Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) is perhaps the most dynamic, dramatic electronic music festival on earth. The largest electronic dance music festival in North America, EDC Las Vegas is revered for bringing hundreds of dance music icons to its nine stages. Plus, any event that can properly accommodate over 170,000 people per day – surpassing half a million people throughout the weekend – should be given due respect.
Although I consider myself a seasoned veteran of music festivals, I had never experienced this ultimate destination festival until just last month for its 13th edition. Embarrassing, I know, but my editorial duties have always busied up my calendar, preventing me from going.
While it was my first year experiencing the music festival that has influenced nearly every aspect of festival culture throughout the world, I actually found it quite humbling to walk around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and see firsthand all of its insane programming and offerings.
As someone who enjoys being social while also being alone, it was easy to be both a main character and a fly on the wall throughout the EDC grounds. It’s a crazy feeling to be walking among hundreds of thousands of people knowing you’re also steps away from some of the world’s biggest electronic music stars. On the flip side, if you want to get buried within this LED-painted ant farm of craziness and go with the flow of the crowds, you can do that also.
Fisher explained it best, stating, “EDC is like being in a big beautiful bowl of fruity loops. Colorful and tasty.” To my own observations, it’s essentially a three-day-long tournament of Frogger while on drugs.
Disclaimer: You don’t actually need to be on drugs to feel this way. With the surge of rainbow-adorned people walking towards you in every direction and thousands of people posted up at one of the many stages, your eyes are working overtime to make real-time decisions of where to walk, how to dodge people, where to stand and dance, and mapping out your route to get you to where you want to go.
Personal Highlights:
Max Styler rocked the house and laid down his hypnotic tech house before handing it off to the debut performance of HYPERBEAM (Odd Mob x Omnom) on the StereoBLOOM stage.
“Back pre-COVID, we got together in [Cody’s] old guesthouse and we made a track together. We instantly became mates throughout COVID, but didn’t actually see each other for over a year after that since the world was shut down,” Odd Mob told Uproxx.
“We had so much stuff built up over the years that it didn’t make sense to release them as all collabs. So we decided to make a new project together to get out this music,” Omnom explained.
If you try to say Odd Mob and Omnom together, you’ll find yourself in a tongue twister, which is why the two producers landed on HYPERBEAM – somewhat inspired by the Pokemon attack – as the project’s new name.
I’m a fast walker, and was able to jet from the Circuit Grounds to StereoBLOOM to catch the last couple minutes of the festival’s most stylist DJ, Eli Brown. What a great time to see him throw down his gritty techno while concluding his week of releasing his brand new street wear label, 92 Thing.
“The idea for a streetwear collection came to life pretty organically,” Brown said. “I’ve wanted to create something for my fans that is more connective and tangible for a while now, but I didn’t want to just drop traditional artist merch. I find conformity to be quite boring and – similar to my approach to music creation – I am always trying to find ways to set myself apart from what everyone else is doing and make that space my own.”
“92 Thing is inspired by the spirit and style of the 1992 rave scene in my hometown of Bristol,” Brown continued. “My career was literally born that year in those underground spaces, and the experiences I had continue to inform my artistic vision to this day. It’s a real nod to this massive era in my artistic journey – one which I could have never dreamed where it would take me back in ’92…Overall, the rave scene during this time changed the course of music history. It was a revolution, a time of resistance and rebellion. Acid house was in its infancy, hardcore was growing and the dance culture of the UK had really begun to materialize – It was a ‘92 thing… you just had to be there!”
I also made sure to catch Subtronics’ set. Every time I see Subtronics, there’s no doubt that he loves screaming into the mic to annoy his fans. This time though, he also wanted to surprise us by bringing in special guests Tape B and John Summit for an ultimate collab of Sage The Gemini’s “Gas Pedal.” The crowd went absolutely wild for this.
The Quantum Valley Stage was the best stage at the festival for fully immersive visuals. Infected Mushroom never fails to amaze with their insane visuals. You can be sure to take a deep dive into human consciousness at one of their sets.
Everyone looks so amazing at EDC. Kudos to the ladies who wear platinum heels and boots for the 12 hour day. Let your freak fly here, because everyone else is!
I was able to experiment with a whole new look thanks to Volta Beauty Bar in the VIP section next to Kinetic Field, who gave me a total makeover with the braids and sparkly makeup. I love being Rave Barbie.
When I heard rumors of a special guest coming on the Circuit Grounds stage at 11:30 p.m., I made sure to be there. Making this a priority, I found myself in the best dancing space in the VIP section to a surprise hour-long set by Fred Again.
Random Observations:
- Ear protection is sexy. I lost my Eargasm earplugs the first day but scored a pair of EDC-branded earplugs from the merchandise tent the second day. Don’t you want to hear music until you die? Get a pair…like now.
- John Summit should probably try to play more than the same 10 songs throughout his four sets during EDC week and at the festival itself. You can only make us shiver so many times, John. I did love his foray into DnB with Sub Focus though.
- The food and drinks at EDC are only as expensive as you want them to be. Pack (and hide) some snacks in your backpack so security doesn’t find them, so you don’t have to spend a lot of money to stay fueled during your partying hours.
- deadmau5 has no shame in flaming people, no matter who they are. We need more people and artists like deadmau5 who aren’t afraid to capture a drone flying in their face, even if it’s flown by the festival crew themselves.
- There is absolutely no reason to ever try or buy Electrolit. This stuff is loaded with cancer causing ingredients that are actually making you less hydrated. It tastes like medicine that your mom forced down your throat as a kid. Overall, I’d skip this on-site activation.
- EDC could sure use more sitting areas. Maybe it just gets harder raving sober at 27 years old.
- Not sure what’s better: Four Tet playing deadmau5 or Four Tet playing Joy Orbinson or Four Tet playing Avicii.
- Nicki Minaj sounds good remixed into any genre. Subtronics b2b Level Up made this possible.
- Dillon Francis has permission to arrest any of us, at any time.
- Seeing Zedd play “Clarity” helped heal my inner teenager, and it can help heal yours too.
- Sara Landry has the best strobe lights in all the land.
- There’s a reason over half of the festival flocks to Kinetic Field at 3am on the last night. No one wants to miss FISHER or his over-the-top crazy performance he puts on.
The Bottom Line:
People watching at EDC is on its own level. Nothing can beat it. Take some pressure off your feet and take a seat (if you can find one) to look at all the beautiful and passionate people around you. You might also spot Mr. Cool from School of Rock casually walking around the festival.
Check out this full gallery of photos from EDC Las Vegas 2024:
EDC Las Vegas will return to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway May 16th-18th, 2025. A variety of GA, GA+, and VIP tickets can be secured with as low as a $5 deposit here.
