With the 22nd Electric Daisy Carnival drawing to a close Sunday night (May 20), the Las Vegas Motor Speedway welcomed over 400,000 “headliners” to party under the electric sky. With the mantra of “all are welcome here,” it may have been the most diverse crowd yet, with veteran and newbie attendees vibing together at all the stages. Billboard Dance wraps up the finale of the festivities.
10:38 p.m.: Roger Shah once again amazes with his talent as he goes live for his set at the Quantum Valley. On his Sunlounger alias track “Lost,” the DJ/producer raises his midi keyboard high to play the melodies, while the bass was so strong it could knock you off your feet near the stage. Towards the end of his set, Shah came out from the booth with his wireless 25-key controller to bring the Balearic beats closer to the adoring #TranceFamily.
10:55 p.m.: Cops on duty have learned the PLUR handshake for trading kandi and many were sporting the colorful pony bead bracelets gifted to them.
11:49 p.m.: The smaller Stereo Bloom stage presented by Bassrush Records was a new addition to EDC this year. Caspa dug deep in his set with the wonky beats and addressed the crowd when he kicked off his set with “My name’s Caspa and were going play some fucking U.K. dubstep now!” to resounding cheers.
12:38 a.m.: For those fans disappointed they couldn’t squeeze in to the intimate Neon Garden stage area for Eric Prydz’s Cirez D alias set on Friday night, he also played the Circuit Grounds on Sunday with the massive crowd extending far beyond the stage’s boundaries for a multilevel sonic journey. However, with all the high-quality production at EDC, it was a bummer that he couldn’t somehow bring his full 3D visual experience along as that’s yet to happen in Vegas. Nevertheless, when Prydz dropped his remix of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” accompanied by stained glass chapel visuals, it was almost a religious experience.
1:15 a.m.: For those in the know, it was impossible not to laugh at a totem with a picture of actress Catherine O’Hara as a distressed Moira from the hilarious sitcom Schitt’s Creek captioned with “Help me, I’m poor!” on it.
1:45 a.m.: Success! After multiple attempts over the weekend to get into the Neon Garden stage area, there was finally some room during Maceo Plex’s set, perhaps only made possible since it was the last night of the festival. He was followed by Loco Dice closing out the stage, though we would have happily kept getting down to techno despite fatigue to either of those talents.
2:15 a.m.: Over on the Wench Art Car, which became one of our favorite spots to discover unfamiliar talent, Whipped Cream was throwing down some dark and dirty trap mixed with reggaeton vocals, followed by a remix of KRS-One’s “Sound of Da Police” and a cover of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box.”
2:30 a.m.: Whipped Cream was followed by a familiar face around Vegas, DJ Tatiana, of whom we’ve been a fan of since she won the Tao Beach She-jay competition in 2010. A master of many genres and reading the crowd, she kept the bass flowing and amped up the BPMs to hold the crowd at the Wench Art Car.
2:55 a.m.: ICYMI in the recesses of the Carnival Square, vintage arcade games were tucked into corners for anyone to play. There was also Dance Dance Revolution where two hot nearly-nude twinks were killing it.
2:59 a.m.: If you’re ever fortunate enough to get near the stage during a Paul van Dyk set — or even better, standing behind him on the stage — you’ll be even more amazed at his talent an he constructs his set live in Abelton and plays keys as well. We were also digging the more psytrancey version of his song “I Don’t Deserve You” and of course everyone in the Quantum Valley went loco when he dropped his 1994 debut track “For an Angel” as well as “Home.”
3:04 a.m.: To the co-ed crew repping all of the Sailor Moon soldiers’ dresses: We salute you.
3:43 a.m.: Cop 1 going into the media center: “I want more kandi!” Cop 2: “Naw, I’m okay with that.”
3:53 a.m.: Shutting down the Circuit Grounds, DJ Mustard drops a remix of Deadmau5’s “Ghosts N Stuff.” He also brought out guests Lil Jon, Ty Dolla $ign, YG and Nick Jonas.
4:14 a.m.: Trouble closed out the Wench Art Car with blistering drum ‘n’ bass. One fan was so into her set that he was trying to record the whole thing on his cell phone as folks began to make the trek out of the Speedway, carrying the underground beats home in their memories.
