by Aaron Willis

In my history of concert-going, I’ve never experienced anything as remotely insane or mind-numbing as Electric Daisy Carnival 2010.  The Insomniac event has, in recent years, emerged as the most electrifying and notorious large-scale massive around, playing host to a bevy of world-famous DJs like David Guetta, Paul Van Dyke and Fatboy Slim, as well as enormous crowds of people.  It’s definitely the biggest rave in the country—the centerpiece of the recently surging rave scene in North America.  With this year’s headliners Deadmau5 (Friday) and DJ Magazine’s number one DJ in the world Armin Van Buuren (Saturday) EDC 2010 brought in somewhere in the ballpark of 185,000 practically naked Kandee kids over the two days.

It’s important for me to note that until now, I had never even been to a rave in my life.  I love electronic music, dancing, and mind-altering substances, but I’d never actually given a go at doing all three at once.  People have told me about raves—EDC in particular; how truly nuts and unique they are, but trust me, I wasn’t expecting what I got.  When I arrived through the front gates with my pals Justin and Nick, I was like…What country am I in?!!?  Think Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory from the original version, but on even more drugs: nasty beats, drop-dead gorgeous girls in nothing but lingerie, and an endless sea of etards.

After initially digesting this bright and vibrant sight, my friends and I decided to take a stroll through the festival grounds, catching a few of the warm-up DJs, and hopping on some rides (yes, there were some pretty awesome carnival rides there too).  At around 5:00, there was already a giant crowd checking out Afrojack at the Circuit Grounds, who was throwing down some truly sick remixes and mash-ups.  It wasn’t necessarily my style of electronic music, but he got my party started in upbeat fashion, and for that, I recommend that everyone check him out at some point.

After Afrojack, I met back up with Justin and Nick, who had just been stranded after the roller coaster broke down mid-ride (the low-point of their nights, I’m sure).  Nonetheless, we trudged on, running into a couple of Justin’s friends at the grassy Cosmic Meadow stage (one of whom immediately started making out with him, while the other gave me my very first piece of Kandee ?).  We sat around a little bit for Spank Rock, who sucked complete donkey dick.  Sorry Spank, but shouldn’t you be playing at, you know, a hip-hop festival?  Very shortly after, we moved onto the Kinetic Stage on the field of the Coliseum, which was already packed despite it being only six in the afternoon.  I think Oscar G was spinning, but we paid little to no attention.  We looped back over to the Circuit Grounds to see part of Z-Trip, who was just okay.  Some of his remixes—Phoenix’s “1901,” for instance—fared better than others, but his 15-minute detour into some truly cacophonous drum and bass kind of made my ears bleed.  He wasn’t bad, but for some reason, I was glad when he ended.

The rest of the night got really saucy.  Whenever the sun sets at a rave, the mood immediately changes, and the Kandee Kids come out to play.  By the time Basement Jaxx came on, myself and the other 85,000 ravers were having the time of our lives!  Jaxx started slow, but eventually their deep house/big beat style came to life as the night sky got darker and the festival grounds lit up like Las Vegas.  At one point I looked over at Nick, and he had the hottest, skimpiest-dressed blonde model hoisted onto his shoulders (I was truly jealous).  When we’d had enough of Basement Jaxx, we got in line for the Supreme Scream-type drop ride, which had to have been the best quick adrenaline rush I’ve had in a while (It dropped us just as Jaxx dropped the bass during “Raindrops.”  But the drop almost ended up being our undoing.

