Marc's Public Blog - Clubbing and Trance

With less than a day to pack/unpack after EDC Vegas, and fix my new LED outfit which has plusses, but it's unfortunately more fragile and needs more maintenance, I barely made it to a plane to Frankfurt and then Malta to arrive half way through Day 0 of Euphoria Malta's 6 days of Trance! I can't say I was super awake, or that I stayed until the end that first night, but I was glad I at least made it this year :)

How is Euphoria different? It's actually a small festival in size, and purposely so. It's meant to be affordable, and to focus on trance music and fun. There is no VIP, no backstage, and DJs, when not on the decks, are part of the crowd and the party. What else can you ask for? This is the lumi from 10 years ago, before it got too big, and that I never got to attend before it was too late and become what is is now. While I don't have a time machine, and I did ask Craig Conelly :) to go back and experience these nice and small lumis, I don't need one anymore, because Euphoria is where it's at, except with much more lovely people running it.
Now, the DJs are DJs that don't play the big stages every day, they probably don't get paid loads, which in turn allows keeping the event affordable without big crowds, which honestly made for a great experience. I've even got to meet some I had listened to for years, but never seen in person, that was just plain awesome.
And because it was basically a big family party, there is no ridiculous bar fight bouncer security like the place you know, although if you wanted to get your genitals groped at the entrance, I'm so sorry, but Euphoria will not be the place for you :) All the clubs were super nice, and the security folks there to make sure everything went well, not to harass customers. Best case scenario.

So, like I mentioned last year after going to Rong and then Captured Malta, I took a chance a wrote a comparison of all 3 festivals, even if I hadn't been able to go to Euphoria. You can go here for that malta trance festival comparison and I am happy to see that my review of Euphoria was actually pretty on point before even having had the chance to go. You can go visit the page, but the relevant bit, I'll paste here:
"Euphoria Festival Malta is indeed the cheapest and most grass roots of the 3, if it weren't just a few days after EDC and I could have attended, I'm pretty sure it's similar to Anomaly Summer of Trance in feel, just without the 4 stages from ASOL: smaller festival feel, more chance to chat with and meet the DJs, and so forth. The DJs will be less mainstage big festival DJs, but that's also a good thing in many ways, and I really mean this: I've attended lots of big festivals with the big name DJs, I do absolutely enjoy them, but it's really a nice and a breath of fresh air to enjoy smaller festivals that simply have more of a family and friends feel and where you're going to get real trance (more techno and hardstyle in the bigger trance festivals this year). I hope I didn't screw this description since indeed I wanted to attend, but just couldn't"
The one thing I missed is how many hours of lovely trance Euphoria actually had. 68!!! That is a winner right then, and as I properly guessed, no techno or hardstyle being pushed everywhere, sooo nice.

Day #0 Preparty, Zion Bar

this is why we come :)

PLUR, the European way :)

Day #1, Beachaven

Day 1 Video Summary:

Eventually, sun came down and we partied outside a bit longer before having to go indoors:

Day #2, Beachaven

We got an absolutely lovely 5H thrillseeker set

we got to chat afterwards

Then more partying indoors:

Thillseekers (partial set):

Day 2 Video Summary:

Day #3, Gianpula Phoenix Club

they were already getting ready for Captured in Sept (will be back for that)

surprise Lost Emotions b2b Xijaro and Pitch

and Marcella Woods was awesome, first time I got to see her

Day 3 Video Summary:

Marcella Woods (full set):

Day #4, Liquid Club Malta

haha, I love this shirt :)

Day 4 Video Summary:

Day #5, Gianpula Rooftop

Sunset was beautiful from up there:

And a bit after midnight was it for Day 5 (really day 6). That was a lot! I think I managed to do 60 hours of trance out of 68h available over 6 days. Wee! Anyone who has not done this probably cannot comprehend how many 6 days is and how exhausting it is (in a good way, haha). Definitely worth experiencing.

Day 5 Video Summary:

The People

As I mentioned earlier, one great thing at Euphoria is that you can meet the DJs and chat with them every day:

Steve!

Andrea!

David Forbes was surprised to see me again after 5 days :)

First time meeting Ronski Speed!

Marcella Woods, so great to see her perform

Mark Sherry

Darren Tate

Should you go? Would I go Back?

