Event: EDC (Electronic Daisy Carnival)
Venue: Olympic Park, Stratford, London
Date: 20/07/13
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has now played host to EDC’s (Electronic Daisy Carnival) first visit to the UK after huge success and worldwide recognition in American cities such as Las Vegas and New York. Everything organised for this event was a first and this was by far the largest ‘day festival’ we have ever been to so it would be interesting to see how it would all come together. With the 2012 Las Vegas event, which took place over 3 days, drawing over 300,000+ people our expectations were definitely heightened.
Being a one day event, the only downside was that the campsite was mixed with ravers and regular campers so the campsite didn’t have those awesome festival vibes. Despite the 3 hours queues, once in it was definitely worth the wait. Upon entrance you are instantly hit by the vibrant EDM culture; with amazing things to see, such as massive self moving spiders, and huge ridiculously designed penny-farthings. Also, amazing things to do, such as crazy fair rides and even a 50 foot high zip line.
EDC was split into four stages, three indoor circus tents and one huge outside main stage. From the outset, the high standard of artists that were present was clear. Alesso gave a bouncing set on the Kinetic Field (main stage), which had a combination of smoke, fireworks and mesmerising light shows all day to keep the ten thousand strong crowd jumping. Up next on this stage was Steve Angello, one half of Swedish House Mafia, who drew one of the biggest crowds of the entire day. After the pure epicness of the Kinetic Field, the other three stages, Bass Pod, Neon Garden, and Cosmic Meadow offered some great diversity. In Bass Pod acts such as Nero, Flux Pavilion, Rusko, and Caspa really satisfied the base junkies. Throughout the day and night Neon Garden was a constant euphoric experience with acts like Chuckie, Fake Blood and Crookers drawing in very impressed crowds.
However, there were two acts that stood out for two very different reasons. The first was Avicii. His set epitomized what the current EDM scene is all about, with feel good tunes, bouncing bassline beats and epic drops. If you ever wondered what The Clash, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and his own hit ‘Levels’ had in common, his set at EDC was the unusual, unique, yet brilliant answer. The second set which stood out was Sub Focus. Now this was not so much to do with the quality of set and for anyone who has seen Sub Focus live before will know that is never a doubt, but it was his blatant ignorance of what everyone had already done and told him, that this was predominantly a dance and deep house festival. He turned up with the aim to deliver a filthy, brain-melting, dubstep set and he definitely achieved this.
We can definitely see EDC cementing a permanent place in the British ravers diary, but there will have to be some improvements with regards to the actual organisation of the festival as a event. The acts, music and entertainment were brilliant and would be hard to surpass by any festival anywhere in the world. EDC has arrived in Britain with a bang and with a few tweaks could become the epitome of the British EDM culture.
Reviewer: Nial Fox
7/10
