Last year my son attended EDC 2015. On his return when I picked him up from the airport he was so moved that tears came to his eyes. About one week later he gave me a Father’s Day present. He said next year I’m taking you to EDC in Las Vegas for Father’s Day as my gift to you. I agreed but had no idea what that meant.

What is EDC?

The Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) just celebrated its 20th anniversary as arguably the largest Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival in the world. There may be other larger music festivals, but none that have over 135,000 attendees per night for three (plus) nights with more than five stages.

EDC has two wedding chapels that are fully booked for people to get married, Las Vegas style. Your friends can all join in the ceremony intertwined with the world’s greatest party to follow. There are other activities including carnival rides and full service bars for the beverage of your choice.

the friends of my son getting married under the electric sky

What sets EDC apart is that it is an epic event entirely oriented around the experience of the attendee and less so the artists. EDC provides a fun and safe environment where people can enjoy themselves and enjoy the clan they come with. I will describe what I mean by epic later.

It’s clever that the name Carnival is in the name of the event. The weekend definitely reminds me of an authentic South American Carnival, like in Brazil or in Trinidad and Tobago — both known for the real thing. Much like Mardi Gras, who’s roots are in Carnival, you generally hang out and party with your krewe (the New Orleans term) and attend parades with them. In New Orleans the saying on Burbon Street is “show us your t*ts for beads”, but at EDC (and most raves for that matter) the group is guided universally by four words, “Peace, Love, Unity and Respect” (PLUR). Instead of beads, people trade kandi (braclets made from beads).

Kandi my son made for me.

Respect flows through the EDC crowd through a high level of diversity all of the attendees. All colors of skin, thin or fat, straight or gay, transgendered, young or old; all are welcome. The general mindset is to give small gifts to random people, rather than expect something in return for everything. It’s not an act, it’s how it really is; a mindset we can all use in society. I received my first kandi bracelet that says, “PLURFECT”, from a young woman who asked to take a picture with me.

Each stage has a DJ playing various kinds of music. Generally the music is high-energy dance music, however each DJ has their own style. There are DJs like Above and Beyond who play more jazzy kinds of mixes, some head banger music that is incoherent, and DJs like Zedd who plays more popular mixes — songs that most people recognize. It was Zedd who played “We’re Beautiful Now” where I saw that nobody cares how you dance and I danced like no one was watching.

About Me

Me with my son Adam

So maybe you want to know more about me. I am a 55 year old who grew up in a conservative family with strong European values. That meant we could drink all we wanted, as long as we drank at home. Although I was an average American guy, I was socially liberal but generally conservative — I still think that Ronald Reagan was the best president this country has ever had, followed by Bill Clinton. Although there was weed around us all the time, it was not what drove our culture. A concert would cost us about $17 and there would be the headliner, maybe with an opening act. I remember when Foreigner played at a local venue and asked $20 for tickets, there was an uproar. When the venue lights dimmed, the place filled with the smoke from weed. Some people got drunk, other did cocaine, and a very few would drop acid. Generally the venues were a safe place to enjoy the performing arts.

Back to EDC, as a 55 year old, I calculated that I was in the 0.0001 percentile. Put another way, there was a 99.999% chance that you would not find someone older than me at the event. That said, I ran into a couple in their 60’s, however they were there to watch their son perform. According to an unscientific poll on Reddit, the average age at EDC is 28 with a range of 18 to 45.

But age makes no difference at EDC. You are best to be yourself and dress as comfortably as possible. You will see people in golf shorts, people in no shorts (like tight swim pants that swim competitors wear), women with only pasties on top (although most of them shouldn’t have) and people who really want to stand out. At least 10% of the attendees were in costume ranging from princesses, to killer bees. On the last night I wore a tank top that said “Rave to the Grave” and I’m surprised at how many attractive girls wanted to take their picture with me because they thought the shirt was funny.

EDC is larger than life, a great value, has beautiful people and is safe!

As I said before, EDC is epic and by that I mean that it is an event that is larger than anything you will see or have seen. There are five main stages and every one of them by themselves is awe inspiring. Larger than any stage at a Vegas production, or even in a stadium. These stages are each a technological wonder that brings all of your senses alive. Visually there are video screens, lights, lasers, fog, confetti and even water features that are mini versions of what is at the Bellagio hotel. Sound wise they have the best sound systems available. One stage is entirely about the Bass (no treble), at the appropriately named “Bass Pod”.

bass pod

Activating more senses, there are stages with water cannons that blast rain into the crowd to cool the summer heat. There are also pyrotechnics better than anything Disney could put on. At one point in the grand finale the entire sky was lit with sparkles from the fireworks. Not a gap could be seen. During the shows they would have several flames burst out from the perimeter that shot at least 50 feet into the air. You would feel the heat on your skin as if you were in the sun.

