For those not so initiated to the letters, EDC stands for the Electric Daisy Carnival. This is an annual three-night electronic dance music festival, with its flagship event held right here in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Attracting 150,000 people a night. Adding about $350 million to the local economy over those three days.
The Trivia
Just for sake of EDC trivia: The carnival began in California in 1997 as a one nite event. Quickly growing to a multi-day event and outgrowing its California base as well as dealing with the locals having problems with the crowds. Like I always say, Vegas knows how to do events. For us, 100,000 people for one event is not that big of a deal. So they moved it here in 2011. There are rumors that it may move from the speedway to the domed stadium in 2021.
The event is owned by a company called Insomniac and that is owned by Pasquala Rotella. He married Hugh Hefner’s ex-flame and Las Vegas PeepShow darling Holly Madison in 2013.
Holly Madison. The darling of the Las Vegas Strip and the late Hugh Hefner has been out of sight for the last couple of years, since marrying the founder of Insomniac and starting a family. They recently divorced after 5 years of marriage.
EDC 2019 covered over 1,200 acres of land. Almost the entire Las Vegas Motor Speedway grounds including parking lots.
All those little dots you are seeing in this image are part of “Camp EDC” its called “Moon Glow SiftPod camping“. This is camping in the age of high tech and environmental awareness. That is the speedway in the back. I told you this was a big event!
Trivia: There were more than 2,000 hotel rooms booked for EDC staff and crew. There were 3,000 EDC staff members in attendance. As well as over 300 Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officers. A lot of people to handle a lot of people.
EDC at Night
Here is what it looked like at night. 8 stages, carnival rides, cooling areas, special event tents, and merchandise trailers.
Yes, it was a Vegas event, but they do a good job of keeping it somewhat family friendly as far what people could wear and what had to be covered. You had to be 18 years of age or over to attend. And the “over” part went way over that age. More than I expected to see at the shuttle locations.
All those people crowding into the 8 stages to watch someone play with an oversized iPod attached to fog and light machines.. The carnival opened at 7pm and they closed the gates at 5am…
Eight Stages of Entertainment
This is one of the headliners of the event. Deadmau5 (Disney is not pleased). You really don’t want to know what he gets paid to wear that headpiece and play with his iPod each night. You could pay off your mortgage as well as your neighbor’s mortgage plus have money left over, for what he got paid for just one night… Seriously…
You had eight stages of “live” entertainment. Stage names like “Kinetic Feild” , Cosmic Meadow, Circut Grounds, Neon Garden”.
Even if it was out at the Speedway, it’s still considered a “Vegas” event and you cant have a Vegas musical event without some sexy dancers to entertain the already entertained crowd!
See, the naughty bits are covered! Don’t you love rechargeable battery packs??
Transportation Options for EDC 2019
As always, Las Vegas knows how to move large crowds of people around. EDC is no different. You could drive out there and get stuck in freeway traffic. Take an Uber and save some frustration. They even had EDC shuttles as well as “premium” shuttles that avoided all the traffic and drove through Nellis Air Force Base for your grand entrance! Or you could just say “F-It” and break the bank (if you haven’t already done so) and hop a ride on a Maverick Helicopter express ($850 round trip).
All in all, this was a great year. It was earlier than normal and only suffered a few minor glitches due to high winds. The earlier start dates helped, as there were no heat-related injuries. Now its time to plan for 2020!
Did I get it all? I hope this fed your EDC 2019 desires. Thank you as always to our friend Tom Donoghue who provided the photos.
Leave me your comments or questions below!
EDC 2020 Las Vegas –
No dates and no locations have been announced yet for EDC 2020 in Las Vegas.
Keep watch on The Vegas Tourist Social Media accounts for the updates
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