EDC Las Vegas 2013

[BROKENDOLL]

...

EDC was fucking amazing this year. The fantastic design of the mainstage that opted for something more artful instead of just increasing the LED screen size year to year. The huge blacklights that turned the kinetic field neon like an indoor club. Insomniac's decision to put more popular acts like Jack Beats on the Cosmic Meadow Sunday and to break up the trance stages to mix up the genres at each stage and expose a lot of people to non-cheese EDM. Losing my shit at Richie Hawtin on the mainstage during his climactic ending. The lowering circuit ground lights. The solid schedule that only left me bored for about an hour the entire weekend, that doesn't peak with headliners the end of the night but instead is non-stop big acts. Getting a surge of energy from listening to Booka Shade late in the night. Watching the sun come up behind us during Markus Schultz's saturday set and seeing everyone's faces light up.

All of you idiots bitching are fucktards. Aren't all of djs on the Neon Garden stage the ones that you worship endlessly, and yet you still complain about the lineup? Pete Tong, Sasha, Richie Hawtin, Carl Cox, John Digweed, Adam Beyer fucking killed it, who the fuck else would you like to be there? The food sucked and the night owl experience was a bit lame. Everything else was fucking top notch.

If I had to pick, this is the first time I would now choose EDC over Coachella. I'll take mainstage techno over waiting 30 minutes to see someone in a fucking tiny cramped smokey nightclub. Thank you so much Insomniac, it was exhausting but I'll definitely be back next year.

Sounds like somebody did EDC right... (I felt like I had actually gone after reading this post.)

[BROKENDOLL]

"Officers reported 49 felony arrests at the electronic dance music festival that ran during the nights and wrapped up at 5:30 a.m. Monday. Authorities said there were more than 600 calls for medical help, but only a handful of hospitalizations and no known deaths as of closing time, according to Las Vegas Police Officer Larry Hadfield."

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/jun/...-in-las-vegas/

When you think about the amount of peeps there vs the 49 arrests, I'd say that somebody is doing something right...

[Electrotek]

Who else saw Altern 8 there? That was the only artist that was worth seeing at EDC for me.

[jgafs]

I was a Porter Robinson hater, but left his set very impressed.

[ManImCool]

A ton of things were improved over last year, that I'm sure people that didn't go can watch or read about, but one HUGE negative step backwards they did this year, was NOT allowing people to walk the lesser-known-sort-of-secret back way to the left front of the Kinetic Field stage. Last 2 years you could quite easily walk around the back, up the left side, and right up to the front, even during 3AM headliner slots. This year, they took away that option, which forced everyone to fight their way through the heavy bottlenecks. If there was a secret back way this year (that wasn't VIP) then my group could not find it.

[CrystalCastlesFreak]

Had a blast at my 1st EDC! My top 5:

1) Krewella
2) Wolfgang Gartner
3) Madeon
4) Above & Beyond
5) Knife Party

The Deadmau5 set at the Wet Republic yesterday was the highlight of the weekend for me though. He destroyed the Wet Republic, everyone was going ape shit over the Mau5

[Electrotek]

Had a blast at my 1st EDC! My top 5:

1) Krewella
2) Wolfgang Gartner
3) Madeon
4) Above & Beyond
5) Knife Party

The Deadmau5 set at the Wet Republic yesterday was the highlight of the weekend for me though. He destroyed the Wet Republic, everyone was going ape shit over the Mau5

lolololololol

[ocbruin84]

Well I had a blast going Sunday night. Saw Hawtin and wandered around, catching some of the Basscon stage, Noisia (again, after Coachella '12), Art Department, Sasha, Jamie Jones, Carl Cox, Knife Party, Kill the Noise, Krewella, etc etc. The atmosphere is pretty insane and I dug the pyro. Walking in and seeing it all for the first time was kind of a mindfuck. Tons of rides, fireworks, etc. Sure there are things Coachella does better (FOOD) but I'd go again next year. Can't imagine doing it more than a day tho.

[TickleMeElmo]

Expansion to 2 weekends is in the works

http://www.thebpm.net/2013/06/breaki...full-weekends/

UGH. This is getting ridiculous. At some point supply will exceed demand and festivals will have to start cutting back down.

[thelastgreatman]

You mean you think that a rapidly expanding economic sector might right itself and scale back down at some point?

Keen observation.

[TickleMeElmo]

I'm curious why not many festivals in Europe or beyond have festivals pulling double weekends. Is it because they're not selling out as fast as these US ones have been as of late or is this just a big American money grab?

I'm also curious if Coachella will ever scale back down to one weekend.

[PJandBompton]

I'm curious why not many festivals in Europe or beyond have festivals pulling double weekends. Is it because they're not selling out as fast as these US ones have been as of late or is this just a big American money grab?

I'm also curious if Coachella will ever scale back down to one weekend.

American money grab. if there's any festival in the world that could/should do 2 weekends besides Coachella, it's Glasto.

also, that article is not official, and they omitted ACL, which is definitely a "major" festival

[lt.roast.a.botch]

Slightly different but Primavera has two weekends in different cities; Porto and Barcelona. Sonar as a brand is held in multiple cities around the world. Tomorrowland is moving that direction. Rock im Park and Rock am Ring have the same lineup on the same weekend in two different cities in Germany. Reading and Leeds festival does the same. There are probably some that I'm forgetting or don't even know about.

[tmac]

they talked about it at the conference a number of times. it will be 2 weekends. they are also looking to expand to nearly 20 countries over the next 5 years.

[Trick Loves The Kids]

Is Krewella a joke? Serious question here

[thefrush]

Is Krewella a joke? Serious question here

I think this is a matter of personal opinion, but to seriously answer your question, no.

[CrimesceneCookie]

American money grab. if there's any festival in the world that could/should do 2 weekends besides Coachella, it's Glasto.

Isn't the land pretty pulverized after Glastonbury with the rain and mud?
I'm not sure how a 2nd weekend would be possible in those conditions.

[Justin170]

Well the land at EDC is all Concrete, so I don't think that applies.

[CrimesceneCookie]

Well yeah, that wasn't the point. EDC could do 2 weekends, but there are a number of logistic issues that prevent Glastonbury from going that route.

[Justin170]

Haha your right! My reading comprehension suck today...

Regardless I think two weeks is a horrible idea for EDC. I doubt they can sell out two weekends.

[seitron]

You do realize that the names you listed were all at the top of their game in the 90's? Are they all solid DJ's, yes, are they they best contemporary DJ's on the planet, fuck no. I walked away from both Digweed and Hawtin pretty fast at DEMF this year. I like how you just assume every oldschool fan of EDM gratefully pays 400$ to watch a very standard house or techno set by an oldschool legend. No son, I could catch any of these guys a dozen times a year, on the cheap. You payed at least 150$ for all of the heavyweight cheese house, dubstep and trance, how was it? Just because I say that a lineup is crap doesn't mean it is devoid of talent. It means that it is stacked with garbage.

I can see you are on the verge of migrating from shit EDM to solid EDM. Why don't you spend some time seeing a wide diversity of underground music and then let me know if you still think EDC is the greatest festival in the world. Or maybe you only get out twice a year. In that case enjoy your amazing festival experience!

Don't patronize me with your shit about migrating to solid EDM. Just because I enjoyed Hawtin, Booka Shade, and Adam Beyer doesn't mean I didn't also like watching the cheesier house/trance acts. I enjoy watching music with friends. You enjoy being a hipster and liking shit that no one else likes. I've got news for you - being a hater is fucking miserable. You end up missing out on fun shit because you think you're above it all. Been there, done that, no thanks. The same people that were going crazy over the cheese house also showed up to the techno sets, danced, and had a great time -- way more this weekend than any other festival I've ever seen. EDC this year was the first real glimpse I've had at the fact that this stupid divide between fans of 'serious EDM' and 'cheese EDM' is starting to not exist anymore. I've loved techno for years and have only gotten into trance in the past few months. Listening to underground techno and shutting everything else off doesn't make you open-minded, it makes you the opposite.

[seitron]

A ton of things were improved over last year, that I'm sure people that didn't go can watch or read about, but one HUGE negative step backwards they did this year, was NOT allowing people to walk the lesser-known-sort-of-secret back way to the left front of the Kinetic Field stage. Last 2 years you could quite easily walk around the back, up the left side, and right up to the front, even during 3AM headliner slots. This year, they took away that option, which forced everyone to fight their way through the heavy bottlenecks. If there was a secret back way this year (that wasn't VIP) then my group could not find it.

I agree, this was a huge bummer, but the smaller entrances under the scaffolding along the side made a big difference. if you walked through here it was much easier to cut across the crowd than walking through the clusterfuck at the back

[Bee_troots]

satudady night i couldnt even hear myself talk,loud music, all stages were packed, i hate how they turned down the sound on all stages sunday night(confirmed by talking to the basspod sound guys), my guess was to make people get closer to the stage, felt alot of negative engergy sunday night,no one wanted to get close or dance anymore, more hostile pushing shoving sunday night, friday night was real cute, people kept filming me and my lady freind dancing, one even said we were fcuking adorable and gave my girl a bracelet, my gf started getting paranoid because people were filming us dancing at multiple sets, we werent even on drugs, we were just doing cute shit and feeding off each others energy,

people would ask me if i wanted to buy molly, then they would just give some to me, weird,loved the weather, loved the super chill security all three nights, my GF talked her way in all three nights, and she didnt even have a ticket OR AN ID!!!! basically i will go again next year only friday night and sell my sat and sunday ticket, and not even rent a hotel... shitty margaritas shitty food, i love how i could buy alot of beer and give it to my underage lady friend and drink together walking around aha.

