Marc's Public Blog

30 years!

Before EDC started, you can read up on these two:

EDC 30 Year Anniversary on the Vegas Strip, Awesome But Too Short (readme)

EDC Vegas Virgin Hotel and Dreamstate Pool Party (readme)

EDC's Success, after 30 years, switching to 2 weekends, but better than Tomorrowland

EDC has been selling out more quickly every year, as I write this after the event is barely over, EDC Las Vegas expanded to two weeks next year, and both are almost sold out already. That's a great and impressive success and I like that Insomniac did this better than Tomorrowland in that both weekends will have the same artists (baring last minute emergencies obviously), which is a huge huge plus compared to Tomorrowland where you have no idea who you will see on the week you are pseudo randomly picking.
Something else that I find maddening with Tomorrowland is how difficult it is to get a ticket, even if you agree to massively overpay by getting a global entry package. I'm not going to say that the buying process was perfectly smooth for the 2 weekend format for next year, the queuing system for one was definitely broken and gave you 0 info on where you were in queue or if you were still in queue, but Insomniac did one thing better in my opinion, which was the price tiers: the later you ended up out of that somewhat random queue, the higher the price, went. Of course some people complained it was a money grab, but on the other side, I would rather have a ticket at a higher price if I want to go badly enough (EDC), than not even being able to go at all (tomorrowland).
Interestingly, Insomniac also made the right call that die hards might want to go to both weekends, which was correct. They nicely priced it so that buying both was a bit cheaper than buying both separately (at least for GA/GA+, VIP was about the same price), which sure made things easier once you got to the top of the waiting queue. I think it was a charitable idea, but it also created the problem of people potentially buying both weekends with the goal of reselling one. That is against the rules, but it may be tricky to enforce without making the experience worse for everyone. My guess is that next time, buying both weekends may not offer a discount, which honestly would be fine by me, especially when you consider that people going both weekends are taking a spot away from people trying to get one (weekend 2 fully sold out within 3 days or so).

Just like last year, Quantum Valley has a mix of trance, and other things. I'd say it was still more than 50% trance, and let's not forget both Above and Beyond and Armin played a sunrise set at Kinetic Fields, and Tiesto also played a good mix, so trance is definitely not dead ;) (of course, EDC has always had many kinds of EDM, and a good way to sample other kinds you don't normally listen to). Oh, and like every year, the stages are quite impressive, including Quantum Valley that had eyes that sent beams into the crowd.

The People

Like every year, it's so enjoyable to meet our fellow EDM lovers:

Like every year, many picture opportunities, including lovely unexpected surprises you get along the way. I had no idea that Haliene was going to be there to sing live with Ilan Bluestone, and I wan't ready with a picture of both of them, so we had to take 2 ;)

The Grounds:

It is always a highlight every year, here are a few pictures.

Took the Virgin shuttle this year:

Despite the typical terrible traffic on friday, managed to barely get there before sunset:

Plenty of nice decor as always:

Great pictures from the Ferris Wheel as always:

As for the stages, beautiful like every year:

the quantum valley stage had light beams inside the eyes, cool

Passport

Went to visit passport, great views as always, but missing hot chocolate with marshmallows and sprinkles :)

sign in was very slow due to poor connectivity, even for the staff

great central views

Drones

The drone shows have become a bit better every year:

Fireworks

Great view from passport of course:

And farther way from the bleachers, is not a bad view either ;)

Day #1

Day1, let's go! good trance lineup at Quantum Valley:

Ray Volpe at Circuit Grounds:

And Dusk to Dawn indeed:

Video Summary:

Day 1 Fireworks:

Day #2

Back for day2:

Superstrings!

Paul Oakenfold

Andrew Rayel

Then circuit grounds for Tiesto:

Hi Afik :)

And then above and beyond at Kinetic Fields for a lovely sunrise set:

Video Summary:

Day 2 Fireworks:

Day #3, High Wind Day

Day 3 had very high winds forecast, and they sure happened. Some people who didn't leave early, got stuck on the roads when they closed down for very high winds. Some shuttle stops had delays when their fences literally got blown off by the wind, but people got there eventually. Miraculously the fireworks and drone shows still happened later in the night. I also have to give credit to all the insomniac teams for being ready, and some stages did have to shut down for a while, but everything was handled well and stages re-opened eventually.

