Ledtranceguy Blog, LEDs, Trance and other EDM, and Festivals


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If you enjoy random EDM events and festival pictures and/or want to connect: And if you are curious about my LED outfit, you can read more about it on my led peacock engineer medium post and if you'd like to read all my festivals or dreamstate, or clubbing posts, please click on the links higher on the page to get taken to those categories.


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π 2025-04-30 01:01 in Clubbing, Festivals
As you probably know if you're reading this post, I like attending EDM events (mostly trance), and been to over 250 events so far as well as attended around 70 festivals around the world by the time I write this, and have written a report for each and every one of them.

But those repots are only worth the time I take to write them (sometimes more than one day of work for some of them), if people can find and read them. In the old days I could just post them on facebook, or people would even find them with a google search. Nowadays, things are very different and Facebook does their best so that any post with external links are viewed by as few people as possible since they do not control external sites and want to keep their product (i.e. the users) locked in their site so that they can continue to feed them lying ads, fake AI videos and posts, and the other crap that is now all over FB.

Instagram is not better, although they make things worse by not even really allowing any links in posts, so that takes care of that problem.

So, how do you, my dear reader, find my new posts if both FB and IG have a vested interest in you never seeing them?

The best 3 ways to get future posts/festival reports:

  • Mailing list for posts announcements and chat: https://lists.merlins.org/lists/listinfo/ledtranceguy-posts . I swear I will never spam you or give out your Email.
  • I also made a Discord: https://discord.gg/ScHQU5Vm9j that you can join to get new posts and optionally chat with other members.
  • I also made a Whatsapp group for post announcements and chat: https://chat.whatsapp.com/CQKOxG8i73H2LOKh9a5hHY
  • For real time stories and posts from festivals and to follow/friend/DM me, FB and IG are still best, and you should follow both if you can, but expect that FB will make it hard for you to actually see my blog posts, while IG only allows me to make links you can't click on, so you have to cut and paste them.

  • IG: https://www.instagram.com/ledtranceguy
  • FB: https://www.facebook.com/ledtranceguy/ (follow both if you can)
  • If you have an RSS reader or you're just happy to reload a web page on occasion:

  • All Festivals Posts: http://ledtranceguy.org/festivals
  • Full Blog: http://ledtranceguy.org
  • Hope this helps. For bonus points, you can even subscribe to multiple of them :)

    π 2025-04-25 01:01 in Clubbing, Edc, Festivals
    Why EDC Korea? No, no, it's not quite a case of "collect them all", although, is it? :) The actual answer is that I enjoy travelling the world through festivals and getting to meet fellow EDM and Trance lovers around the world. Every country has their own customs and flair, and it's nice to see PLUR around the world indeed.

    so glad to see the ever cheerful and colorful insomniac entertainers
    so glad to see the ever cheerful and colorful insomniac entertainers

    and we had a meetup with the international EDC crew :)
    and we had a meetup with the international EDC crew :)

    The Grounds... How was EDC in Asia and how does it compare with EDCLV, EDCMX, and EDC Orlando?

    So let's get this out of the way first in case that wasn't already obvious: nothing in the world compares with EDC Las Vegas, as far as "wow" factor goes, and that includes the other EDC editions, that are lovely, but simply not as big. I haven't been to every EDC location, but I do believe EDC Mexico, which I did go to, is the 2nd largest, and this one probably ranks 3rd in size, just a bit ahead of EDC Orlando. No idea about EDC China since I'm still not sure about going there, and if anyone has been to EDC Thailand this year, I'd also be curious to know.

    Footprint-wise, the event was pretty big, but it also had some dead space in the middle and hills that were a bit of a pain to navigate. The ground was also uneven and somehow wet in places despite no rain, that was a bit weird. But we got the stages we are used to, and they were top notch.

  • Kinetic field looked a lot like EDCLV!

