Insomniac Events brought Electric Daisy Carnival back to New York this year, with two major changes. The festival was cut down from three days to two in order to accommodate a more convenient venue location – Citi Field in Queens, NY. Many fans were initially skeptical; they were receiving one less day of music and were forced to decide whether they’d secure a ticket before the official lineup was even released.
Even after said lineup was released, I saw a lot of backlash on social media. People weren’t pleased with the artist list, but I think everyone may still have been riding the high of the star-studded Ultra Music Festival lineup. Regardless, it didn’t seem to affect ticket sales but there was no doubt that the decision to attend EDC New York this year was a tough one for many electronic dance music lovers.
In my past experiences Insomniac has always lived up to their “You’re The Headliner” attitude. This year was no different, although I did encounter a few unsatisfactory moments. Before sharing with you my overall thoughts – which may be similar to yours – I’d like to highlight a few artists from each day that helped shape my over all experience.
Day One Highlights
When I arrived at Citi Field I spend a good portion of time walking around taking in my surroundings and good vibes. It wasn’t too long before I slowly made my way over to the Kinetic Field stage and kicked off day one with Tyler Sherritt. His set was filled with edits and originals that brought the crowd to life, setting the tone for the entire weekend. Similar to an opener at a nightclub, Sherritt found the perfect balance of beats to warm early bird legs. He even shocked the crowd with a live vocal performance of “Otherside” – an original collaboration with Jake Shanahan.
As I was on my way to see Hyperbits at the Wide Awake Art Car stage, the sounds of Milkman distracted my group of friends. As many of you know, when you make a festival schedule you almost always never stick to it. Long story short, before I knew it 2:00 rolled around and I had my mind set on running the trap with Luminox and Alex Young until 4:00.
Luminox widened the eyes of many, dropping hi-hat, snare, and 808 infused bangers on the Bass Pod stage, perhaps in an effort to make up for the lack of trap stars on EDCNY’s bill. Alex Young followed with a set that proved him not only to be a phenomenal young producer, but a very talented DJ. He broke all types of boundaries with beats that ranged in taste.
Next on my list was Nervo, but since they cancelled the day before I was treated to Arty earlier than I had expected. Arty’s set brought out some of the best sounds in progressive trance. However, tides quickly tuned as he played multiple Beatport top ten hits and began what I like to call the “LRAD” effect – which will be explained later.
R3HAB, on the other hand, didn’t disappoint, I’ve seen him perform roughly ten times now and I can easily say he never fails to bring the most emotion and energy to the stage. Similar to Afrojack, he opens a majority of his sets with an edit of one of his most popular record, “Sending My Love”. I’d have to say the peak of his timeslot was when he dropped his remix of Nervo’s “Hold On”; it paid respect to their thinly explained absence and gave the crowd a chance to participate in an energetic sing-a-long.
As the stage crew set up for La Roux’s timeslot I was on a quest for food and water. Later that evening my empty wallet reminded me that it was festival season, but eating and hydrating is easily the most important part of any show. I didn’t mind spending nine bucks on a cheeseburger or two, and my body thanked me. I sat and relaxed throughout most of La Roux and quickly realized how crowded the festival grounds had become.
Nicky Romero took the stage about twenty minutes late. When he began his set I found myself wedged between two “don’t touch me bros” and behind several “shoulder ravers“. It was one of the worst festival experience of my life, but I didn’t let it ruin my night. From that moment on I found myself at the back of each crowd, I ran from stage to stage and tried to catch pieces of as many sets as I could.
Steve Angello graced me with a lot of house records I’d never heard before. His style stepped away from the generic Swedish House Mafia set which made me extremely happy. Having seen Eric Prydz on multiple occasions I’d decided to change things up by catching Borgore. I’m really glad I did because his set was filled with talk of cake, funny visuals, rapping, and trap. I also couldn’t help but notice his outrageous facial expressions he was making; I think he may have been unintentionally trolling the crowd.
