Miss K8
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike are a Belgian electronic music duo formed by brothers Dimitri and Michael Thivaios, working across EDM, big room house, electro house, hard dance and contemporary rave music. The project’s international career is closely associated with Tomorrowland, their own label Smash The House, arena shows in Antwerp and long-running residencies in Ibiza.
Dimitri Thivaios, who performs as Dimitri Vegas, was born on May 16, 1982. His younger brother Michael Thivaios, known as Like Mike, was born on December 2, 1985. The brothers grew up in Willebroek, Belgium, in a family with Greek and Belgian roots.
Early years
The brothers’ musical interests initially developed in different directions. Dimitri began DJing at around the age of thirteen. He was drawn to Belgian rave, hardcore, early techno and harder forms of house. He collected vinyl records and learned to mix long before the joint project was formed.
As a teenager, Michael was interested in American hip-hop and the way performers worked with a microphone. This experience later shaped his stage role in the duo: during performances, Like Mike began combining DJing with MC duties. The brothers have said that they rarely shared the same musical preferences when they were younger and only began developing a common approach after moving to Ibiza.
Mallorca and Ibiza
Dimitri was the first of the brothers to leave Belgium. He found work with a hotel company and spent some time in Mallorca. In 2003, he was offered a position at a hotel in Ibiza. In addition to his main duties, he was responsible for sound and lighting and gradually began playing music in the hotel bar.
In Ibiza, Dimitri regularly attended Erick Morillo’s Subliminal Sessions at Pacha. Watching Morillo’s mixing technique, use of loops and interaction with the crowd influenced his transition from vinyl to CD players and his later approach to constructing festival sets.
Michael joined him in the summer of 2003. Exposure to the island’s club culture and performances by Erick Morillo and Audio Bullys encouraged him to use a microphone over his brother’s DJ sets. Their first joint performances took place at small venues and Ibiza clubs, including Space. The brothers also played at the venue that would later become the Ushuaïa complex, when it still operated as a hotel and beach location.
Ibiza gave them stage experience, but further development required original music. In 2006, the brothers returned to Belgium and set up a small home studio. Michael taught himself production software, while Dimitri already had experience with Cubase, Logic and electronic instruments.
First releases
The brothers’ first joint release appeared in late 2007 under the title Cocaine / Eivissa 2007, also listed in some catalogues as La Cocaina (Eivissa 2007). Their early work was dominated by tribal house, electro house and club rhythms that differed from their later big room sound.
Their remix of Work That Body by Dave Lambert & Housetrap attracted their first notable attention from the international industry. The recording reached members of Swedish House Mafia, after which Axwell invited the brothers to remix Abel Ramos’s Rotterdam City of Love for Axtone Records. The commission became one of the duo’s first collaborations with a major European EDM label.
During this period, Dimitri was also involved in work connected with Leave the World Behind, the joint release by Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello and Laidback Luke, featuring vocals by Deborah Cox. Gradually, the brothers began receiving remix commissions and releasing their own material beyond the local Belgian scene.
Beginning of the Tomorrowland partnership
The relationship between Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Tomorrowland developed gradually. Dimitri initially worked behind the scenes at the festival and helped with organisational tasks. The duo’s first performances took place on smaller stages, after which the brothers began receiving more prominent positions in the line-up.
In 2010, they recorded the official Tomorrowland anthem Tomorrow (Give Into the Night) with Dada Life and singer Tara McDonald. The track also became the first release on the brothers’ own label, Smash The House.
In 2011, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike released The Way We See the World with Afrojack and NERVO. The track was used as the official anthem for that edition of Tomorrowland. That same year, the brothers participated in preparing the music for the official festival aftermovie. They selected and refined material together with the Tomorrowland team, synchronising the development of the tracks with the visuals. The widespread circulation of the film after the festival became one of the most important international stages in their career.
The collaboration later continued with:
- Chattahoochee — Tomorrowland 2013 anthem
- Waves with W&W — Tomorrowland 2014 anthem
However, not every well-known festival track by the duo was an official Tomorrowland anthem. Wakanda, The Hum and Tremor are often associated with the festival because of their frequent use in sets and aftermovies, but they were not released with that official status. Tremor was produced as the anthem for Sensation 2014.