  • beautiful
    beautiful

  • Stereo Bloom:

  • Circuit Grounds:

  • Bionic Jungle:

  • Boom Box:

  • It wasn't the plan, but this ended up not only being the coldest EDC I've been to, but flat out the coldest festival I've been to, and that includes some cold EDC Vegas nights as well as cold Dreamstate San Bernardino nights. It was around 10C, but the wind was relentless and windchill made it feel freezing or below freezing. On day 2, I came with a full sweater and basically 3 layers on the top and I was still kind of cold. I was also wearing a ski hat below my dreamstate LED hat, and gloves. It was that cold, really.

    The painful cold did not ruin our party spirits though, people soldiered on :) And double thumbs up to all the insomniac entertainers wearing those colorful outfits that did not seem that warm, and somehow surviving through those cold nights. That was some serious dedication!




    how on earth did they survive, wearing this?
    how on earth did they survive, wearing this?

    The Merch store lost an opportunity to sell over a thousand sweatshirts. They ran out quickly :)


    that was the shortest the line ever was, it got much much longer later
    that was the shortest the line ever was, it got much much longer later

    There was one combined beauty/kandi station:


    felt a bit weird that they were combined :)
    felt a bit weird that they were combined :)

    And then there was this. Lost in translation? haha :)


    There was a pretty big skydeck, I'm not sure how occupied it got, but it looked fairly nice. It was only for mainstage:


    Of course a big plus of EDC is all the pretty lights. and the insomniac crew did a good job bringing a nice pixel forest to the venue:





    the fire from the statue was a good place to be a big warmer in the siberia-like cold :)
    the fire from the statue was a good place to be a big warmer in the siberia-like cold :)

    And of course the were more lights:



    The nearby Inspire hotel had its own:


    And the fun thing was that we were a stone's throw (almost) from Seoul/Incheon International Airport, where I flew out of the next day back to SFO, but the planes were not landing over the festival, so you could not hear them and they were barely noticeable. except maybe to the pilot geeks like me :)


    EDM Lovers in Korea and Asia

    So I need to admit that the event wasn't packed. It ran from 17:00 to 03:00 and few people were there before sunset despite the weather not being vegas like and already cold during the day (for Vegas, you don't really want to go before sunset). I have no idea if enough people came to cover the costs the of the event, but if so, it was close, at best.

    But the crowds that did come were dedicated. There were a good amount of professional kandi traders who made the event even more fun, and enough people who came with cool costumes despite the cold. Thanks to all of you.






    Some professional Kandi traders :)

    Plus a few pictures with friends:

    Blaztoyz!
    Blaztoyz!

    PvD!
    PvD!

    G.O.
    G.O.

    Marlo
    Marlo


    The 2 days of festival

    The first day, I opened the window of the hotel and thought "mmmmh, it's a bit cold, I'll put an extra layer between my t-shirt and my LED shirt (in blue in this picture):

    Kataklops!
    Kataklops!

    OMG, what a mistake in planning. Yeah, 10C is already cold but that not account for the siberian wind that brought the wind chill level to below freezing. I'm not going to lie, I was cold and uncomfortable the entire first day. So on Day #2, I came with a full sweater as my 3rd in between layer, a ski hat below my LED hat, and gloves. Well, even with all of that I was still kind of cold, but less uncomfortable at least:


    Anyway, here are some pictures from both days:









    Day 2 was trance day at Stereo Bloom:

    great trance from Casepeat
    great trance from Casepeat


    and my friend Kataploks
    and my friend Kataploks





    Giuseppe Ottaviani
    Giuseppe Ottaviani

    Paul Van Dyk
    Paul Van Dyk


    Marlo
    Marlo


    A bit of bass at Circuit Grounds:




    And what's a better way to end the night than with Blastoyz?








