EDC’s appeal lies in the escape — PHOTOS
From those who’ve shed most of their clothing and inhibitions to those who’ve simply reimagined themselves as superheroes or the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, everybody at Electric Daisy Carnival shared a common mission: celebrating the art of self-expression.
On Day Two of the sprawling, multisensorial party at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, hundreds of thousands of euphoric fans honored the event’s creed, also known as PLUR: Peace, Love, Unity Respect.
One woman, walking past a couple carrying a sign that read, “We’re from Orlando, and we’re strong,” stopped and offered the strangers a hug, words of support and a trade of candy.
Everyone seemed to be in the moment — some by choice; others by circumstance. With spotty cellphone service that stifled the stream of social media, there was little to do but listen to the music, dance and celebrate the singular spectacle that is EDC.
The jammed signal also served to underscore the celebration’s unofficial theme — the convergence of the organic with technology. Case in point: a fire-belching, metallic octopus working its way through the crowd.
A BLEND OF DIVERSITY
A walk through EDC’s stages is a triumphant trip through all the different subgenres of dance music, whether it’s Maya Jane Coles holding things down in the house haven that is Neon Garden (the design of which this year nods to Insomniac’s Factory 93 warehouse series and sports a 9-foot disco ball), or Bro Safari burning down the Bass Pod stage (that’s only part metaphor — you could feel the heat of the flames singeing the hairs a couple hundred yards over at the Wasteland Stage).
The there’s Code Black doing things to Adele’s “Hello” that make you forget about how impressed you are with the design of Wasteland SF stage, which centers on a postapocalyptic theme straight off the set of “Escape From New York.” On the other side of the speedway, Alesso is playing to a crowd so vast and overwhelming that, unless you’re closer to the front, he can be heard but not seen behind his DJ booth.
Ditto sets from Eric Prydz and Cascade over at Circuit Grounds, a space which despite being transformed from a semi-enclosed structure to a massive outdoor arena-style setup, was likewise next to impossible to find a closer spot. Luckily, as rumored, Cascade played a far more intimate surprise set, a redux set he’s now become known for at EDC.
THE DJ’S PERSPECTIVE
About an hour or so before taking the stage at this year’s EDC, where he’ll enthrall an enthusiastic throng, Joshua Steele, the dance music deity otherwise known as Flux Pavilion, is between interviews and grabbing a quick smoke in front of his trailer in the artists’ compound.
The British DJ has made quite a name for himself in the dance world since first dropping “Bass Cannon,” the bombastic track that turned a ton of heads when it was released five years ago. Although a succession of scribes have designated him as merely a dubstep ambassador, as the diversity of sounds showcased on “Tesla,” his latest effort, attest, Steele has considerable depth. A closer listen to his songs gives a sense that there’s more to the music beneath the surface.
Steele perks up at the mention of Prodigy, an act he pays homage to on his recent record. “The track ‘Pogo People’ on the album is — I’m not ashamed to say — basically a carbon copy of everything I love about them,” he confesses, while also revealing that it led to a collaboration with that act’s frontman. “I did a track with Liam. What happened is he hit me up, and we were just talking over email, and I sent him ‘Pogo People,’ which is basically me, ripping him off, and he came back and said, do you want to do a track on my album?’”
Steele’s pronounced proclivity for Prodigy isn’t exactly incongruous. A few beats later, however, when he lets on about his love for another artists, it seems a little more out of left field — that is until he explains why. Then it makes perfect sense, particularly considering that it’s coming from someone who seems to be more interested in pushing himself forward artistically and less consumed with keeping up with counterparts or following convention.
“With Frank Zappa being one of my main heroes, what I kind of love about him is that he took not taking himself seriously really seriously,” Steele says. “I think that’s a really important thing to consider, like the fundamental impact of music is just that, you know, it’s the impact, it’s the experience, it’s the moment.
“And I think that’s something that EDC delivers,” he adds, drawing a parallel to the festival’s free-spirited feel. “It’s like a platform where they set up this universe where music can just exist and be whatever it is, and people can just exist and be whoever they want to be and just become completely engrossed in this moment. I feel like, for me, that’s where I’ve felt my music always belonged, just kind of in this moment, here and now, and, yeah, the connection with people.
“And, yeah, EDC stands for that,” he says. “It stands for just experiencing, like, life and emotions and feeling and letting yourself go. Letting all of the (expletive) that you hold onto and that you carry around in your whole life, just letting that not matter for a bit, which is something that I think is really important.”
