Today on Instagram, Insomniac CEO Pasquale Rotella confirmed rumors that the windy city would be getting its own Electric Daisy Carnival this summer. He posted the above picture on his account with the following message: New stop on road to @EDC_LasVegas! Chicago get ready! Date & venue out 1/16/13! NY announce coming in Jan!

Chicago would mark the 5th city slated to have an EDC festival in 2013. The question I would pose though, is do we really need 5 EDC’s here in the US (and Puerto Rico)? Attendees of last year’s EDC New York festival expressed concern that the festival felt very “thrown together,” and that things were not given the same attention to detail as the Las Vegas event. The fact that they are expanding the EDC brand even further worries me that the same will occur in Chicago. I do not think it is inherently bad that Insomniac is trying to throw events in more areas of the US, but I do not agree with the way in which they are doing so. They are just taking the flagship festival, EDC Vegas, sizing it down a bit, and calling it a new festival. If they already are going through all the effort of planning a new festival in a new city, why not go the extra mile and create a whole new experience for the fans? Fans are paying hundreds of dollars for tickets and for what? The same old festival experience? Maybe I have just been to too many Insomniac festivals and am jaded, but I think they should do something new that no one has seen before. They need to take risks and prove that they truly are the best event promoter in the world, not just play it safe with the same old tested and tried formula. I know they have the resources to do so, so why not revolutionize the festival experience instead of making it the same for everyone? Pasquale said earlier this year something to the effect of him wanting to make their festivals about the overall experience and music rather than the headliners, but so far I really haven’t seen that happen. Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents. Check back next month for more information after the official announcements.

-DD