    Because the taxi/rideshare situation, was iffy, at best, I left a tiny bit early right after Blastoyz's set, and barely got a glimpse of the very legit fireworks to close the show at mainstage. They were pretty. Too bad they were so late:




    Video Summary of Day 2:

    Thought/Impressions/Suggestions/Conclusion

    In somewhat random order:

  • The shuttle situation was not ideal. At the time I bought tickets, or my hotel, there were no shuttles listed on the frontgate website. Maybe the shuttles were on the other korean only website, but I never heard about any until a few days before the event, by which time it was too late to matter. It was unfortunate that there was no shuttle going around the local hotels close to the venue. They were only a 5 to 10mn drive away, but it was a 30 to 45mn walk in frigid cold. Using taxis/ubers did not work well as there were not enough and once the few that were available, drove away to a farther hotel, people left over without one, were kind of screwed. I personally chose to leave early and miss part of the show not to get stuck, which was not ideal either. The fireworks at the end of the last day were really nice, but I only saw them a little bit through the taxi window.
  • Korea law on tickets is a bit unusual (for instance it's somewhat illegal to resell tickets), so it's probably because of that that EDC had separate ticket selling sites for Koreans (interpark) and foreigners (frontgate). Not an issue, really, just interesting. The one downside is that it was difficult to resell a ticket if you couldn't go since you had to go pick up your bracelet in person and only could resell it to someone else, there, and that was maybe not even legal:


  • VIP didn't really feel worth it. There were viewing areas for most stages, but they were off center quite a bit, and I didn't really see any other benefits. For instance, it was disappointing that they didn't have a bunch of gas heat lamps in VIP, huge opportunity lost. For the most part there weren't any places to sit either or a VIP concierge with cool trinkets, or nice bathrooms in most VIP areas. This is probably the first insomniac festival I went to where VIP really didn't feel worth it.

  • Security was reasonable outside of taking people's unopened packs of gum, and a few things like that.
  • Food options were good and took real money (credit cards). All good on that front. Drinks worked the same, no issues outside of water, see below...
  • No water refills? This was both surprising and disappointing for an insomniac event, but apparently the only water source was a single plastic bottle vendor, which claims that they are recyclable, but given that we've been lied too about plastic being recycled for the last 20+ years and most of it ends up in landfills or the ocean, I'm not going to take their word for it. More generally, what happened to water refills, especially in a 1st world country where tap water is drinkable?


  • This next comment is not just for this EDC, but also for EDC Vegas and others. I realize the line is fine in which advertisers and sponsors to allow. This is the same problem google had and eventually settled with Sergey's "don't be evil" motto and google not allowing any advertiser that was considered to sell evil things. I'd like insomniac to consider the same thing, and a quick search returns "No, Google Ads does not allow advertising of vape products, including e-cigarettes and e-liquids. Google classifies these products as "Dangerous Products or Services" and prohibits their promotion on Google Ads and other platforms it owns or controls. This policy also extends to Google Shopping listings." as well as "Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords), Facebook Ads, and most other major platforms do not allow electronic cigarettes and vape products to advertise on their site". Now that some vape vendors have even been caught adding even more addictive synthetic chemicals in their vapes to make them even more addictive, does Insomniac really want to be linked to this?
  • As mentioned above, the entire festival went well, was well layed out, production quality was good and things went well for an event that was first time in that location (the last EDC Korea in 2019 was in another location). The one thing that felt short in my opinion was the VIP experience, but everything else was quite good given again that it was pretty much a "first time" thing.
  • Now, was this EDC remotely close to EDC Vegas? Of course not, nothing is. Even EDC Mexico definitely felt bigger and better if you wanted to travel to another EDC outside of the Vegas one, but EDC Korea still went well and was lots of fun outside of the cold. If you're in Asia or it's an easy flight, EDC Korea definitely is worth going to. If it's not an easy flight but you wanted an excuse to go visit Korea, which is very much worth visiting (that was my case), it's also a very good reason to go. The koreans at EDC were all lovely and fun to be with (as opposed to my recent report on Ultra Miami where PLUR was somewhat lacking, for instance).