At 10:00 I was faced with the hardest decision of Day One. ATB, Headhunterz, Figure, or Richie Hawtin? I’m not going to lie; I was feeling rebellious and risky, which resulted in my fast-paced bass-filled finale. I’ve never been a fan of hardstyle, but I also never get the chance to hear it on a world-class sound system. If you asked me to name a track, I couldn’t. But I did have a great time and I definitely don’t regret ending my night by trying something new.
Day Two Highlights
Day two started in a similar fashion to day one: I arose from my slumber rather early and traveled to the festival grounds to catch the very beautiful and talented Gina Turner at 12:00. She began the third day of EDC for me last year, so I knew exactly what she had to offer. For a solid hour I warmed up to tech house beats. Gina gradually took her set in different directions keeping listeners on their toes.
As she stepped off I wandered over to the Circuit Grounds and met a massive crowd eagerly awaiting Sultan + Ned Shepard. Their hype-man introduced them as they opened their timeslot with their remix of Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out Of Heaven”. Throughout their set they played a ton of vocal records, which saw a huge reaction out of the crowd. I love the early hours of festivals; there’s so much room to dance, and when you have vocals to sing-a-long with dancing is ten times more fun.
One of the day two acts that I was looking forward to the most was Quintino. The crowd he pulled was amazing for a 2:30 set time. He played a throwback edit of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Strong” as well as Steve Aoki’s remix of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit Of Happiness” – which the security team really enjoyed. The JACKED squad produces some of my favorite music. They are an awesome crew and I was a little disappointed when I learned that they didn’t have their own stage this year.
With that being said, the next name on my itinerary was Bassjackers. Marlon Flhor, half of the duo, threw down a high octane “JackinDaBass” style set filled with screaming electro house records. His stage presence and clever mixing was key to the high quality set he drove into our ears. Feed Me was scheduled to come on right after Bassjackers, but instead AN21 & Max Vangeli took the stage. This confused everyone, including myself, so after hearing a bit of their set I walked over to Morgan Page. His set was light, beautiful, an energetic. Out of all the artists I saw he was the only one that play Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” which was a big surprise. I surely thought that among the overplayed edits of “Clarity” and “LRAD” I would have heard some of Pharrell’s vocals at the least.
After Morgan Page I ventured into the festival grounds to check out the rides and performing artists. I saw many costumes and met friendly faces with our WhiteRaverRafting photographer. We walked by the Circuit Grounds and caught the end of Feed Me, who had switched times with AN21 & Max Vangeli, before listening to Cosmic Gate. Then we headed to the Bass Pod stage to experience Seven Lions, but we quickly found out that he had switched set times with Loadstar. Although we caught the last ten minutes of his set, I, like many others, was extremely disappointed at all of this random rescheduling.
After grabbing food, water, and expressing my frustration I realized the last acts on my schedule included Dash Berlin, Calvin Harris, Afrojack, and Porter Robinson. Dash played a heavy vocal trance set and showcased a new tune titled “Steal You Away”. I was stationed at the back of the crowd and in my right ear I heard Dash Berlin, while in my left I heard bits and pieces of Calvin Harris. The sound bleed was awful. This was the first time I’d run into this problem, but I had heard many people complaining about it throughout the day.
I caught the last few minutes of Calvin Harris as I waited for Afrojack to come on and I wasn’t impressed. While I respect him immensely, I can never seem to get excited about his sets. 8:30 rolled around and Afrojack stormed the stage with his three minute long opening. I saw a flurry of new graphics and logos, which set my mood for his entire performance. His Dutch sound is extremely addicting but there is way more to his music than just that style. He played tons of original IDs along with an edit of “Lets Make It Nasty” witch included new, deep, grimy vocals. Over all I was satisfied with his set because I had come to hear his music, and he provided it along side astonishing production.
I picked Porter Robinson to close out my Electric Daisy Carnival New York 2013 experience over The Bloody Beetroots, Crizzly, or Carl Cox & Loco Dice for a few reason. His quick mixing keeps me awake and moving, his style includes a lot of surprises, and he always plays a lot of records that I’ve never heard. Throughout his set he dropped a few hardstyle tunes, mixed with slamming electro-house, and beautiful tracks like “La Guitarra” by Orjan Nilsen. His set incorporated everything I love about dance music. He put on a diverse show and took risks that broke many boundaries, sending my mind places that it had never been before. “Language” closed out the night and inspired a festival wide sing-a-long, encompassing everything incredible about the electronic dance music movement.
