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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After making its first foray off American soil in London last July, Electric Daisy Carnival continued its international expansion March 15 and 16 with the inaugural EDC Mexico. The south-of-the-border version of the massively-popular, EDM-fueled carnival took place over two days at a Mexico City speedway called the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and hosted close to 80,000 “headliners” (how EDC boss Pasquale Rotella affectionately refers to attendees). Avicii, Zeds Dead, Baauer, Steve Angello, Boys Noize, Showtek, Cajmere, Loco Dice, Cazzette, Krewella, Clockwork, Kaskade, Flux Pavilion, Digweed, Araabmuzik and more performed. Below are five differences between EDC Mexico and the Las Vegas festival.
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Being Steve Aoki is a dangerous job. But paparazzi and stalkers are the least of the music celebrity’s worries. The Japanese-American DJ is the Evel Knievel of the EDM world, stage diving and crowd surfing on the regular. A trampoline leap gone wrong in Puerto Rico earned him a trip to the emergency room. Aoki’s video team documents the incident in “Puerto Rico Stage Dive Trampoline Fail: On the Road with Steve Aoki #37” on YouTube. Even though he’s in obvious pain, Aoki insists on playing one more song for his adoring fans before being whisked away in an ambulance.
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Lorin Ashton was in sixth grade when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake hit his hometown of San Francisco. He was rid- ing shotgun with his mother when they heard the God- synthesized sub-bass. The car bounced. Trees appeared to sway and melt. His mom screamed. Ashton remembers thinking to himself, “Wow ... this is power.”
“I was emotionally seized by the pure force of that low frequency. I didn’t understand or rationalize it at the time, but that was the first time I remember feeling terrified and overwhelmed by a natural power much greater than myself. And much more in control.” It quite literally rocked his world. “Humans were tossed aside like leaves,” remembers Ashton. “Roads bent in impossible ways, and trees and houses distorted."
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