Started with Circuit Grounds before the high winds had to shut it down:

we were asked to evacuate, likely because the wind came from that direction and things could fly in the crowds

A few other states like wasteland kept on going:

the wind was fierce but music kept on going

The night ended with Armin's sunrise set:

and once the 3rd night was over, it was time to get back to Vegas to catch the flight out:

Video Summary:

Day 3 Fireworks:

Should you go?

I think the fact that the event got extended to two weekends, one is sold out already, and the other one probably not far from it, shows that EDC is special and worth it. My notes from last year mentioned that it felt crowded last year and I'll be honest that it was also true for this year. At times, getting around was quite challenging, and having a 30 to 50mn wait at VIP just to get a lanyard and a couple of souvenirs, felt problematic, at best. Obviously Insomniac knows this, which is why they already fixed that by splitting and hopefully the crowds, over 2 weekends next year.

At this point, note that the text below is mostly the same as last years, since it's still valid :)

I still believe that EDC Vegas is the most impressive EDM Night Festival in the world. Tomorrowland is a rival but it's not a night festival as more challenges I'm not as much a fan of.

Like previous times:

Decors are just fantastic, along with so many performers. That's the best part about EDC. Even better now that I know and recognize some of the performers

Like other insomniac festivals, all the staff truly cares and goes all out. Many small details that get sometimes missed elsewhere, are usually flawless. I'll even add that actually they are the most detail oriented, over achieving people I have seen. The amount of small details I absolutely do notice, how every corner of the racetrack is used for decors, the amount of light strings and LEDs, across ridiculous distances, and it just works all night, every night (nothing seems to ever break)!?!? I have no words. And seriously, if you know anything about LED strings and wind and moving them, you should know how amazing it is that they don't break!

This year again, security was more than reasonable as usual, thank you. Enough police onsite to help keep things safe, I personally like that.

19:00 to 05:30 is 10:30h of partying for 3 days, lots of fun! Actually first day does start at 17:00 (Cosmic Meadows only), and the next 2 days that used to start at 17:00 do not anymore, but I'm sure that for those at Camp EDC, there are plenty of parties there. The one sad thing is that shuttles start 30mn later (18:30), so it's near impossible to get to EDC by 19:00 and see the first DJ anymore, especially with traffic, and even more so on friday when traffic is positively terrible every year, even if you leave early.

So many free carnival rides, lots of fun, but the lines were too long for most, wasn't able to justify spending the time in line to enjoy them.

Still so many stages (around 15 if you include art cars, and passport)

Is it still worth flying across the world for? Yes, absolutely, there is nothing else like this on earth. Then again, maybe I should tell you not to come anymore, as it's getting full and sold out in just 3 days this year.

Conclusion/Other thoughts

Improvements

Shuttles should leave earlier, 18:30 is too late, honestly the first shuttles should leave closer to 17:30 if people want to have a chance to see the first DJs at 19:00.

Cell phone service outside of verizon was just as non existent as previous years, which felt disappointing, and is honestly a problem when you're trying to coordinate with friends (not even basic cell service without data for SMS to work).

Similarly some areas had wifi, but it was terribly overwhelmed and worked occasionally, at best. Even passport wifi wasn't working when I went. Come on, insomniac, you have some of the best tech crews in the world, I'm sure you can make at least wifi work, and bring basic SMS for all carriers. Not counting verizon, it literally works better at burning man:

Something else I have mixed feelings about, is allowing nicotine vendors to advertise on site, and literally have a "first one is free" where they very clearly looking to create more addicts for a product that hopefully most agree has between very few, if any benefits long term. Please let me know in the comments how you feel about it;

Passport still has a great vantage point, but felt like a bit of a downgrade from some past year. Their wifi didn't work either, and the hot chocolate with marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles that can't cost that much, was sorely missed. The view was still spectacular, though.

Still Not fixed this year: please give exact GPS pin locations for the projected shuttle stops. Sometimes they are 1 mile away from the fake address given and it really makes a difference when picking hotels. Even if this cannot be given many months in advance, at least send the actual shuttle location (GPS pin) to all people who bought shuttle passes, as soon as possible.

Links

And yet, I'll repeat: thank you to everyone at the insomniac team, all the performers, all the volunteers who put so much effort into making so many details right all over the place (except wifi, haha), with the great result that we all got to enjoy...

Or all the videos, in one