Celebrating its 30th year, the Electric Daisy Carnival returns to Las Vegas Motor Speedway May 15-17 with a starry lineup spanning generations of electronic dance music. EDC stalwarts like Tiësto, Zedd and Kaskade are joined by au courant names like Fisher, Peggy Gou and Subtronics, and bucket-list artists like the Prodigy, Above & Beyond and Underworld. Plus, y’know, the massive stages, the fairground rides, and thousands upon thousands of scantily dressed friends you haven’t met yet, anointed in feathers, glitter and body paint. The only way EDC could be any better is if its colorful spectacle, its captivating madness, were to somehow escape the oval of the Speedway and take to the streets of our fair city. Like, say, in the form of a parade.
The World Party Parade, coming to the north Strip on May 14 at 6 p.m., is a gift to the city that’s made EDC an institution, says Insomniac CEO Pasquale Rotella via an email statement. “While it’s happening during EDC Week, this is a standalone event designed to be accessible to the entire community, including those who won’t be attending the festival,” says the EDC impresario. “Making it open in this way allows more people to experience the energy, positivity and connection that this culture is all about.”
Running a circuitous route, from the Festival Grounds at Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara south to Resorts World and back again, the World Party Parade promises to bring more than 30 art cars, hundreds of performers (including the “Gneon Gnomes,” a group of tartan-and-checkers-garbed dancers who “run on neon lights and rhythm”), and “moving renegade sound systems,” transforming the north Strip into a feast of LED light and syncopated bass.
All ages are welcome, and the organizers stress that P.L.U.R. will be “strictly enforced.” That’s an acronym for “peace, love, unity and respect,” on the off chance you’re too old or too young ever to have attended a rave event. There’s a first time for everything, and if you’ve never attended EDC—only seen the rave kids out in the wilds, moving in packs—Rotella is excited for you to finally get a taste of what the festival serves every year.
“It’s always exciting to bring something new to life, but the World Party Parade feels deeply personal,” he says. “It’s unlike anything we’ve done before, and the idea of bringing people together to celebrate dance music culture right on the Las Vegas Strip through a music parade is something we’ve dreamed about ... We want to share this powerful culture with everyone, especially those experiencing it for the first time. There’s something truly transformative about it, and we believe it’s therapeutic, something that can genuinely benefit people when it becomes part of their lives.”
WORLD PARTY PARADE May 14, 6 p.m., free. Las Vegas Blvd. between Genting Blvd. and Sahara, worldpartyparade.com.
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