Gloving

When I arrived my son took me to a place in the Excalibur hotel where you could purchase EDC swag. In addition to selling things, there was an area where the hard core EDC people were preparing by showing off their latest costume or perhaps gloving. Gloving is an experience like no other. Basically you have cotton cloves with LEDs at the fingertips. The LEDs naturally have a high frequency flicker, so if you move them quickly they appear to flicker, as well as change colors. It’s here that I experienced my first glove show from a woman named Chaz. The dark haired woman was moving her fingers in front of my eyes in patterns that made were so fluid and artistic. It was not only cool, I was smiling from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat. Later I learned from another person Kale (a microbiologist) who was good at gloving that there is an entire industry around gloving that include programmable LEDs with accelerometers that do all sorts of things. I received a show from him the next night.

The reason the gloving inspired me is that my son took it up over a year ago and I never understood it, but now I do. That said, gloves are prohibited from EDC, because in the past it was used as a way to stimulate the senses for people who were taking Molly, a hallucinogenic that makes you appreciate bright and neon objects. From my experience much less than 10% of the people there are doing drugs, but more importantly, the stage shows are a much better way to get the bright light stimulation, so the connotation of gloving and drugs may still be there, but it’s not really correct. My son doesn’t do drugs (really, he doesn’t) and drinks really light, but he loves gloving.

Beautiful People

Chaz, me and my son.

Over the next two nights we encountered so many nice people and incredible costumes. The first night my son took me to a central area where there is Wi-Fi. He sat me next to a gorgeous woman in her early 20’s. Blond haired wearing a tasteful themed costume that had her wearing a fluffy tail that fell almost to the ground. After a few minutes it dawned on me that this was Chaz (from the previous day when she was showing me her gloving skills). On the last night she had yet another stunning costume on. Although Chaz is one of a kind, a large group of people put thoughtful creativity into their annual EDC costumes.

It cost how much?

What does all of this production cost? I’m not sure, but a ticket to the event is about $450 plus transportation which is about $50 round trip per day. So for $600 you can enjoy the three day event. My son bought me VIP tickets, which cost an extra $250. Although you don’t need to purchase them to get the experience, I’d probably do it again with VIP tickets — there is nothing worth $250 for the extra so don’t be compelled to do it. So, you think that’s expensive? Back in my day, the late 70’s, that two hour concert cost me $20. If we assume 7% inflation rate (it was much more before Ronald Reagan) on entertainment, that ticket would now cost more than $100 in today’s dollars. Now, add that you have not two hours, but 12 hours of non-stop entertainment on five main stages then you can easily justify $200 per night. Since this is a three day event, you are at $600 equivalent to my Foreigner concert in the 70’s. So at $450 this is a grand bargain. Disneyland costs $100 per day, but this is much more epic.

EDC main stage. each year its different.

Finally, I really felt safe the entire event. There is a strong law enforcement on the perimeter and I’m guessing some undercover cops looking for dealers, however you go through a TSA like check including a pat down before you enter. There is a large staff of medics in multiple locations to take care of any ailment, but they mainly deal with dehydration from the desert heat and low humidity. They give them an IV and then send them on their way. There are professional water stations set up all over for people to fill their bottles or camel packs. In a city of 130,000 you would expect more than one death per day. However over the three days there were no deaths, and only 140 arrests. If only Seattle were that docile.

Would I do this again? Hell yes, but I’d like to find some 45 year olds (and older) that would form a group with me so we could be our own krewe. We could call ourselves the EDC Seniors, or SDR for Seniors Doing it Right. I’d also like to attend raves where I live, but my age may be a bigger issue there. I don’t believe that age should be a factor and my generation is missing out on a great way to party.

Final Thoughts

If my experience is a glimpse into society following my generation, this event has given be hope that society will be better than it currently is. Although this is an organized event that requires immense logistical coordination, the young people who attend know how to interact respectfully in a way that hopefully represents our future society. Regardless, in the words of Zedd’s song, “We’re Beautiful Now”.