UNITY AND CREATIVITY
Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) has otherwise been known as the pinnacle festival in the electronic music scene for quite some time now. 21 years ago, Pasqualle Rotella – Founder & CEO of Insomniac, took a leap of faith and followed his dream. Along this journey, he developed a perfect storm where dance music fans alike can make long lasting memories while giving artist a stage with a captivated and devoted audience.
To call EDC just a party or rave would just be degrading and downright disrespectful. The three-day festival has taken place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway since 2011 and has been rapidly growing over the years. Each night, over 135,000 attendees find their way to one of a variety of different stages or art cars. Last year, the festival brought in over 400,000 music lovers throughout the three-day festival. It’s to go without saying that EDC is growing both in size and complexity within production bigger every year. Rotella states “EDC Las Vegas is a temporary city constructed once a year by thousands of passionate people, and no two EDCs are ever the same.”
Though many come for the jaw-dropping lineup with over 100+ best artists in the EDM industry today, many more come for the experience. EDC offers more than just a stage with a DJ, they bring, amazing art car displays, parades, wedding ceremonies, breathtaking stage production, spectacular firework displays, and much much more. To me, you can see a majority of these artists anytime at the closest major city near you. But at EDC, both you and the DJ’s are in for a treat. For the attendee, you’re getting the best set this artist has. These artists put their heart and soul into sets as big as EDC and you feel it while they’re performing. Honestly, these artists are just as stoked to be there as you are to watch them. For the artists, this is their chance to release new music and put everything they got on the table.
Some of my personal favorite artist’s from EDC that I believe should go noted were Kygo, Porter Robinson, k?d, Chet Porter, Rezz, and 3LAU B2B Audien. All of these sets captured my attention and had spectacular tracklists and transitions, while keeping the audience’s attention. For some of these artists such as k?d, Chet Porter and Rezz, it was their debut at EDC which made this year even more special for both fans and the artists themselves.If you haven’t heard of some of these artists, I highly recommend you check them out.
As I previously mentioned, people don’t just attend this festival for the music; it’s for the experience. I’ll never forget that feeling I got when I first stepped foot on the Speedway, how much joy and excitement throughout my body I felt with a smile ear to ear. The Speedway was covered in lights, and just had so many stages and things to see. Also noted, never in my life have I seen such an extravagant firework show that lasted about 15 minutes that blew Disneyland’s out of the park until I attended EDCLV. Along with this amazing production, everyone I interacted with was so kind and unique.
One specific memorable interaction happened to a friend of mine. My friend Taylor was walking around the last set of the last day as she came across a guy in a wheelchair, who seemed to be by himself. She walked up to him and asked if he was by himself, and sure enough, he told her that he was alone. My friend decided to stay and dance with him, and as she was dancing with him she noticed he couldn’t really move that great and assumed something was wrong with his motor skills. She asked him if he wanted to trade kandi and he nodded his head but then she realizes he can’t do the peace, love, unity and respect motions with his hands. She ended up helping him do the motions and traded him a kandi that said “warrior.” She saw him as a strong and amazing warrior. After they were done trading, they hugged and kept dancing, then the DJ said, “Everyone put your hands up!” and she looks over and realizes that this guy can’t put his hands up on his own. Instead, she went behind him, grasps his wrists, and raised them for him.
It’s moments like this that make the EDM community different than any other music culture known. This culture is more than just about the music; it’s about the experiences, the people, and memories you make throughout these festivals. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend EDC or any festival to anyone who like electronic dance music and wants to make long lasting memories.
[+] EDC LAS VEGAS
[Official] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Instagram]
Photos courtesy of aLIVE Coverage for Insomniac Events