    Thanks to everyone who welcomed us (both the local korean trance family and EDM lovers, and the insomniac crews and entertainers)!

    Links

  • More pictures on Google Photos
  • Instagram Stories
  • Video Summary
  • π 2025-04-10 01:01 in Clubbing
    I didn't go to Japan with my full LED outfit to go clubbing, but I happened to be in Shinjuku and happened to have my LED outfit (meant for EDC Korea), so it was friday night and I figured, why not go clubbing? :)

    First, I tried Warp Shinjuku, and they simply denied me entry. Even after I agreed to turn off my LEDs (they didn't like them, and that was crappy because I had been there in the afternoon, asked their staff if it would be ok, they said yes, and when I came that night that staff said the afternoon staff was wrong and the answer was now "no"), they showed typical Japanese inflexibility and denied me entry, even after I offered to give them my battery pack so I could not turn the LEDs on. Sigh....

    Atom Shinjuku was nicer, they also had a rule about nothing lit up inside, which is obviously not my favorite, but it's their club and I'm the tourist, so I get to abide by their rules. They were fine with my word that I wouldn't turn anything on (I didn't), and I got to see the several rooms. It was a nice club overall, but the music that night was a mix that I didn't love. Nothing really wrong with the club, I'm sure similar music is being played in San Francisco in many clubs I never go to, unless it's trance night :)
    Oh, and entry was free before 23:00, so that was nice :)

    First room that had everyone until the main room opened at 23:00:



    23:00 and the main room opened:



    I looked all dark and sad :)
    I looked all dark and sad :)

    plenty of people came with suits and ties, looked like they came straight from the office
    plenty of people came with suits and ties, looked like they came straight from the office


    I didn't stay super long, it felt very dark and a bit sad for my (maybe unusual) taste :) but it was nice to see a Japanese club and I thank Atom for being reasonable people compared to Warp.

    π 2025-04-10 01:01 in Clubbing
    This is where I would normally put pictures and say how it was great to be able to visit a cool looking Tokyo Nightclub while visiting.

    Instead, they simply denied me entry. Even after I agreed to turn off my LEDs (they didn't like them, and that was crappy because I had been there in the afternoon, asked their staff if it would be ok, they said yes, and when I came that night that staff said the afternoon staff was wrong and the answer was now "no"), they showed typical Japanese inflexibility and denied me entry, even after I offered to give them my battery pack so I could not turn the LEDs on. Sigh....

    Before you tell me, yes, each country and culture are different. I would have been ok with them letting me in with the condition that I keep all my stuff off (which really was just a few strips on my arms and legs that are not even visible in the dark, as the clubs seem to be quite dark in Japan). Also, I probably wouldn't even have brought my outfit except for having been in that same club during the afternoon to see their ninja show (which was good) and having 2 of their day staff confirm the outfit would be fine and I could bring it that evening :-//

    This is what I looked like in Atom Shinjuku a few minutes away (they nicely let me in after confirming I had to keep my lights off, and I of course complied). I don't think this was terrible, I was black and dark like everyone else :)


    Anyway, there is that, Wrap Shinjuku, not a friendly place, even if they seemed to have nice rooms, lights and decors inside. Instead of getting a +1 and potential new customers, they get this blog entry instead, bummer.
    Now, in full fairness, I need to state that some clubs in Vegas are no better than this (actually likely worse), so this is not a jab at Japan, just stating factual experience in some clubs being somewhat inflexible and not very customer friendly, while some others are super accomodating and nice.

    π 2025-04-04 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals
    I cannot believe it's been 7 years already since our last 2 Day Dreamstate in San Francisco. There was a DS SF NYE last year, but that was while I was with my family in France, so I couldn't attend that. So happy this one worked out.

    It was a very welcome Trancefamily SF Reunion:

    David and Sony both got to open the vision stage, congratulations!
    David and Sony both got to open the vision stage, congratulations!


    Welcome back to SF, we missed you!
    Welcome back to SF, we missed you!

