Back again at Orlando’s historic Tinker Field, EDC Orlando celebrated its 8th anniversary this past weekend with yet another rich lineup and upgrades to an already world-class production setup.
CHECK OUT OUR SLIDESHOW FROM EDC ORLANDO
On Friday, while the Bay Area was being relieved with a cold front, temperatures in Orlando remained muggy and humid for most of the day as the festival’s circuitGROUNDS stage hosted heavy hitters Boogie T, Space Jesus, Ganja White Night and Bassnectar for its Bass Rush-themed first night.
Early on, however, it appeared as if the stage itself wasn’t quite ready to deal with these harder acts. Nola’s own Boogie T and Space Jesus’ sets were interrupted several times as the speaker system kept cutting in and out when the music would hit higher volumes.
The issue would seemingly be resolved by lowering the sound at the festival’s most immersive stage, but that would only give way for more issues stemming from the LED board later on. Headliner Bassnectar made his way to the stage at 11p.m. Friday night, although many of his devout following were hunkered down by the rail for most of the day.
Unlike the festival’s main stage kineticFIELD — which offers a massive artistic stage design — circuitGROUNDS is surrounded on all sides by speakers, LEDs and other light fixtures to bombard the senses from all sides.
This played well into the hands of the notoriously raucous Bassnectar, who delivered a EDC-friendly set featuring a heavy supply of hardstyle and even big room samples. Early on in his set, however, the left side of the LED board behind him cut out entirely.
While this was another issue that was quickly fixed by organizers after a few songs, technical difficulties of a larger scale would mar day two as well.
Going into the weekend, it was Saturday’s lineup that concerned many fans due to scheduling conflicts between popular acts Illenium and Alison Wonderland.
These concerns were apparently heard, as both the fest and Alison took to Twitter late Friday to announce that they had moved up her set time to 8:15 p.m. to accommodate for the fans still wanting to see Illenium at 9:30 p.m.
This feel-good moment was almost foiled entirely, however, as kineticFIELDS’ towering stage setup would catch fire just an hour before.
Kinetic kicked off the day without a hitch, hosting big-name, older acts Nervo and Tiesto, the latter of which delivered a spirited sunset set amidst cloudy skies. Following Tiesto, hardstyle/dub act Kayzo took the stage, and proved that he might just be too much for even EDC’s production. Later in the day winds began to pick up, and as Kayzo threw down behind the booth the festival's pyro guns essentially became weaponized, taking aim and catching fire to one of the stages’ spires.
This forced the festival to shut down the area as their team worked with the Orlando Fire Department to secure the stage and safety of festivalgoers, casting doubts as to whether Wonderland’s 8:15 p.m. set would still go on.
These fears were short-lived, however, as 10 minutes prior the Aussie producer tweeted out that her set would go on as planned to the delight of many, as it would turn out to be one of the best of the weekend.
Early on it appeared organizers had shut off the pyro entirely to prevent any further issues, but while playing her remix of the Dua Lipa tune “No Rules” mid-set, the flames would roar back to life, sparking the crowd into one of its loudest uproars of the weekend.
With her set off the itinerary and Vini Vici to follow, most younger fans trekked back to the circuitGROUNDS stage in time for Denver's Illenium.
Joined on stage by four drummers in addition to a guitarist, Denver’s Nicholas Miller debuted his Awake 2.0 show to Orlando, a second live rendition of his 2017 album by the same name.
Jostling for position with Alison’s equally impressive set, Miller blew fans away with his tasteful mix of ballad-driven, emotional material and hardstyle drops.
In addition to playing updated remixes of his own catalog, the 27-year-old also debuted a remix of the Halsey track “Without Me:”
Despite technical difficulties that could’ve derailed any other festival’s momentum, EDC Orlando persevered with its seemingly infinite options to further immerse oneself into its neon world. Walking around the venue, patrons were constantly surrounded by costumed performers, some twirling butterfly wings as others walked on stilts, all wearing smiles ready to greet every passerby. Hanging above walkways or affixed in trees were numerous art installations and light fixtures, which in addition to its numerous theme-park rides gave the grounds the "electric" glow it’s known for.
The scene has come a long way in the last decade or so, as electronic music continues to climb in relevance and chart domination. What’s remained the same, however, is the genre and industry’s place in bringing people together and promoting “peace, love, unity and respect.”
Whereas being jammed in with thousands of people in public is typically an exhausting, unfriendly affair, walking amongst the masses at EDC this weekend, one rarely felt unwelcome or isolated, and that’s what this community is all about.
People continue to squabble over the increasingly antiquated argument over electronic music’s artistic merit, but while others bicker the genre continues to evolve in giving fans one of the top music experiences in the world.
This article appears in Nov 8-15, 2018.