Bring on the Carnival! We wanted to be on the grounds the first day by 3, in time to catch Trent Cantrelle and the Android Cartel, but didn't quite account correctly for traffic and parking, so we got there too late. The first driving stab into the area found a few places to park for $25 in the middle of a huge mess, so drove out about a mile and a half to a side street and started making the trek, eventually walking boot to boot with the stream of ravers all heading our direction.
This was my first year to EDC, and I am not familiar with the Coliseum/Park area. It was initial micro-chaos trying to figure out where to go, asking directions and shouldering through pockets of candy in full uniform. "Head all the way over that way, and when the street, I think it has a new name, goes that way, look for this and head in there".
Inside, heading for the earliest biggest boom; from the stadium. Oscar G had just gotten on, and it was my first inkling as to what was in store. Big, fat, growling, BOOM. I think my brain might have been operating on a slightly false pretense; the trailer for EDC was trance-centric, some of the bigger headliners were of the trance department, and the promos seemed to be pushing the floatier side of happy smiles --- but this was not a trance party, this was a Rave. To the core. To the heart. To the bones.
I don't know that I've been to a real rave (that felt like a rave) maybe back since USC 5 in Seattle. This was the feeling of that party (which lots of people still say was the best party we had during that period) multiplied by about 100.
The next 8.5 hours was a set of over and hyper stimulations all stacked on top of each other. In the day, the costumes, uniforms, outfits, troupes of performers, things to look at, music to listen to, people to hear chatter and see wander aimlessly; was like the personification of spongebob squarepants cereal, washed down with chocolate milk and sprinkled with cinnamon. Yikes.
There were five main musical stages, each with its own good and not so good qualities, and we made the rounds to visit them all, seeing Oscar G, the Manufactured Superstars, Vive la Bunny, Dirty South, Z-Trip, the Swedish House Mafia, Moby, Claude von Stroke, and Deadmau5, and every time we went to a different staged, we stopped through the bassPOD stage to hear the disgustingly good drum and bass or dubstep that was playing.
It was a day of experientially beaded-out overexposure; not a lot of new tunes but a ton of old anthems, good vibes and opportunity for self-expressing and honestly, a really great setup for that kind of show. I can't say that it was the best party or show I've ever been do, but without a doubt it was certainly the ultimate rave.
More details later - stay tuned.
rx
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