And lumi, well, if you've read past reports, you already know how I unfortunately have to feel about it (if not, you can find that in the previous posts). While I'm glad I got there in 2019, even though by then it was already feeling a bit too big, I feel like it lost its family feel quite a while ago given its current size, and honestly I don't need festivals to play 4 or more trance DJs at the same time (and that comment is also true for dreamstate socal), so it was really nice to only have 1 or 2 stages at most at Euphoria and not have to stage hop or agonize that much.
Since I'll always regret never having been to Lumi 10 years ago when it was nice and small, it was actually fantastic to be able to experience this with Euphoria, and really I have to repeat how nice it was to have a festival where we were all one, no VIP, no backstage passes, and DJs coming to party with us and chat and have fun!
Also, while I enjoyed Captured festival last sept, the weather was pretty brutal (Thailand like hot and humid). Euphoria was nice and cool in May, even during the day, that was a true pleasure.
Now, if you're in Asia and february is not the month you're gone snowboarding, Unkonscious is still a very clear choice and another great way to spend 6 days with trance. If you're in Europe or Europe is closer, then Euphoria is clearly a great choice. And if you're just that dedicated, you can go to both of course :)

Now, the hard question is should Euphoria grow to allow more trance lovers to experience it without losing what makes it special? This is a tough question, and I'm not sure I have the magic answer to it. But the fact the organizers are so nice and dedicated to the event, I'm confident whatever they decide, Euphoria will remain a great place to go.

Euphoria was absolutely a unique event (and I mean that in a very good way :) ), and I'm so happy I managed to drag my butt there, this year.

As for the "will I go back?". Honestly I really want to. I'm not going to lie that going 24H after EDC Vegas was brutal, EDC really wipes you and it's another multi flight 16H trip which I can't do in coach and survive, so it was expensive. I'm super happy I did it though, and hope I can do it again. Also, I have to admit I also had a great time at Rong Malta which is 2 weeks prior, even though it's a bigger more mainstream festival, but also with lots of trance, and it's not reasonable to go to both plus EDC in the middle, so I'll have to pick 2 out of 3 no matter what. Decision, decisions :)
But for people with fewer life problems than me, haha, absolutely, please go and be part the family!

Huge thanks to Rich and Steve and all the DJs who played for us:

it's not enough to run the event, he also DJed multiple sets!

Links:

Getting to the welcome point was a bit tricky since it was a fair distance from the rideshare dropoff and the normal EDC shuttles would not get you there in time, but we made it and were eventually welcomed:

made it! (18:25 to be precise)

Given the pricetag, I should give the menu. They did absolutely deliver on what was promised, but indeed I was hoping for a bit more food given the price :)

first serving

second serving

One thing that was above expectation were the performers who entertained us. There were plenty and they did a great job:

The price did include all you can drink, alcohol :)

While enjoying desert on the 2nd floor, the next people were in line, and that was also our exit towards wasteland:

So there you go, hope it helps you decide, I'd say it was a good experience overall, but somewhat pricey.

This was my 10th EDC Vegas, time flies! And in these 10 years, EDC has become bigger every year, to the point that the 2026 edition fully sold out in less than 3 days. I'm not going to repeat what I already wrote in the previous EDCs I've been to, except that this year again, they've done a good job mixing things around and keeping things fresh.
The one thing I have to mention for trance lovers, is that in the last years, it's been clear that Trance has been shrinking slowly world wide. This is to the point that it's gone from Untold, which had the best Trance lineup of any mainstream festival, it stopped being relevant there several years back at Tomorrowland, and when I went to Parookaville, there wasn't much trance either. The list goes on...
So, even I'm a bit stuck on classic trance and I'm a bit sad to see it slowly disappear from many festivals, it wasn't very surprising that similar things are happening at EDC. Last year was the first time that the 3 days of classic Trance at Quantum Valley, were dropped to 2, and this year, depending on how you count, there was maybe 1-1.5 day combined (although day 1 did have half a day of lovely psytrance, which I believe is new). So yeah, we're not getting the 3 days of non stop Trance at Quantum Valley anymore, but Dreamstate is still a thing, just with evolving sounds, some are classic trance, some are psytrance, and newer sounds like Maddix. Also, let's keep in mind that:

So while it's evolving and it doesn't have the 3 days of classic trance at QV anymore, there was plenty of other music to check out, which is not a bad thing actually, that's my best place to check out other EDM genres in one location, and for the mere wow factor and spectable, I'll repeat that EDC is the best night festival in the world.

