The Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas 2012 First Hand Account + Live Sets

Entrance view of Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas

So now that I have finally gathered enough brain cells to put together a blog post, I think it's time that everyone who didn't get to experience the life changer that EDC Vegas is gets to hear about it.  The Electric Daisy Carnival is one of those things that someone who wasn't there can never truly understand or feel.  Insomniac, the production company that puts EDC on every year, does a hell of a job making this festival unique from all other music festivals of any genre.  First, the festival is from sundown to sunrise, beginning at 730 PM and ending when the sun rises at 530 AM.  There is honestly nothing like the adrenaline feeling you get when you first enter the gates of EDC Vegas and gaze down from the stands upon a neon planet full of energized people, crazy light shows, multiple ferris wheels and light structures, 7 stages equipped with big booming speakers and insane lasers and lights, and the desert sky above. The venue that EDC is held at, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, is an ideal place for a festival because the entire place is one mile-long oval with a symmetrical layout. This makes it very easy to find your friends if you get separated, easy entry and exit, etc.  The festival also offers free water bottle refills which was huge.  You save a ton of money not having to buy a water for 5$ repeatedly and the refills are quick so you can get back to the music.  Also, the feeling and vibe you get from the crowd at EDC Vegas is unlike any feeling I've ever experienced.  200,000 people fill the venue all 3 nights and it still isn't crowded at all.  There is room to dance in the first 30 rows at every stage no matter who is performing.  The general attitude from the people that are there is just so positive... everyone is just trying to have a good time. That sounds cheesy but everything is just left behind and people are just straight up raging for 10 hours in a row, 3 consecutive days.  With all that said, yes, Saturday of the 3 day festival was a flop, as extreme desert winds forced EDC to prematurely shut down at around 2 am.  This was a huge buzzkill but Friday and Sunday were so good that I can't complain. The only way to make this weekend better (besides making the venue into a dome) would have been to have Madeon & Deadmau5 in the lineup.

 

The massive main stage

There are WAY too many great sets and DJ's to name from the weekend, but I put four memorable sets below that not everyone may be talking about.  These four are probably the most vivid for me looking back on the weekend.  Enjoy.

Let's start with Friday.  We got to EDC, and the first guy I see is Afrojack. To keep a long story short, he killed it. Enough said. The usual. When the lineup came out, I was the most excited for Kaskade.  It had been a couple years since I had seen him live and there is not possibly a better way to reunite with the boss himself than at the main stage of EDC Las Vegas on the first night of the weekend.  Let's just say I was also the most 'prepared' for Kaskade's set as well, so everything was just amazing right before he came on.  He played an epic set full of great build ups and filthy electro drops that kept the crowd jumping for two straight hours.  I can say his set was one of the highlights of my life.  Check Kaskade's set out below:


Download Kaskade Electric Daisy Carnival 2012 Las Vegas (Live Set)

On Saturday, I got to the festival just in time for Bassnectar who I was pumped to see.  He's a super talented live DJ which all of you may not know.  He played a really good set but I think it could have been a little bit more intense. He kept it pretty melodic and easy going for his usual style.  Up after that was my main man Calvin Harris, someone who I have had unconditional love for as a DJ since I heard "Flashback" in high school. I was in the zone for this set as well.  He was playing an unbelievable set when.... the fucking wind stopped his set, he said some Scottish gibberish, and he ran off the stage. Frustrating. And that was the end of Saturday.

On Sunday, our group had the mindset to go HAM since we were robbed on Saturday.  We arrived at the festival at 8 pm somehow.  I don't know how we got out of the hotel so early but we did it.  And it was for the best.  The first DJ we saw was Joris Voorn, someone who I only had heard one song by before EDC.  However,  once we got into the Cosmic Meadow stage crowd, I was immediately overcome with soothing deep house beats that got me just straight vibing.  I turned around and saw all my friends doing the same.  Joris is the shit.  After that I ran to to the Kinetic Field main stage to catch all of Chuckie's set, and he did not disappoint.  It was an electro party.  My calves got built from all the jumping I was doing during "Who is Ready to Jump". Check out his live set below:


Download Chuckie Day 3

After Chuckie was Dirty South.  He rocked the main stage to say the least.  I had seen Dirty South a few times before and the dude is amazing live.  My best memory from this set was his remix of Miike Snow's "Devil's Work".  It was honestly so massive and heavy, I felt like an electric bass wave was flowing through my body. Sounds cheesy but I swear it was real.  After Dirty South came Pretty Lights, one of the headliners I had been dying to see for the last few years.  Right in the beginning I heard "Hot Like Sauce", which literally just blew my brain away.  I was feeelin realllll nice for this show and Pretty Lights put out a show that had the perfect amount of wobbles and bass as well as melodic dubstep.  Check out his set here:


Download Pretty Lights Electric Daisy Carnival 2012 Las Vegas (Live Set)

I saw Laidback Luke after that at the Super You and Me stage which was good as expected.  I had already seen him before though last year at EDC and he was better the year before.  Bingo Players took the stage next and oh my god.... I cried just a little.  "Mad Dash" for some reason was my favorite track of the set at the back end.  Something about that song live.... crazy.  Here's Bingo Players set:


Download Bingo Players Electric Daisy Carnival 2012 Las Vegas (Live Set)

 

Rave girls never cease to bring the flavor

Craziest weekend of 2012 thus far.  Now just got to wait about a month for Tomorrowland.... I wonder which one will be better when all is said and done.

-- Ya boy