Electric Daisy Carnival (Day Two) – Photo Gallery & Review

Day 2 of the Electric Daisy Carnival. Again, just like the start of day one, the crowds are massive, the girls and boys are scantily clad, and I’m kicking around plastic bottles as I run around like a mad person because I need to catch me some Groove Armada before their set is over. Battling your way through a reported crowd of 100,000 was not gonna happen very quickly, and along the way I nearly clocked a frat boy type for running into me with nary an apology. But what I wanted to do the frat boy was handled for me as I watched one of the security guards shove him, hard, and take his shirt off to commence pumbling. The other security guards pulled him off before I could get my wish for jihad on frats, but my attention quickly turned back to the killer set on the stage by Groove Armada. Say what you will about their new album, they delivered one of the best sets of the weekend. They quickly broke into a mix of Prince’s “Controversy” before closing with “Superstylin’,” quite possibly the song I would pick if I were a superhero in need of a theme song.

DJ Sasha was next up at the circuitGROUNDS stage and I had to yawn just a bit after such a pumped up set from Groove Armada. I never felt like the music elevated anywhere, like waiting and waiting for climax but just not feeling it. I got bored and headed for the neonGARDEN stage, where I started following the security guards to see what massive sh*t they were breaking up. Plenty of stuff went down over the weekend, and reportly over 200 people went to the hospital. But c’mon, whos’ really surprised?

Back around to the bassPOD I caught some of DJ Friction and Dynamite MC’s set, the loudest thing I’ve ever experienced — I could feel my purse time travel, let alone my skin vibrating from the drum and bass. It was clear this guy deserved a bigger stage and bigger hype. I’ve gotta say, I’m a convert. I was backed up against the wall, but it was clear the audience was enthralled.

There’s too much stuff going on at the EDC to catch everything. I had to wind down the night by catching Fedde Le Grand back at the circuitGROUNDS stage. As I told my boyfriend in my frantic text to him meet up later than we planned, “I’msorrybutitfuckingrocks and I can’t leave until it’s over.” He came out with“Babylon” by Congorock and the acres of fans went nuts, and mixed into “Star 69” by Fatboy Slim and he even got the entire press pit, snobby little bitches they are, moving despite themselves. The big finish with elements of his mega hit “Put Your Hands up For Detroit” was enough to make me declare him king of the EDC and figure, hey, in this moment, it’s like we’re all from Detroit.

Way to go, Electric Daisy Carnival, somehow you managed to blow my freakin’ mind. Maybe it was just the little people dressed as flying monkeys, but kudos to you. I’ve been to a lot of festivals in my day, but never one quite like this. Keep the music alive, and maybe next time, try to do something about that $60 parking rate.

Words: Sara Bond

Photos: Alex King