This year, as something new, I tried the Salvage City Supper Club that was located by Wasteland. It was an interesting idea and fun, but ultimately it felt somewhat expensive for the end experience and food. But if money is no issue, definitely worth giving it a shot. Read up on more Salvage City Supper Club here

The Grounds:

The insomniac folks aren't lazy, they come up with different stage designs every year. Here are some pictures from this year:

Of course, lots of fun areas to visit, especially in the VIP areas:

trinket trade got way too popular since last year :)

the VIP concierge area at Kinetic field was way too crowded

Kandi stations and Casino:

kandi stations

kandi casino was even more popular this year!

Passport was nicely setup like each year:

And because people get confused when they see this picture, this is not VIP but Skydeck, an uber VIP for people with too much money and trying to find creative ways to spend it :)

And all the lit up areas of course:

enjoying the new downtown EDC

Pixel Forest was moved this year and looked different:

A few vendors, like every year:

EDC still has the most rides of any festival I've been to. Fun!

And the many side quests:

Elevated views are of course very enjoyable:

Other views:

Fireworks and Drones

The fireworks were great like every year:

Day 1 Fireworks:

Day 2 Fireworks:

The People

this looked not comfortable to walk in, dedication :)

winning totem :)

bad ass!/

haha :)

funny, we found the same animation independently ;)

this is the way!

And we did our usual Trancefamily SF meetup:

The Insomniac Entertainers were great, as always:

And of course, it's always a good excuse to take pictures with friends ;)

Thor!

more LEDs!

And DJs :)

David Forbes

Paul was still amused ;)

Yoji, still being funny ;)

I was ready for Ben Nicky this time around ;)

The Maddix b2b Ben Nicky was epic!

First time seeing James Hype!

And as always, many picture opportunities:

the bees were overachieving :)

Day #1

Video Summary:

Day 1 Fireworks:

Day #2

Unfortunately, right after Miyuki's set, the wind picked up and Quantum Valley was somehow not built in a wind resistant way, which was slightly puzzling given that high winds have been semi frequent at EDC. As a result, QV was shut down for multiple hours, and we unfortunately missed a few sets as a result:

But other stages kept going:

thankfully QV was reopened later that night, in time for Maddix B2B Ben Nicky

Finished the night with TDJ at Bionic Jungle

Video Summary:

Day 2 Fireworks:

Day #3

One more night, night 3!

le youth, I had never heard before, interesting dreamy set

then, more techno with Miss Monique

Then came time for Armin at Kinetic Fields:

got a good spot, right in front of the uber VIP skydeck (the ones with the half million packages)

Back to Quantum Valley:

And then it was time to end the night with Tiesto's In Search of Sunrise Trance Set!

sunrise coming

And just like that, after a beautiful sunrise with Tiesto, the 3 days were over:

Video Summary:

Should you go? Would I go Back?

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

EDC Vegas is probably 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 (never mind of course the distance for me or the fact that you mostly can't buy tomorrowland tickets, while you can for EDC, although as of 2025 you have to be fast since they sold out in 3 days).

Like previous times:

Conclusion/Other thoughts

Thoughts about this year:

first it was password incorrect

and then this for most of the time

also this

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, with the great result that we all got to enjoy..

much love to our insomniac entertainers

So long, see you next time!

song request :)

Nice party and decors!

haha :)

It was much fun :)

Video Summary:

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:

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.

If you have an RSS reader or you're just happy to reload a web page on occasion:

Hope this helps. For bonus points, you can even subscribe to multiple of them :)

so glad to see the ever cheerful and colorful insomniac entertainers

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?

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.

beautiful

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?

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

There was one combined beauty/kandi station:

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 :)

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

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!

PvD!

G.O.

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!

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

and my friend Kataploks

Giuseppe Ottaviani

Paul Van Dyk

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:

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

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 :)

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.

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.

It was a very welcome Trancefamily SF Reunion:

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

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

Day 1 Summary:

Day 2

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 ;)

Day 2 Summary:

People

meetup day 1

meetup day 2

yes to people who brought LEDs!

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 :)

ulrich!

Kim, our former TFSF marketing lead

2 for the price of one :)

but we did better later

Triode!

then had fun with Yoji-San :)

that was his idea, brilliant ;)

Thoughts/Conclusions

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

Links

And that was it, 2 days of joy with extended times until 03:00, lots of fun, thank YOU!

Got to see many friend DJs again, awesome!

I was slightly worried that security at the club would be picky and difficult, but they were super nice, which was a great surprise. Thank you.

Friday Night

lots of DJs came to hang out

Lovely night, eventually had to go to bed to get a bit of sleep before the next day that started at noon at Ultra

Saturday Night

trancejesus!

first time meeting Alexander Popov!

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YpwiZk1fvhYoYLFP9

Video summary: