Water is your friend. Especially when you're dancing for hours on end in desert heat. But it's not uncommon for EDC attendees to neglect hydration amidst the deluge of sensory overload that is Electric Daisy Carnival. Fortunately, Laura Newton and her Ground Control minions have your back.
“We like to make it rain free water,” says Newton. “Last year, it was 114 degrees. They're in Vegas. I can't imagine they're eating healthy and staying sober in their hotels. They're partying beforehand. They're going to pool parties, and being in the sun dehydrates you. And then dancing for hours.”
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Since arriving in Las Vegas in 2011, Electric Daisy Carnival has quelled naysayers, battled Mother Nature and ballooned in size. As a veteran festival performer, I’ve followed Electric Daisy Carnival’s Las Vegas odyssey from atop a pair of stilts. Here’s a look back, plus—with a little help from Insomniac CEO Pasquale Rotella—a peek forward at this year’s festival.
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A microbus full of clowns rolls slowly through a crowd of ecstatic revelers. A flatland BMX rider nails a trick. A bald dude on pogo stilts does a backflip. A man in a suit of mirror shards shines from onstage. A hottie in a gas mask with rabbit ears wields flaming fans—you’ve seen them online in event trailers. Maybe you’ve even interacted with them in the flesh at the festival. Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas employs more than 500 of these roving and stage performers: Clowns, aerialists, stilters, acrobats, dancers, contortionists, roller girls, puppeteers, mascots, Cyr wheelists, drummers, tumblers and more transform Las Vegas Motor Speedway into one of the world’s largest immersive performance environments. And who wrangles them? Meet Insomniac creative director Bunny and his entertainment director sidekick, Jila.
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Under the Electric Sky isn’t the first feature-length film to attempt to capture the magic of Electric Daisy Carnival. I should know: I was the giant blue caterpillar and the ukulele-playing clown on stilts in 2011′s Electric Daisy Carnival Experience. I may or may not have a cameo this time around, but I’ve got higher hopes for Electric Sky.
In January, I road-tripped to Park City, Utah, to sport Flea-inspired, stuffed-animal-covered stilt pants for the newer film’s Sundance premiere—my trousers looked like a toy store threw up on them. Pasquale Rotella, CEO of EDC promoter Insomniac, brought his wife, Holly Madison, and their daughter, Rainbow, to the party. I’ll never forget the wide-eyed expression on Rainbow’s face as she attempted to wrap her tiny mind around the Beanie Baby menagerie towering over her.
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