A Day at EDC Las Vegas

Insomniac gave all ground controllers the option of having a day off. What you did with that day was up to you. For me, that was attending my very first EDC Las Vegas on Saturday!

 

AC Slater

I take full advantage of the day and get to the speedway well before 5:00 PM to see AC Slater opening Cosmic Meadows. I meet up with my friend Rossi from Tomorrowland, and we dance in the middle of the field with a bunch of rainbow teddy bears and wavy, cloth performers. AC Slater kills it. His set is 2 hours long, and I am not bored for a second. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect way to start the day!

Moksi

The full grounds open, and we head to Kinetic Field to see Moksi. They are a lot of fun for the first 30 minutes! After a while, it became hard not to focus on their continuous yelling throughout the entire set. “Moksi switch up!” Eh….

Don’t get me wrong—I love Moksi and their music, but the one guy needs to quiet down!

Chris Lake

I had been dying to Chris Lake again since Tomorrowland! He was one of my favorite sets and I was so happy to see him on the schedule for my day off.

Chris Lake follows Moksi on the main stage at Kinetic Field. This is actually huge for not only him but also for house music as a genre. That’s one of the cool things about EDC. They really do a fantastic job of scheduling and putting all genres at each of their main stages. This is unlike other fests where if you’re only into a certain genre, you are going to end up spending your entire weekend at one stage.

EDC has given house music a huge platform by scheduling Chris Lake on the main stage. There are so many people here to see him, some of which may not have even heard of him. Chris Lake throws down an incredible set as usual, playing all of his classics and those long-overdue unreleased IDs. The whole crowd is dancing and having a blast. I genuinely think anyone can enjoy a Chris Lake set, no matter what type of music they like. It’s going to put you in the best dancey mood.

My only wish for this stage is that they had some more lasers going off during his set. If you’re not familiar with Chris Lake’s music (which if you’re not, please go listen to him right now) there are a lot of “pew pew pew” noises reminiscent of lasers. I was hoping for a crazy light show piercing me with laser beams. But it was still an incredible show!

Hardwell

I am only at Hardwell for a short amount of time, but it’s worth mentioning. Guys, this stage is sick. Circuit Grounds is, in my opinion, the best stage at EDC 2018. The screens wrap around and enclose the audience in a horseshoe shape. The lights and visuals shoot around the screens, imitating a circuit. Let’s not forget to mention the abundance of laser beams going off overhead.

This is my first time seeing Hardwell. Since I’m such a house music junkie nowadays, I don’t think his set is going to be anything special. However, I actually have so much fun! It’s hard not to with stage production like that.

The next day, I was so lucky to be working the water station across from Circuit Grounds during REZZ.

Fisher

This guy is the main reason I chose to have Saturday off. I have been dying to see this crazy Australian for some time now, and today was the day.

The Stereobloom is on the smaller side of the stages at EDC. There’s surprisingly a decent amount of people here to see Fisher, forcing a lot of people to overflow outside of the stage structure.

Fisher ends up being my favorite set of the day. I spend the entire time dancing and laughing at the ridiculous things he says and does. I’m pretty sure he finishes a whole bottle of Patron by himself while on stage.

One of my favorite moments is when he plays Crowd Control (or as I like to call it, Ground Control). If you’re not familiar with how the song works, he gets the entire crowd to “sit down” and then jump back up on the drop.

Gorgon City

I am somehow able to receive some text messages (service was a nightmare) from my friend Eryk who works for Insomniac. We meet up outside of Neon Gardens, and he takes me backstage in the bottle service section for Gorgon City.

Neon Gardens is such a cool stage, too! It feels like you’re inside a club, but then you look up and realize you’re looking at the sky. Again, incredible lasers and screens behind the artists.

Gorgon City plays “Say Less” as the fireworks go off, spelling the letters “EDC” in the electric sky. Wow. These are the moments I’ll remember forever.

More fireworks at EDC

I go to meet Rossi up in the grandstands overlooking Cosmic Meadows as Zeds Dead plays. More fireworks go off as I look over across the entire festival grounds, reflecting on EDC.

It really is an extraordinary festival. The concept, the production, the unique stages, the hundreds of thousands of dollars in fireworks, the talent, the interactive art installations, the care from the workers, the love from other attendees.

It’s like some of the coolest ravers all came together and said, “Hey, let’s takeover this carnival overnight for 3 days, build some kickass stages, throw in a bunch of cool light-up art everywhere you turn, invite the best artists and DJs to play, shoot off an amazing firework display, and invite some of the coolest most genuine people to come play here.” They fucking nailed it. Let me know if you agree.

Green Velvet

We head back down to Neon Gardens to catch Green Velvet. Oh my god, it is so fun. I can’t believe I haven’t seen Green Velvet in Chicago yet since he’s here all the time! It’s that kind of house music with voices saying something silly. It’s so hard to leave, but I need to go meet up with Johnny, my ride home, at carnival square. I had been trying to meet up with him all day, but the service was horrendous.

Volac

I find Johnny in carnival square, and we decide to close out the night with some Russian style house music before heading home.

Johnny is super stoked to see Volac because they were his favorite set on Holy Ship. We are able to get a great spot at Stereobloom because a lot of people have already started to clear out. Their set is a blast, and Johnny has the biggest smile on his face while he dances nonstop.

Until Next Time Under the Electric Sky

This morning I actually get to bed early (right as the sun is coming up). It was such an awesome day, and I am already starting to think about next year with Claudia and my other friends. I can’t wait for them to experience the magic under the electric sky!

If you haven’t been to EDC yet, I recommend adding it to your festival list. Again, it is an intense festival but really worth experiencing.

If you have any questions about EDC Las Vegas, please feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me via email at [email protected].

Read about my EDC Ground Control experience next!