Afterwards, we rushed to the Coliseum entrance and waited in the mob of fans looking to catch the tail-end of Swedish House Mafia.  But just as we were about to be let in, the guards closed off the field: it had just reached full capacity, and it was only 8:00.  I’ll admit, that killed my seemingly unbreakable mood, so we wandered into the stadium bleachers to watch from afar like the rest of the common folk.  And to our surprise, Swedish House Mafia was unbelievable.  But even more stunning was the sight of the stands and the floor.  The place was completely packed.  I’ve never seen such a huge crowd for a musical act in my life.  And up on that stage, Sweden’s Axwell, Sebastian and Steve Angello were putting on quite the display of white lights and electro house.  The crowd loved it, and they ended up being pretty much the people’s choice of favorite act of the night.  I guess it’s too bad that I was distracted at the time, albeit in a most euphoric way (I had been massaging some cutie’s shoulders), but I’m glad that Swedish House Mafia was such a hit.

We then stopped at the Basspod Stage, to witness the single best act of the whole night: 12th Planet.  Even though I was already off my face, 12th Planet was more than just the cherry on top.  His brand of experimental dubstep absolutely blew my mind.  Fuck Rusko.  This guy should and will become the true face of dubstep.  The intimate crowd at the Basspod stage was hugely ecstatic, and 12th Planet himself was leaping across the stage with the intensity of an acrobat.  For this alone, I’m glad we got rejected from the Coliseum floor.

Infected Mushroom was next, and man was I glad to see them finally.  That show was pretty much a complete blur, but I do remember a lot of smoke machines, trippy lights, the guitarist bouncing on a trampoline, and them playing the song “I Wish” perfectly.  Next up on the same stage was Moby, who seemed legitimately happy to be there.  By now, most of the festival crowd was holed up in the Coliseum watching Kaskade, but it was worth spending about 20 minutes watching the bald-headed dude drop some sick beats over songs I couldn’t recognize.  That’s the beauty of EDC: you don’t have to know or remember anything you see.  Just knowing you had the time of your life is enough satisfaction.

We practically jogged up the Coliseum stairs and back down while Kaskade finished his set with “I Remember” to get a good spot for the headliner of the night.  That would be Deadmau5 (real name Joel Zimmerman).  And by now, the entire stadium was at maximum capacity.  I’ve never quite seen anything like it.  Justin, Nick and I posted up as close as we could in the stands, still envious of the people on the floor, eagerly anticipating the sight of currently the hottest DJ/producer in the game.  His show definitely impressed.  The cubed stage set-up was just as jaw-dropping as it was at Coachella, and his Mau5 head is a genius spectacle and marketing tool.  Mau5 blitzed through hits like “Strobe,” “Moar Ghosts N’ Stuff,” which seaged right into “Ghosts N’ Stuff” and later on into a piercingly energetic version of “FML.”  My only complaint is that the sound was terrible in the stands.  You couldn’t hear it as good as you could if you were on the floor, and it showed, as the floor people were absolutely eating it up, while the rest of us in the stands acted as if it was just background music to the most awesome party ever.  By the end (around 2 a.m.), a sea of kandee-coated wrists saluted Deadmau5, and the night was over.  This was quite possibly the quickest 12 hours of my life.  As much as we wished the party wouldn’t stop, we finally had to accept that what goes up must come down (literally).  Overall, an amazing night with some amazing friends, and some of the most interesting things I’ll never forget (if only I could remember it all).  Then, it was back to our home in San Diego.

It then hit me just how big the electro scene is finally blowing up here in the United States.  Of course, it’s always been big in other parts of the world, but here in the U.S., EDM seems to get no respect.  But when DJs like Tiësto, Guetta and Deadmau5 are suddenly getting paid seven figures to play massives, selling out arenas and stadiums, and just generally contributing to an overwhelmingly euphoric PLUR lifestyle, it’s time to take a step back and dish out some love.  Seriously, these guys are the new breed of global rock star.  Not only is EDC the biggest U.S. rave, it’s also the biggest U.S. music festival…PERIOD.  As far as per-day attendance totals go, EDC has Bonnaroo, Coachella and Lollapalooza all beat.

EDC was one of the better days of my life, and I couldn’t even believe that there was a second day.  I didn’t go of course.  There’s only so much exploding head syndrome one can take.

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