Electric Daisy Carnival 2011

The post-EDC hangover: Next year I’ll nail it

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The final day of the Electric Daisy Carnival at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on June 27, 2011.
Nikki Villoria

Taking the Electric Daisy Carnival-promoted AWG shuttle to the Speedway turned out to be a great idea: no lines, no fuss and a 40-minute ride each way. (Except that I paid $60 to do it, then found out media were invited to ride the shuttles for free.)

While waiting for my transportation I chatted with a few fellow EDC-goers ... and soon learned that I was speaking to Venus D-Lite, a drag queen from RuPaul’s Drag Race on the Logo Network. Random? Definitely. Awesome? You bet! Drag Race is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I knew then that this night was going to be good.

And with my music entertainment provided by Paul Oakenfold, Avicii, Ferry Corsten, Infected Mushroom and Swedish House Mafia, it certainly proved to be. The festival’s closing night provided me with more near-sensory overload, from which I now give you 10 final thoughts:

•I really have to invest in some gold lamé boxer-briefs and a pair of neon suspenders before next June. This seemed to be the unofficial male raver uniform, and I will not be outdone by stretched-out fishnets and tutus again. Bring it next year, ladies!

•Cheerleading, meet electronic dance music; EDM, meet cheerleading. Oakenfold clearly knows that nothing says house music quite like a hurkey. Kinetic Field’s stage looked like a scene from Bring It On during the Perfecto creator’s set.

Electric Daisy Carnival Sunday Night

•During Ferry Corsten’s set at Circuit Grounds I realized that Weekly editor Spencer Patterson was right: gravel was not meant for dancing.

•I’m fairly certain it was Afrojack I saw attempting to drive a golf cart full of kandi kids backstage behind Neon Garden. Let’s just say that he drives beats better than vehicles.

•The sea of people at Kinetic Field for Swedish House Mafia’s set was overwhelming. By the time they dropped their latest club hit, “Miami 2 Ibiza,” it had grown to well beyond the 40,000 Insomniac said it could hold. Two words: nucking futs.

•It’s crazy how small our world is. On Saturday I had only been at the Speedway for a half hour before bumping into a former coworker. Sunday was equally weird, as I eyed my current editor almost immediately among the massive, overflowing crowd that had gathered at Cosmic Meadow for Infected Mushroom.

•Speaking of Infected Mushroom, their set came with quite the array of aromas, even the packed crowd’s B.O. and deodorants couldn’t mask the skunky smell of weed hanging in the air.

•I have to say it, ending my EDC experience without riding a single carnival ride was an epic failure on my part. But I guess that means I have yet another great excuse to return next year, right?

•A noob no longer, I simply must acquire kandi bracelets sometime in the next 12 months.

•Why all the bandanas? And around the face? And why do I smell Vicks VapoRub? Ohhhhhhhhh ...

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