[Pea]

satudady night i couldnt even hear myself talk,loud music, all stages were packed, i hate how they turned down the sound on all stages sunday night(confirmed by talking to the basspod sound guys), my guess was to make people get closer to the stage, felt alot of negative engergy sunday night,no one wanted to get close or dance anymore, more hostile pushing shoving sunday night, friday night was real cute, people kept filming me and my lady freind dancing, one even said we were fcuking adorable and gave my girl a bracelet, my gf started getting paranoid because people were filming us dancing at multiple sets, we werent even on drugs, we were just doing cute shit and feeding off each others energy,

people would ask me if i wanted to buy molly, then they would just give some to me, weird,loved the weather, loved the super chill security all three nights, my GF talked her way in all three nights, and she didnt even have a ticket OR AN ID!!!! basically i will go again next year only friday night and sell my sat and sunday ticket, and not even rent a hotel... shitty margaritas shitty food, i love how i could buy alot of beer and give it to my underage lady friend and drink together walking around aha.

Are you still high or something?

[Mr. Porter]

That's it. I'm going next year

[Santa]

Comparing EDC, Coachella, and DEMF in any capacity is a pretty stupid and futile exercise in and of itself.

Yeah, they aren't burning man at all.

[grannock]

Don't patronize me with your shit about migrating to solid EDM. Just because I enjoyed Hawtin, Booka Shade, and Adam Beyer doesn't mean I didn't also like watching the cheesier house/trance acts. I enjoy watching music with friends. You enjoy being a hipster and liking shit that no one else likes. I've got news for you - being a hater is fucking miserable. You end up missing out on fun shit because you think you're above it all. Been there, done that, no thanks. The same people that were going crazy over the cheese house also showed up to the techno sets, danced, and had a great time -- way more this weekend than any other festival I've ever seen. EDC this year was the first real glimpse I've had at the fact that this stupid divide between fans of 'serious EDM' and 'cheese EDM' is starting to not exist anymore. I've loved techno for years and have only gotten into trance in the past few months. Listening to underground techno and shutting everything else off doesn't make you open-minded, it makes you the opposite.

I doubt many serious edm fans were at edc, they know better. What you saw was people who have gotten into the scene this year, opposed to people who have gotten in like 3 years ago like yourself. Maybe in another 2 years you will have figured it out.

Im sure edc was fun, im not debating that. Im telling you that there are better edm parties for much cheaper, a win/win. If you dot believe me, whatever, its your fafsa money your flushing down the toilet with all those other 18-22 year olds.

[Mr. Dylanja]

I fully intend on hitting DEMF up next year, but I seriously cannot understand criticizing people for having a good time. You call them idiots for doing what they do, tell them about a superior party, and then get pissed when they show up. (like people in the DEMF thread did this year)

I had a fantastic time, can't remember having more fun to be perfectly honest. If you want to talk shit about that, then be my guest. Watching Art Department > Sasha > Jamie Jones as the supermoon set behind them, and the sun rose behind us was surreal. I mean, I was on the middle of a goddamn race track listening to Sasha for the supermoon, where were you? What should I have been doing if that was such a bad idea? Should I have been at home depressed that I needed to go to work the next day? Should I have been listening to some obscure mix somebody mentioned on the board? Anything but the biggest party in the country, right? Why would I go hang out with a bunch of ravers? They know how to do a lot of things, but having fun must not be one of them. Why on earth would I sit by the Mirage's pool all day when I could be at the Double Tree in Detroit, right?

I felt zero negative vibes all weekend, it was amazing. I'll be back.

[ocbruin84]

^ Although I didn't stick around for their sets in full I was around for all 3 of the aforementioned and they were great.

One thing worth mentioning is the production values compared to other perhaps more credible fests. Is there anything inherently 'wrong' with enjoying the massive stages, lights, pyrotechnics, lasers, fireworks etc. as a complement to the music?

[guedita]

I fully intend on hitting DEMF up next year, but I seriously cannot understand criticizing people for having a good time. You call them idiots for doing what they do, tell them about a superior party, and then get pissed when they show up. (like people in the DEMF thread did this year)

Cite your sources motherfucker.