The largest, most prominent stage at a multi-stage festival — the position of greatest exposure and prestige.
Definition
The mainstage is the largest, most production-heavy stage at a multi-stage festival, traditionally hosting the headline acts and reaching the widest audience. Playing the mainstage at a festival like Tomorrowland, Ultra, EDC, or Creamfields is one of the most prestigious slots in dance music, and trance acts that have historically reached this level — Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Above & Beyond, Vini Vici — gain a global profile far beyond the trance audience itself. The term also implicitly contrasts with smaller specialist stages: at most large festivals, dedicated trance stages (like Tomorrowland's ASOT stage) host the genre at a more focused level, while the mainstage remains a more open-format affair, mixing trance with EDM, house, and bass music.