Smash The House
In 2010, the brothers founded the label Smash The House. It initially served as a platform for releases by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and producers close to them who worked with electro house and festival EDM.
As the project grew, Smash The House developed into a group of labels and musical divisions. Its catalogue featured releases by Wolfpack, Bassjackers, Quintino, MATTN, Angemi and other artists. The Generation Smash division was created for emerging producers.
Additional divisions later appeared:
- Smash Deep — house and deeper club music
- House of House — tracks focused on different forms of house
- BSMNT — club-oriented and experimental material
- Smash Classics — reissues and updated versions of catalogue recordings
- Green Room — Like Mike’s own label, focused on melodic house, afro house and more restrained forms of electronic music
Green Room was officially launched in 2020 and reflected Like Mike’s solo direction, which differed significantly from the duo’s main festival sound.
Mammoth and the development of the big room sound
In the early 2010s, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike became two of the artists who helped define festival big room house. The style is characterised by short synthesiser motifs, large drops, pauses before climaxes and arrangements designed for main stages.
One of the central tracks of this period was Mammoth, recorded with German producer MOGUAI and released in 2013. The track became widely used in festival sets and remained in the Tomorrowland repertoire for many years. It repeatedly placed near the top of the Tomorrowland Top 1000 vote and ranked sixth in the 2026 edition.
Other releases from the same period include:
- Wakanda — 2013
- Ocarina with Wolfpack — 2013
- Tremor with Martin Garrix — 2014
- Waves with W&W — 2014
- The Hum with Ummet Ozcan — 2015
These works established the characteristic structure of the duo’s music: a short recognisable motif, a sharp contrast between the breakdown and drop, and rhythms designed to produce a synchronised response from a large audience.
Tremor
Tremor, recorded with Martin Garrix, was released in 2014. Despite a common misconception, it was not a Tomorrowland anthem. The track was associated with the Sensation festival brand and became one of the most recognisable recordings from the peak period of big room.
The arrangement uses a short synthesiser sequence repeated before a heavy drop. This structure became typical of mid-2010s mainstage EDM and had a noticeable influence on later festival releases.
The Hum
In 2015, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike released The Hum with Ummet Ozcan. The track features a vocal motif inspired by a scene from the film The Wolf of Wall Street. Charlie Sheen and Jean-Claude Van Damme appeared in the music video.
The Hum continued the big room direction but used a shorter and more easily recognisable vocal hook. The track became part of the duo’s core live repertoire and accompanied the growth of their arena productions.
Bringing the Madness
During the first half of the 2010s, the brothers began staging large standalone concerts at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp. The series was initially called Bringing Home the Madness and later Bringing the Madness.
These were not individual DJ sets but full arena productions featuring several artists, an expanded stage, scenery, pyrotechnics and extended performances by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. Tickets for some concerts sold out within a single day, after which organisers added extra dates.
The series became the foundation for the later Garden of Madness shows and helped the duo transfer the Tomorrowland aesthetic into an independent concert format.
Garden of Madness
In 2012, the name Garden of Madness was used for one of the brothers’ shows at the Sportpaleis. In 2016, Tomorrowland and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike introduced a club version of the concept at Ushuaïa Ibiza. It later developed into an annual summer residency featuring scenery created by the Tomorrowland team.
In 2017, the programme was linked to the Tomorrowland stage of the same name and received an updated visual design in Ibiza. In subsequent seasons, Garden of Madness was held at Ushuaïa and other venues.
The residency combined the duo’s performances with sets by guest artists, including Steve Aoki, Afrojack, Armin van Buuren, Lost Frequencies, NERVO, W&W and other representatives of the EDM scene.
Higher Place and expansion beyond club EDM
In 2015, the brothers released Higher Place with American singer Ne-Yo. The recording differed from their main festival tracks through its more pronounced pop structure, vocal chorus and moderate tempo.
The track topped the Belgian singles chart and received platinum certification in Belgium. Higher Place marked the beginning of a period in which Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike increasingly collaborated with pop, hip-hop and Latin artists.
Pop and hip-hop collaborations
During the second half of the 2010s, the duo’s discography became considerably more diverse. Alongside big room, the brothers released dance-pop, trap, hip-hop and Latin-oriented tracks.
