[Photos & Review] EDC Colorado June 11 2011 – Arapahoe County Fairgrounds
EDC, aka The Electric Daisy Carnival, is one of the largest electronic music festivals in North America and features showcases with full scale carnival rides in several different states across the U.S. including Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Florida. Last year the massive was held at Exposition Park in LA and a 15 year old girl died from a suspected overdose. Insomniac Events has since partnered with IAG (Investigative Advisory Group) to expand their safety protocols. One of the many new policy changes include a mandatory 18+ only qualification for entrance into the madhouse. The 18+ requirement has definitely been a giant, positive, step forward for the festival’s overall look and community. Let’s be honest, music festivals and concerts in general are drug havens, not the best environment for a 16 year old. I’m sure a lot of people would agree that the crowd etiquette has improved greatly from previous years, and now that I look back on it I don’t recall seeing any gang fights outside the venue last night. Big ups to Insomniac for recognizing and effectively addressing a serious issue; I’m sure the new age requirements hurt them financially but it definitely encouraged an older crowd to come out and show their support for some of their favorite artists.
On another note, this year’s show definitely catered to the BASS lovers of Colorado. The “Bass Pod” was held in the main room and hosted Dubstep and Drum & Bass artists Numbernin6, Downlink, Sigma, 12th Planet, Noisia, and Datsik. 12th Planet seemed to be having a ton of fun while he slammed vodka and dropped tons of some of the biggest tunes of the year including Bass Cannon and the Skrillex remix of Sexy Lady. He went crowd surfing like 3 times and towards the end of his set he got on the mic and, in the nerdiest voice he could make, asked everybody: “In honor of Skrillex, would all the gentlemen, respectfully, place the ladies on their shoulders.”
Next up was Noisia who I’ve been wanting to see for the longest time in Colorado, although it was only two thirds of the group, they definitely delivered one of the most unique and grimiest sets of the night. The first part of their set consisted of mostly DnB and I was pleasantly surprised when they smoothly transitioned into some Electro. Towards the end of their set one member got on the microphone to hype up the crowd claiming they “heard rumors that Colorado is crazy for this thing called dubstep…” and the crowd went nuts as they dropped in the 70 bpm goodness. I have to mention how intricate Noisia’s productions can be, their basslines and synths are so full and definitely have a unique sound that is very recognizable especially on a sound system as loud as the one they setup in the main room last night.
After Noisia, I went over to the “Circuit Grounds” stage to watch the first half of Z-Trip. As always his scratching was on point and the stage production was phenomenal with two giant Z’s on both sides of the stage made out of LED panels. Over a ten minute time span I heard him mix Rusko’s Hold On mashed up with DJ Khaled’s All I Do Is Win, Bassnectar’s Bass Head mashed up with Ludacris’ Get Out The Way, and M.I.A.’s Paper Planes. Everybody seemed to be having a great time as Z went all over the spectrum from Dubstep to Rock n Roll.
Shortly after, I returned to the “Bass Pod” only to hear Datsik playing the exact same Rusko Hold On vs. DJ Khaled’s All I Do Is Win mashup. Towards the last 30 minutes of his set we were blessed to hear some brand new tunes that he claimed were saved exclusively for EDC Colorado. Two of the tracks were ELECTRO! And it was damn good electro at that. His last song was a new production from himself and Doctor P and it was cut short because of the new 2am curfew.
Finally, I have to give a big up to Feed Me who absolutely blew me away with his production and mixing skills, his electro and dubstep is hyphy as hell and brings plenty of energy to the table. He was a great addition to this years line up.
Overall this was my favorite Electric Daisy Carnival over the last 3 years and although alcohol wasn’t allowed outside of the 21+ area, it felt much more like a concert this year instead of just another “rave.”
Photos by Scott Lentz:
Filed Under: Show Reviews
