Three Days Under the Electric Sky: An Inside Look at EDC’s 30th Anniversary in Vegas

^{Kinetic Field is the largest stage at EDC and gets filled to the brim with fans for globally popular DJs like Zedd, Martin Garrix, John Summit, and Kaskade. (Photo: Vanessa Alves-Johnson / Casinos.com)}

LAS VEGAS – For years, I heard so many Vegas locals talk about how life-changing the Electric Daisy Carnival really was. I never believed the hype until I finally attended this year.

For three days, I lived under the festival’s Electric Sky (while wearing a VIP media wristband). I was there working, of course, but as a raver I still got to fully soak in the experience, which made it even more spectacular than I could've imagined. 

Pretty much everywhere I looked, across 1,200 acres that make up the Las Vegas Motor Speedway grounds, I saw laser-filled stages, carnival rides, and throngs of people happy and dancing while dressed in their best raver fashion. 

The racetrack undergoes a complete makeover each year. That transformation includes trucking in 120,000 fireworks effects, 30,000 moving lights, and 3,000 drones for shows, according to festival organizers.

The same artists who headline those three nights for hundreds of thousands of people are the ones playing sets at clubs at Las Vegas casinos on the Strip throughout the rest of the year. EDC Week is one of the few times that so much DJ talent is concentrated in one city's nightlife ecosystem all at once.

This year marked the 30th anniversary of the festival, which began in the 1990s in Southern California before eventually making its home at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2011. Since then, the event has grown into something that sells more than half a million tickets over three nights, 

Different DJ sets run on nine main stages throughout the weekend, from 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. every night. I had mostly recovered a few days after the lights of EDC had dimmed, at least enough to pull together this guide to what I learned about how to navigate a festival so massive.

Getting There

EDC takes place far from the tourist corridors in the northeast corner of the city at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. What's normally a 25-minute drive from the Strip can easily take four times as long with festival traffic. Getting there is its own adventure, whether you choose to drive, take a shuttle, Uber, or even take a Maverick Helicopter ride.

I used the Live How You Want shuttle service to get there all three days, which turned out to be the most stress-free option possible. The flexibility to adjust pickup times as needed meant I could manage my schedule around interviews and still make it to sets on time, which is why I'd always recommend a shuttle to first-timers (or festival veterans) over driving or rideshare, especially given the traffic situation. 

A sea of people anxiously waits to rush through the gates of EDC on Saturday evening. (Photo: Vanessa Alves-Johnson / Casinos.com)

The traffic alone led many of my friends attending the festival to miss out on sets they had been excited to see. On Friday, an 8 p.m. shuttle got me there closer to 10 p.m. because so many cars arrived at once. But on Saturday and Sunday, catching a 5:30 p.m. shuttle got me there no later than 6:30 p.m. on both days.

Being There

Once I traversed the forsaken steep hill up to the Speedway and emerged from under the concourse, the scale of the festival fully hit me. There are several stages to explore at EDC: Kinetic Field, Circuit Grounds, Bass Pod, Cosmic Meadow, Bionic Jungle, Quantum Valley, Neon Garden, and Wasteland. Each stage hosts a different roster of artists and music genres.

Aside from the stages, art cars scattered throughout the festival featured smaller DJs and even hosted second performances for some of the bigger ones. No matter where you wander at this festival, something is always happening.

The lineup changes every night, which is the appeal of the festival and also presents a challenge of trying to see everything in three days. You could theoretically attend all three days and see all the artists on your list to justify the price point. 

For all three days, General Admission tickets were around $470, GA+ tickets started at $600, and VIP tickets were around $960. Some people attend only one or two days but are limited to purchasing from resellers who choose not to attend the full festival.

Finding the Right Stage

Friday was more of an orientation day than anything else. I wandered around to get a sense of the festival's 1,200-acre layout. That day, I headbanged to Levity at Circuit Grounds, popped by Sofi Tukker’s set at Kinetic Field before it was too full, and spent most of the night jumping between stages to figure out what was worth coming back for. 

Saturday was when EDC really picked up energy. Earlier in the day, I had the chance to sit down with and interview Australian-born house DJ Wax Motif ahead of his 12:30 a.m. set at Stereo Bloom. He had just kicked off his residency at Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World on Friday night, which speaks to exactly what makes EDC Week unique. 

Many of these artists pass through Vegas regularly for shows at clubs inside the Wynn, Caesars Palace, Fontainebleau, and many others. But EDC is the one opportunity when you can see all of them in the same place without having to adhere to a dress code.

Later Saturday night, I checked out sets at Cosmic Meadow, Kinetic Field, and Bionic Jungle. John Summit is one of the biggest names in tech house right now, and his Kinetic Field set drew what was likely the largest crowd he's ever played to. He even acknowledged it himself on Instagram afterward with a picture of the giant crowd. 

The density of the crowd made movement nearly impossible, and I could barely get past just the edges of the crowd. Instead, I ventured to the Bionic Jungle stage, where I caught MCR-T's hard techno set to a much more spacious crowd, with some of the nicest people I met all weekend. Sometimes those unplanned detours help you discover an artist or genre you never thought you’d like until hearing it live.

Soaking It All In

On Sunday, I had no obligations or schedule, so my plan was just to see as much of the festival as possible before I had to wait another year. Wasteland delivered hard techno that was hard not to air punch to, while William Black's set at Cosmic Meadow caught my eye as a passerby when I saw visuals on the screen from popular anime I love. 