Notable works include:
- Hey Baby with Diplo and Deb’s Daughter — 2016
- Complicated with David Guetta and Kiiara — 2017
- Melody with Steve Aoki and Ummet Ozcan
- When I Grow Up with Wiz Khalifa — 2018
- Selfish with Era Istrefi — 2019
- Instagram with David Guetta, Afro Bros, Daddy Yankee and Natti Natasha — 2019
- Best Friend’s Ass with Paris Hilton — 2019
By this period, the project’s music was no longer limited to big room. Its catalogue included lower-tempo recordings, urban rhythms, pop vocals and trap elements. DJ Mag noted that the brothers’ work could range from tracks at around 80 BPM to hardstyle productions at approximately 160 BPM.
3 Are Legend
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike also perform with Steve Aoki under the name 3 Are Legend. The project took shape in the mid-2010s and is used for joint festival sets and selected releases.
3 Are Legend programmes combine original tracks by all participants, big room, electro house, hard dance and pop-oriented material. The project has appeared regularly at Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival and other major events.
DJ Mag Top 100 DJs
In 2011, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike entered the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs for the first time, placing at number 79. Over the following years, they quickly climbed into the upper part of the ranking.
The duo topped the list twice:
- 2015 — number one
- 2019 — number one
In 2015, the brothers became the first duo and the first Belgian representatives to reach the top position in the vote. The ranking is based on an open public vote and primarily reflects the international popularity of the artists.
In 2024, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike placed third, while in 2025 they ranked fourth. At the same time, DJ Mag named them the World’s No. 1 DJ Group for the fourth consecutive year, recognising them as the highest-ranked duo or group in the poll.
Changes in sound during the 2020s
During the 2020s, the music of Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike became noticeably harder. The brothers began using elements of:
- old-school rave
- gabber
- hard techno
- rawstyle
- hardstyle
- Eurodance
- makina
- early Belgian rave music
This direction is connected with Dimitri’s return to the music he listened to and played during his teenage years. During selected performances, he used vinyl and built sets around recordings from the 1990s and early 2000s.
In its 2024 profile, DJ Mag described the duo’s sound as a combination of post-rave, gabber, raw and hard techno. A year later, the artists described it as a mixture of neo-rave, hard techno and other harder styles.
Thank You (Not So Bad)
In December 2023, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike released Thank You (Not So Bad) with Tiësto, W&W and singer Dido. The composition is based on the vocal part and melody of Dido’s Thank You, which gained further recognition through its use in Eminem’s Stan.
The new version combined Eurodance, mainstage EDM and a hard festival drop. The release returned the duo to European national charts and became one of their most notable commercial works of the 2020s.
Releases from 2024 to 2026
In 2024, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike continued working with reworkings of well-known dance themes. Together with Tiësto and Gabry Ponte, they released Mockingbird, while with Maddix, Da Hool and Kiki Solvej they produced a new version of Meet Her at the Love Parade. The latter is based on Da Hool’s 1997 techno track of the same name.
Other works from this period, including Universal Nation, Yeah, Heroine and Makina Time, reflect a move towards rave, trance, hard techno and higher tempos. On Makina Time, released in 2026, the brothers collaborated with Marlon Hoffstadt and DJ Konik, drawing on Spanish makina and European hard-dance music.
Solo directions
Both members develop projects outside the main duo.
Dimitri Vegas
Dimitri releases solo club tracks and remixes, performs separate techno and vinyl sets and also works in film. In 2019, he participated in the promotional campaign for the video game Mortal Kombat 11: he recorded music for a trailer and provided his likeness and voice for a special Sub-Zero character skin.
His solo direction in the 2020s is primarily connected with techno, rave and reworkings of classic club recordings.
Like Mike
Like Mike develops more melodic and experimental music. Through the Green Room label, he releases melodic house, afro house and downtempo material. In his solo work, Michael uses his own vocals more frequently and moves away from the structure of the large festival drop.
The contrast between their solo directions allows the brothers to release music that does not always correspond to the main sound of Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike.
Stage format
In the duo’s classic live format, Dimitri Vegas usually focuses more on mixing and the technical construction of the set. Like Mike pays greater attention to the microphone, vocal parts and direct interaction with the audience. Both members nevertheless work with the DJ equipment and participate in the creative activities of the project.