    Back to DS, each time there is a new venue, we always get to wonder how good it will be and what the setup will look like, and I'm happy to report that the production level was the best we've had in SF, bar none! The insomniac folks continue to be overachievers, and the dream stage was absolutely wonderful. Even the smaller vision stage had very nice lighting and lasers:




    And vision was cool too:



    Thanks to the magicians in the dark who made all the lights, happen


    The lineup had more DJs that were lesser known to me, which is not a bad thing per se, although many played too much techno for my taste, with a few hours slots where both Vision and Dream had techno, and that was not my favorite, obviously, but clearly most of the crowd seemed happy with it, so I guess that works out (and as I've written before in my last reports, techno has been creeping in everywhere, even in what used to be a State of Trance).

    Day 1

    After Blur opened (sadly in the dark, so I don't have any good pictures of him), Anthony from Xijaro and Pitch, was next:










    Day 1 Summary:

    Day 2


    of course, went to support our local boy, Sony ;)
    of course, went to support our local boy, Sony ;)









    The show (lighting and lasers) for Armin was outstanding:






    Ilan proposed on stage, she said yes ;)
    Ilan proposed on stage, she said yes ;)




    Day 2 Summary:

    People

    This was of course a great time to meet fellow trance lovers:

    meetup day 1
    meetup day 1

    meetup day 2
    meetup day 2

    yes to people who brought LEDs!
    yes to people who brought LEDs!


    someone stole my hat :)
    someone stole my hat :)



    Had fun taking pictures with my new and improved LED outfit freshly built for the event :)


    I was ready for Anthony, this time :)
    I was ready for Anthony, this time :)

    ulrich!
    ulrich!


    Kim, our former TFSF marketing lead
    Kim, our former TFSF marketing lead


    2 for the price of one :)
    2 for the price of one :)

    but we did better later
    but we did better later


    Triode!
    Triode!

    then had fun with Yoji-San :)
    then had fun with Yoji-San :)

    that was his idea, brilliant ;)
    that was his idea, brilliant ;)

    Thoughts/Conclusions

    Honestly, for a new venue, even for an experienced team, many things went right. As I said earlier the production value was amazing.

    Of course, nothing is ever perfect, especially in a new venue. Things I noticed:

  • The event was close to selling out (or barely sold out) on saturday, and it was a lot of people. Enough people that the main floor access got closed multiple times, which is understandable, but it was more vexing for people with VIP tickets to also be denied access to the VIP platform, because it filled up multiple times. I guess it was tricky to get the capacity numbers, right, and they oversold VIP somewhat (since any VIP ticket holder should have guaranteed access)

  • Security at the entrance, was a bit too thorough and too slow, causing long lines to get in for many. Also, they did not allow totems or many things that would have normally been allowed at a festival, including Dreamstate Socal. Transparent backpacks were allowed though, and so were LEDs, at least.
  • if you knew where to go, there were bathrooms available, but some of the obvious ones got mobbed with very long lines, at times. This was not ideal.
  • Vision also had good production value for the smaller room, but too many times, the DJ wasn't lit up at all, and you couldn't tell who was playing. A bit unfortunate for them.
  • Too much techno for me, but some liked it. Pryda/Eric Prydz however did not seem like a fit for the event and I didn't hear anyone say they really enjoyed his set.
  • On the flipside, Armin who has been playing way too much techno in his sets for my taste, including at a State of Trance, did an actually quite good mostly trance set that I quite enjoyed. Goes to show, you never know ;)
  • The event was a success and clearly the best one we've had in San Francisco, yet.
  • Links

  • Day 1 Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKc9m4d2WeI
  • Day 2 Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nnAstxiBwk
  • Google Photos Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/dTcgwQoouj3c4mJb6
  • IG Stories: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17850777459429702
  • Video with all IG stories together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utG-y8UFFUs
  • And that was it, 2 days of joy with extended times until 03:00, lots of fun, thank YOU!



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