You don’t need us to tell you that the economy sucks. Music festivals all over the world and the U.S. (including Langerado) have been canceled, and many have been forced to get extremely creative (layaway plans, deep advance discounts, iPhone apps, etc.) in order to maintain interest among cash-strapped music fans. At a time when events are being canceled or scaled back, Insomniac, which promotes SoCal’s Electric Daisy Carnival, is expanding from a one- to two-day event for the first time. Billing itself at North America’s largest electronic music gathering, EDC, which will take place June 26-27th at Memorial Coliseum and Exposition Park in L.A., is expecting to draw 100,000 attendees (last year’s event drew 65,000 people).
“Last year we had all the production set up on Friday and were completely ready for the event,” explains Insomniac Events’ Pasquale Rotella. “Many of the artists were in town, guests and attendees were also already in the area and looking for something to do. We figured, why not do two days and extend the festival over the whole weekend?”
Despite the economic downturn, Rotella is confident that tickets—which, incidentally, go on sale on April 21st—will sell business as usual since EDC has become a SoCal institution for fans of dance music.
“We are somewhat more protected than many of the other larger festivals. We like to think that all of these unique factors result in EDC being one of the more recession-proof festivals in America.”
“We have a loyal following, many of whom travel from far away and we really want to maximize the enjoyment that they get out of the event,” says Rotella. “In addition, EDC is a very unique festival as we are in the middle of one of the largest urban areas in America.This means hotel prices are generally lower, access is convenient and accommodations more varied. On top of that people don’t have to travel far if they are coming from Southern California so travel expenses are minimal. Finally, our ticket prices are very reasonable which contributes to our overall accessibility. So, in the current economy, we are somewhat more protected than many of the other larger festivals. We like to think that all of these unique factors result in EDC being one of the more recession-proof festivals in America.”
With the likes of Paul Oakenfold, ATB, Eddie Halliwell and Boyz Noise on the first night’s bill, and Fatboy Slim, Paul van Dyk, David Guetta, Benny Benassi and Roger Sanchez topping the lineup for the second night’s bill, Rotella points to the array of top talent as the event’s main selling point.
“I am especially excited about The Crystal Method live; they haven’t played live for quite some time, and they have a new album dropping,” he says. “Sander van Doorn is also going to be great; he has yet to play a large festival in our market. I’m also a huge fan of Fedde Le Grand, who rocked our last festival in March, and we had to get him again. Anyone who missed him now has the chance to see him play at EDC.”
Check Electric Daisyland’s website for the full lineup.