Katie BainElectric Daisy Carnival starts this Friday out Las Vegas, and it's gonna be totes bananas. A hundred thousand plus ravers (including us — watch for coverage starting Saturday!) are about to descend upon the seediest city in America to pool party by day and dance in the desert by night. Nearly naked men and women will enjoy Knife Party, Dada Life, Avicii, Carl Cox and Major Lazer, as well as carnival rides and, new this year, a wedding chapel.
EDC is the brainchild of Pasquale Rotella, head of its parent company Insomniac Events, who may or may not be on the brink of becoming insanely rich. Below Rotella, who has been throwing electronic flavored events since the early '90s, shares his tips on how to make the most of the party he calls “dance music's New Year's Eve.” In his own words:
See also: Top Five Reasons Electric Daisy Carnival Rules
Credit: Colin Young-Wolff – full slideshow
1. Get Into the Groove
There's a good percentage of people who love having a good time and dancing, and they just go right to the biggest sound system and production, but it's always the hits being banged out on those stages. I want to expose people to different genres of dance music and not always have the hits being played and put in front of them. I want for them to get into a groove.
There is a risk that they're not going to get [it] because their ears aren't trained, but we want to expose them to that. I promote for people to not face the DJ and really get lost in the music and dance with one another and interact and express their individuality. I'm trying to curate the soundtrack to that experience more than anything.
Credit: Nate “Igor” Smith — full slideshow
2. Music snobs, get over yourselves
I feel like people diss the mainstage because they want to be hipsters, like they found something cooler over [on a smaller stage]. This year, we have guys who would normally be on our larger stage on some of the smaller stages and guys who would be on the smaller stages on our largest stage. To take someone like Richie Hawtin and put him on the main stage — that's the cool hipster crowd who likes techno — we're going to fuck with them a little bit.
Credit: Colin Young-Wolff – full slideshow
3. Go old school
We're doing a show where we take music from as far as 20 years back and do a mashup set and sync some of the production and pryo and do a little history lesson. If [attendees] weren't into dance music ten years ago, maybe we can expose them to something they've never heard before.
See also: Why Are Old School Electronic Artists Annoyed With EDM?
Credit: Credit: Christopher Victorio
4. Forget your schedule
People in the past three years have been trying to treat dance music in the way that rock and hip hop is enjoyed, and I think people are missing out on fun there. I'd like people to dance and express their individuality and not be so caught up and serious about where to be and what time. It's really about having a good time and enjoying the energy when getting that many people together.
Credit: Nate “Igor” Smith
5. Put down your damn phone and dance
I want to get across that it's dance music; you're not meant to stand and watch. I want to see the scene healthy and the events healthy, and I want the energy to be epic. If you know there's a DJ out there you're a fan of because you like his sound, don't go and just watch him, go and experience what he has to offer. These guys work really hard to orchestrate an amazing set. If you want to show them love, go off, dance, and get into it instead of leaning on the barricade with your phone up. That's getting really old.
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