My Thoughts
1. The Venue: New York Mets – Citi Field (Queens, NY)
Last year EDC New York took place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. I was thrilled when they switched the location to Citi Field in Queens – a location actually within the state of New York. Transportation proved a lot easier for many travelers, being that trains and buses were available and traveled directly into the city.
But this venue swap did come with a huge down fall. Since the New York Mets are in season, a stage inside of the stadium was simply out of the question. At MetLife Stadium, the Giants/Jets are in their off season, allowing for that extra space. Without that extra land Insomniac had to fit five stages across a relatively small section of the parking lot.
After taking a good look at the map above, in my mind they did the best that they could have. I think that the lack of venue space resulted in a lot of sound bleed issues across the board as well as over crowded stages.
2. Security / EMS Response
We’re at the point in electronic dance music festival growth where it is virtually impossible to stop severe dehydration and drug abuse/overdose; the festivals are just too big. Most big events are doing their part by giving you free water (you should probably take advantage of it).
To me it’s simple: the solution to this issue lies in the hands of the raver. The best we can do as festivalgoers is educate ourselves in an effort to stay safe. Whether you’re attending the show for the music, the production, your friends or all the above, eating and drinking water throughout the day is crucial to your health.
I don’t condone drug use, but I’m not the police, or your mom, so I can’t tell you what to do. But throughout Electric Daisy Carnival New York I saw an outrageous amount of EMS action. These incidents were disheartening to watch; I expect a lot more out of the people who make up our movement/scene.
However, Insomniac provided more than enough EMS teams and security squads to keep their attendees safe. Everyone I spoke with was very knowledgeable and respectful. These are people who don’t get nearly enough credit for the hard work they put in at festivals all summer long. I applaud them for taking their job extremely seriously and acting instantly upon request.
3. The “LRAD” Effect
The “LRAD” effect can also be called the “Clarity”, “Epic”, or “Main Stage” effect. It comes in many shapes and frequencies. What it basically means is mainstage bookings are playing to many of the same hit records over and over again. At EDC New York I heard Knife Party’s “LRAD” at least ten times, hence “LRAD effect”.
As a festivalgoer I make my schedule based on the music that I’d like to hear. When I see Afrojack, Porter Robinson, and Arty, I expect to hear their music along with edits of their favorite sounds at the moment. In the age of Beatport, with a hundred new producers popping up every day and tracks on Soundcloud going from unheard to top of the charts in very short amounts of time, it’s ridiculous for fans to have to hear the exact same tracks five or six times in one day, on one stage.
Promoters and party throwers like Insomniac Events can only do so much: a large amount of a person’s festival or show experience is based on the DJs they see. I heard a lot of the same music set after set at EDC NY and I was disappointed by it. DJs need to take more risks, be more creative, and in return their fans will have way more fun.
Overall I think that Electric Daisy Carnival New York is a very important stop on the road to Las Vegas. The electronic dance music movement here is absolutely amazing, and it’s no wonder DJs from around the world come to play here.
Although we lost a day, Insomniac Events still managed to throw an incredible party with world class sound and production. WhiteRaverRafting.com had a fantastic time and if you’d like to relive this event through our eyes check out all of our pictures below.
Electric Daisy Carnival New York Photos:
- WRR FAM Day One @ Electric Daisy Carnival, New York
- WRR FAM Day Two @ Electric Daisy Carnival, New York
- DJ’s Day One @ Electric Daisy Carnival, New York
- DJ’s Day Two @ Electric Daisy Carnival, New York
More on WRR:
- EDC New York – Live Sets From Both Days (Stream + Download)
- 8 Records That Porter Robinson Released As Ekowraith
- The Polish Ambassador Slams An Unfortunate Trend
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