Day Two: Electric Daisy Carnival — Recaps, Videos & Commentary

Day two was our day to explore the inner depths of the Electric Daisy Carnival — as the day before we found ourselves somewhat trapped inside the Coliseum’s gates.

FOUR other stages existed beyond the Coliseum’s gates — Cosmic Meadow, Circuit Grounds, Bass Pod, and the Neon Garden. One had to explore the Bass Pod, as it stationed in the very exact center of the carnival, there was little one could do to avoid it, so between sets it only felt right to embrace it.

Bass Pod Stage

Jungle, Drum n Bass, and dub step ran rampant and furiously on the Bass Pod’s grounds. Without question, the Bass Pod’s crowd boosted the greatest energy of any of the stages. Even during the daylight hours, chaos ensued — not sure I should have to say anything more than just see for yourself below…
LOVE the daisy dancers towards the end, so graceful in their wasted whimsy…

Harvard Bass

The sun had set, and Harvard Bass threw down with full electronic force. Even with his first high octane drop, he already had the crowd hooked into his all-out rage worthy machine. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Harvard Bass spin on many occasions, but his performance at Electric Daisy Carnival was absolutely on a level all its own. His tropical bass-laden infusions seemed to just perfectly compliment the evening dusk sun. If a DJ set can be described as “romantic” then Harvard Bass’ set was electronically swoon-worthy.

Groove Armada

Approaching Groove Armada, cruising down an outdoor “hallway” set with huge inward facing screens, at hands down the raddest stage set up at the entire festival, Circuit Grounds, I was absolutely beaming. I have been looking forward to catching Groove Armada perform live for years. And considering they aren’t planning on making a return to the “states” before the end of the year, I made it my personal mission to catch this set. And their performance at Electric Daisy Carnival, did not disappoint. In fact, it heightened my obsession for Groove Armada, may have to stalk them around the world now, particularly for their Ibiza Sunday shows…

Groove Armada’s set was another personal highlight for me, in terms of how long I’ve waited to see the group, and because they exceeded my expectations with their innovative and totally engaging dance tech set that boasted great kinetic energy and a phenomenal light show to compliment the experience as a whole. Thus, I’m delighted to report: I was really impressed by Groove Armada’s set!

Yes, I am aware of how often DJs rely on Major Lazer’s track “Pon De Floor“. And yes, I know it isn’t the most “creative” track to drop into a set… But I have a confession to make: I am an absolute sucker for the sheer blissful energy and crowd-wide infectious enthusiasm that this track, single-handedly, produces. I can’t help it. I totally love the absolute madness that ensues upon the very first drop of its percussion track, recognizable unanimously across every dance floor and throughout the blogosphere. See for yourself below:

Wolfgang Gartner

I feel redundant even saying this but Wolfgang Gartner never ceases to impress the hell out of me. In my eyes, Wolfgang can and will never do wrong.
Let the these videos of his set, speak for themselves:

In the video below, I give you the pleasure of seeing Wolfgang’s performance from the visual perspective of everyone else around me. A little 3D raver filter actually makes Wolfgang Gartner’s remix of his “5th Symphony” that much more… Well, certainly more definitive in the spectral sense. Nonetheless it does indeed add a flavor, although a somewhat dizzying character, to the track. Everyone else around seemed to be enjoying themselves, so I figured why the hell not..?

Duck Sauce

This was an absolutely killer set that I am so happy I caught from start to finish. Get-up-and-bounce electro with quirks of techno goofiness — this trio comprised of DJs A-Trak, Armand Van Helden, and a gigantic inflatable official Duck mascot, were in constant motion and boasted incredible energy. Yes, even the Duck Sauce duck was bumping to the breaks and jiggying to the beats.

MSTRKRFT

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MSTRKRFT’s set was a great way to end the massive weekend  — the chaotic and colorful gathering of hundreds of thousands of dance music fiends. Although it would have been my personal preference to have seen Boys Noize’s set on the other side of the carnival, sometimes you find yourself at the consequential whim of your friends that you chose to campaign with. Nonetheless, MSTRKRFT’s set was fit to boot with many new infectious remixes and delightful sprinkles of ol’ favorites. MSTRKRFT’s performance actually has me excited for their forthcoming release — if and whenever that is set to drop.

Post-Massive Thoughts:

1) In all honesty, I would probably only go again if I had a press pass. Only because missing out on some killer DJs simply because of restrictions on capacity in certain areas of the festival. makes it extremely frustrating for me personally, to justifiable “recap” the event when I wasn’t even given the option of exploring the majority of it on the first night.

2) In a perfect world, I would have also LOVED to have seen Moby’s rare DJ set on Friday night as well. But unfortunately, that really wasn’t an option considering the main stage area had already hit capacity hours earlier and there was no option to leave and get back in. Maybe it was meant to be since Moby’s set conflicted with Kaskade’s -- in which case, I otherwise would have missed the best main stage set of the night. But even at this very moment, if I were given the option to choose between the two again: I’d still jump the Kaskade ship and pirate the seas for Moby’s set. I’m even thinking about stalking him up to Squaw Valley on July 30th for his DJ set at Wanderlust Festival. Just as soon as I figure out where the fuck Squaw Valley actually is…

3) This infuriating article by the LA Times in Monday’s “LATEXTRA” section had this picture and following byline below it:

“Fans dance to the sounds of Laidback Luke this weekend during the massive Electric Daisy Carnival, which took place over two days at the Los Angeles Coliseum and Exposition Park, attracting about 185,000 — more than 200 of whom suffered injuries.”

To emphasize the fact that more than 200 people were injured — out of the 185,000 that were there. That is laughably absurd. To put it into non-sensationalized perspective: .1% of EDC attendees reported injuries that weekend. Considering the massiveness and amount of rampant drug usage (equal to the use of illegal substances  I personally witnessed at Coachella), it’s actually pretty impressive that only .1% of the attendees “suffered injuries.”

What I think would be more relevant and necessary to point out however is: Given the no “in’s and out’s privileges” from the Kinetic Field stage just to even use the restroom, I’d be curious to see how many UTIs were reported this week following the event. No bowel movements for a minimum of six hours? That should warrant far more concern in my opinion. I mean, no wonder people were trying to jump the barricades: When you gotta go — you gotta go. If I were unfairly shackled out of a show I paid $120 to see, simply because I needed to tinkle — you can be damned sure I’d consider jumping over fences, too.

This piece, confusingly from the same source that also wrote a pretty epic tidbit about the upcoming HARD festival — another rave of massive proportions — is over-sensationalized and inexcusably inconsistent.

4) I discussed this previously in the introduction of my review of Day One at EDC, but to reiterate: EDC is far more organized than Coachella was.
Electric Daisy Carnival:
a) Had far better and actually coherent traffic regulators with great signage indicating parking venues and options.
b) Provided a Will Call & Ticket scan was far more organized — and there were MANY info people standing around, facilitating the process and actually being helpful. Coachella, first day, had THREE people scanning tickets. THREE.
c) Had more than FIVE people checking bags ( yes. Coachella had FIVE people at the front gate the first day, checking bags.) Not to mention, they checked bags TWICE at Coachella. (I mean, is that really necessary? What could one possibly acquire within a 200 yd walk on a muddy stretch of land?)
d) Actually had security people AND police men cruising around the grounds at EDC. Coachella, once you were inside the gates, sort of felt like a “free for all”… Not as comforting, especially come nightfall…

5) I didn’t see ONE hula hoop the entire weekend at EDC. And it was awesome.

By: TD