Their programmes are based on rapid alternation between their own tracks, mashups, recognisable vocal fragments and hard festival drops. Unlike a traditional club set with gradual development, the duo’s performances usually consist of short, contrasting sections and are designed for visually elaborate main stages.
Ushuaïa Ibiza residency
In 2024 and 2025, Tomorrowland and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike held extended summer residencies at Ushuaïa Ibiza. Every Wednesday, the venue received a separate stage design based on Tomorrowland’s visual worlds. During the 2025 season, The Reflection of Love programme included 18 shows from May to September.
In 2026, the residency returned with the Planaxis theme and was scheduled for 19 dates between May 6 and September 30. The programme included Afrojack, Alok, Oliver Heldens, Agents of Time, Timmy Trumpet, Kevin de Vries, Korolova, Lilly Palmer, Vini Vici, Steve Aoki and other artists.
Like Mike’s temporary break
On July 17, 2026, Like Mike announced a temporary break from touring because of health problems that had continued for several months. On medical advice, he withdrew from his upcoming appearances, including the duo’s scheduled Tomorrowland set.
The project’s planned concerts were not cancelled: Dimitri Vegas continued to perform alone. On July 18, during his solo set on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, he dedicated a separate section of the programme to his brother. Like Mike emphasised that the break applied to touring and did not mean the end of his musical work or the dissolution of the duo.
Musical style
The work of Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike can be divided into several main periods.
Early period
Their first releases were connected with tribal house, electro house and European club music of the second half of the 2000s. They featured extended rhythmic sections, percussion and minimal use of vocals.
Tomorrowland and progressive house
On Tomorrow, The Way We See the World and Waves, the melodic component became more pronounced. The tracks were built around vocal or synthesiser climaxes and corresponded with the festival progressive house sound of the early 2010s.
Big room
Wakanda, Mammoth, Tremor and The Hum represent the duo’s best-known period. These compositions are characterised by short motifs, a heavy straight rhythm, pauses before the drop and a minimalist harmonic structure.
Pop and urban period
On Higher Place, Complicated, When I Grow Up and Instagram, the brothers combined EDM with pop, hip-hop, trap and Latin music.
Neo-rave and hard dance
The contemporary period is connected with gabber, hard techno, rawstyle, Eurodance and makina. The duo revisits classic club compositions and reworks them for current festival sets.
Main tracks by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
- Cocaine / Eivissa 2007 — 2007
- Tomorrow (Give Into the Night) — with Dada Life and Tara McDonald, 2010
- The Way We See the World — with Afrojack and NERVO, 2011
- Wakanda — 2013
- Mammoth — with MOGUAI, 2013
- Ocarina — with Wolfpack, 2013
- Chattahoochee — 2013
- Tremor — with Martin Garrix, 2014
- Waves — with W&W, 2014
- The Hum — with Ummet Ozcan, 2015
- Higher Place — with Ne-Yo, 2015
- Arcade — with W&W, 2016
- Hey Baby — with Diplo and Deb’s Daughter, 2016
- Complicated — with David Guetta and Kiiara, 2017
- When I Grow Up — with Wiz Khalifa, 2018
- Instagram — with David Guetta, Afro Bros, Daddy Yankee and Natti Natasha, 2019
- Thank You (Not So Bad) — with Tiësto, Dido and W&W, 2023
- Mockingbird — with Tiësto and Gabry Ponte, 2024
- Meet Her at the Love Parade — with Maddix, Da Hool and Kiki Solvej, 2024
- Makina Time — with Marlon Hoffstadt and DJ Konik, 2026
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike today
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike continue to develop several parallel directions: joint festival releases, the Smash The House label, the Tomorrowland residency at Ushuaïa Ibiza, the 3 Are Legend project and the solo work of each brother.
The duo’s career has progressed from small performances in Ibiza and tribal house releases to Tomorrowland anthems, their big room period, pop collaborations and a contemporary return to rave and hard techno. Their role in the electronic music industry is primarily associated with shaping the mainstage format of the 2010s, developing Smash The House and maintaining a long-term partnership with Tomorrowland.
Like Mike’s temporary touring break in 2026 changed the live line-up but not the status of the project: studio work continues, while scheduled performances are being carried out with Dimitri Vegas.
