EDC Las Vegas 2014 – What Pasquale Did Right

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EDC Las Vegas 2014 – What Pasquale Did Right

With abnormally high wind gusts blowing through the Nevada desert a week before the 2014 chapter of EDC Las Vegas, it felt as though the dance gods were sending an omen for the upcoming massive. Luckily this year it was, for the most part, a good omen that played out to be a successful and larger than ever installment of Insomniac’s Electric Daisy Carnival put on by festival guru Pasquale Rotella.

While setting a milestone record for North America’s largest stage and logistically improving parking to reduce incoming traffic times from hours to merely 45 minutes, it was a massive improvement from the seemingly underprepared EDC of 2012. Although 45 minutes in traffic may seem like a bit of a wait, there are 120,000 people all hitting the road around the same time in which a four-lane highway accounts for the widest section of only part of the drive. The army of helicopters flying artists through the moonlit desert back-drop like some kind of invasion you would see in a Hollywood war film is a surreal distraction in itself. Along with the chanting of EDC, window high-fives, and mosaic car-art that fuels the build-up to arrival, it’s probably one of the best traffic jams you could ever sit (or pre-game) through.

Besides the tragic loss of two of our own in the dance family, there was an abundance of EMT’s and medical staff on-site for the event. The number of calls and transports were only a fraction of one percent of the 402,000 estimated festival attendees. The fact that you could be stone-sober and get heatstroke showed only 25 hospitalizations as a feat in its self; although of course zero is the objective for all events. Mainstream media always tends to use dance music tragedies and medical treatment numbers as a scapegoat for no apparent reason. It seems to be a conscious decision in ignorant bias of mainstream media to forget coverage of the rock, rap and whatever else genre concerts that often have the same amount or more cases of hospitalizations from worse things than over-heating or not-so-smart decisions. In fact, there was not one case of a violence related arrest that is almost boozily guaranteed at almost every other massive event of most other genres.

As far as the necessities of food, water and adult beverages go there was a plentiful abundance of stands spread throughout the massive grounds. With lines being a shorter wait than you and your crew’s journey from a set through the sea of fellow festival goers, it was a logistical success. Even more impressive was the amount of free water stations refilling water bottles with efficiency at about 30 seconds to a two minute wait at most.

One of the only things that miserably failed and could have been improved on this year was technically not fully Insomniac’s promise. The supposed free Wi-Fi by Snapchat was like trying to connect to a wireless modem attached a remote control helicopter being flown by a child who hasn’t learned how to walk yet. In short, it was impossible to connect, and when you did connect it was too overloaded, resulting in the frustration of being disconnected minutes later. As far as false advertising goes, Snapchat needs to step it up if they want to live up to their word.

The only major improvement that could be worked on was directing traffic out of the event come sunrise. With stand-still waits as brutal as an hour and a half or more, it was all push and shove without any type of car-flow control until exit from the massive parking lot. However, in all reality, the ability to get cars out smoother would be a bit more difficult than getting them in. Even a bit of traffic flow planning to stem the free-for-all exit would cut down on the only place where any aggressive behavior was shown throughout the weekend.

The amount of bathrooms was sufficient and decently spread out enough for a short walk and came with a primarily short wait upon arrival. Being forced to hold your bladder for an extra minute can’t be complained about when staying hydrated is a top priority for the tens of thousands dancing their hearts out in the middle of the desert.

As far anything malfunctioning besides Snapchat’s “free wireless” there weren’t any major problems within the festival worth complaining over. There were a massive amount of fireworks going off throughout all three nights and flames nearly as tall as two-story buildings on stages for drops and other shenanigans. It was glad to note that a priority to detail was put into making sure no one was colorfully obliterated by a stray exploding projectile or melted by a two-story flamethrower at any given drop.

The police presence was extremely polite and gave off a more protective than confronting vibe. Many officers were glad to take pictures and were all smiles and high-fives both on festival grounds and outside in the parking lots. Surely by the looks on some of their faces it seemed they would rather be dancing out in the crowd than on shift. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if they were working a certain stage on purpose one night or the other.

All in all, EDC Las Vegas 2014 showed to be better organized and logistically thought-out than any other to date. Besides Snapchat’s flop and the exit traffic, there were only good vibes and impressive improvements to come out of this year’s festival. The stage displays, lights, fireworks and other additions that make EDC unique were an exceptional display of Pasquale’s genius in creating the massive. With the shear amount of artists and new track releases all together in a most epic atmosphere, the festival continues to separate itself as one that cannot be missed. Start planning for next year, so long as you can handle the inexplicable experience of dancing alongside tens of thousands of fellow dance fans all night under the Electric Sky of EDC Las Vegas.

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