I stayed at Cosmic Meadow for Dabin’s set, which featured surprise appearances from Illenium, the DJ who has been selling out night after night with his Sphere residency, and DJ duo Slander. Both artists broke hearts before the festival, as they were not performing solo sets. Illenium’s presence especially made sense, considering that Illenium had headlined at Venetian’s TAO Beach Club the day prior and brought Dabin as his guest there first.

Running Wild for Zedd

My favorite set of the entire weekend was Zedd at Kinetic Field in the earliest hours of Sunday morning. He's one of my personal favorite DJs from the classic 2010s EDM era. While he performs in Vegas regularly at clubs inside Caesars Palace, Venetian, and MGM Grand, seeing him at EDC was a completely different experience. You're surrounded by people who are there purely for the music, often fans of the artists who have been following them for years. 

The production value of this festival is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The larger stages operate on another level with mind-bending lights, lasers, fireworks, and drone shows added to each. EDC has spent 30 years building that standard and seems to top it every year.

Every night of the festival, there were just the most breathtaking fireworks shows at Kinetic Field around 1:40 a.m. For about 15 minutes, the sole focus at that stage was the giant fireworks that lit up the sky with color. They become a huge visual focus no matter where you are in the festival. Multiple attendees told me those displays were better than anything they'd seen on the Strip or downtown, and I fully agree.

Reminder: Wear Comfortable Shoes

I clocked 15,000 steps on Saturday alone, thanks to all the walking around to get to different sets and dealing with the stairs of the Speedway’s grandstands. Comfortable shoes are a must, especially if you decide to stay until the sun rises and have to join the mass exodus of people leaving the festival for the day.

The festival runs until about 6 or 7 a.m, but I could only push it to 3:30 a.m. at the latest across all three days. There was no need for FOMO about missing the late sets, though, since many artists on the lineup have a club residency or regular booking somewhere on the Vegas Strip. 

I was bummed to miss Kaskade’s 3 a.m. set on Friday, but quickly remembered that I could see him back at XS Nightclub or Encore Beach Club for another show soon enough. 

Pro Tip: Go It Alone?

Attending a festival of this size alone can sound intimidating, but it's often one of the easiest environments to meet people. Though I had many friends in attendance, there was virtually no signal at the Motor Speedway, which made it difficult to find people. Most of the time, I was there solo, but I wasn't necessarily alone. There are so many other single-ticket attendees wandering the same stages that conversations happen naturally, and it’s always easier to approach an individual rather than a group. 

You can also connect with people from around the world at this festival. I overheard people speaking languages like German, Chinese, and French. The global atmosphere is a common feature of Las Vegas events, and EDC is one of the best examples of international appeal.

Going solo also meant complete freedom to drift from stage to stage. Large groups at EDC require constant coordination between music tastes and energy levels. Being able to float around from stage to stage with no questions asked is so much easier than having to convince a group to go see a set with you.

Having a VIP pass gets you access to a Ferris wheel with a much shorter line than general admission, especially since people are usually more focused on seeing the DJs they love. (Photo: Vanessa Alves-Johnson / Casinos.com)

It’s especially worth getting VIP as a solo attendee and first-timer. Unlike the bottle service association with VIP at a Vegas club, EDC’s VIP experience puts you closer to the stage with more breathing room, shorter lines for water and drinks, and faster access to the festival's many carnival rides. 

The perks came in clutch, especially when I saw Zedd’s set. After thinking I was tapped out for the weekend around 1 a.m. on Sunday, I decided to chug an energy drink and run to Kinetic Field to see what I could of the set while “Beauty and a Beat” echoed from the distance. 

No better way to end Sunday night than sprinting to a set from Zedd full of lasers, visuals, and bright lights. (Photo: Vanessa Alves-Johnson / Casinos.com)

The VIP viewing deck gave me a clear sightline of the set, which would’ve been nearly impossible working through the GA crowd mid-set. It felt like it was meant to be, since he brought out my favorite bass house DJ, Knock2, as a special guest mid-set to play an unreleased collaboration together. Knock2 was yet another guest who did not perform an individual set at EDC, so it was a treat for many fans (including me), to say the least.

EDC is not cheap at all, but if you commit to making it an all-night affair across the whole weekend, the value holds up. The festival has certainly earned every bit of the reputation it's built over 30 years. 

(Almost) Blown Away

While EDC is an incredibly welcoming environment, one uninvited guest did its best to disrupt the festival. 

All weekend long, you could feel the wind picking up, and by Sunday, there were tropical storm-level winds blowing across the entire Vegas valley. 

When gusts between 50 and 70 miles per hour reached the speedway, they forced some stages to shut down entirely. Linska had her set cut short mid-performance due to worsening wind conditions. 

After all the attendees left, it was almost unsettling to see the massive stages sit so empty.

Prepare to Come Back Next Year!

On Thursday, it was announced that EDC will return in 2027, but for the first time, it will be held over two weekends in May. 

It's part of a new “Dusk to Dawn” format that Insomniac expects will reduce overcrowding and make it a more comfortable experience for all attendees.

EDC Las Vegas will now expand into a multi-weekend festival for the first time, with lower ticket prices and the same lineup across both weekends. Newcomers and veterans alike will appreciate saving money on tickets, as prices have shot up over the years.

I’m sure to be back, and next year I'll do so with comfortable shoes and maybe a few more energy drinks.