each other.

BELGIUM

Tell us about how Tomorrowland has developed
If you compare the stages now to what it was ten years ago, it's like…You can't describe how small it was. Now it's known over the whole world. It's crazy to have such a big festival in such a small country.

Who are your favorite visitors?
Last year, we met some Japanese people. They're, like, super happy. I dunno, maybe it's because of their faces, but they always look happy. It was a really small guy and he was always smiling and we started to make contact. At the end of the festival, he was sitting on my back and we're still friends. I like people from South Africa because their language is a bit like ours, so we can speak very easily. But at the end, I don't really prefer one country.

Jemayel Khawaja is Managing Editor of THUMP - @JemayelK
All photos by Jennica Abrams (except the two shitty ones) - Facebook // Official