Last week was truly the end of an era; we lost our King of Pop, Michael Jackson. While many mourned (and are still mourning) the loss, a lot of us chose to celebrate his life instead. We blasted MJ tunes in our cars, sent tweets to friends remembering classic Michael moments, bought “Beat It” jackets, bedazzled gloves, and sat glued to MTV watching his most prolific music videos in utter amazement. And in Los Angeles this past weekend, a proper tribute was also laid down at the 13th annual Electric Daisy Carnival, where some of the biggest DJ’s in the world dusted off their old Thriller and Off The Wall albums to honor MJ in front of crowds totaling almost 130,000 (making it the largest dance music event in the country, possibly even the world).
The LA Coliseum and its outskirts were pumped full of party-kids, ravers, hipsters, hippies and half-naked teenagers, all united under the same groove, wildin’ out on all the beats, treats and freaks that the festival had to offer. Five stages of smashing sound, lazer light shows, crazy carnival rides and a circus crew of characters (stilt walkers, flame-throwers, clowns, and all that nonsense) made for one hell of visual experience. There was so much going on all at once that it was easy to get overwhelmed, but that didn’t stop many of us from running back and forth, stage to stage to watch our favorite DJ’s get down.
And daaaaamn, did they deliver!! Some of the best acts from Friday included Thievery Corporation, who brought out Perry Farrell for their “Revolution Solution” collabo, and Paul Oakenfold, who remixed Red Hot Chili Peppers “Otherside” and had the entire stadium singing in unison. Boys Noize started his set with the creepy “Thriller” intro, which had the crowd going nuts since he was one of the only DJ’s Friday night to bring Michael back to life. On Saturday, though, every single DJ remixed the shit out of their favorite MJ track. DJ AM, Diplo, DJ Marky and Groove Armada all paid some serious dues to The King- enough to have me jumping onstage, dancing to “Can’t Stop Til You Get Enough” and “Rock with you” (yea, I did it and I’m not ashamed to admit it!!). Other highlights from Saturday include Major Lazer (aka Diplo and Switch), who brought out M.I.A. for a tight remix of “Paper Planes”, and Groove Armada remixing La Roux’s “For The Kill” which had us all going bananas. David Guetta played some dope pop/rock tracks that had my friends and I stuck in the stands, zoning out in awe of how insanely dope this scene has become. It’s amazing that ravers can now appreciate hearing Kings of Leon and LMFAO remixes just as much as the classic house and trance tracks from world-renowned DJ’s like Kaskade and Paul Van Dyk.
The underground dance scene seems to have really come full circle. All genres are now accepted and people who listen to dnb, house, electro, reggae, rock and trance are all welcome under one roof. 90,000 people came to EDC on Saturday (does this even take into account all of the wire-cutters, fence-jumpers and rioters that busted through the gates without tickets?!), making it the biggest single day festival in the country- far surpassing the ticket sales at Giant, Ultra, DMF and even Coachella. I can’t think of a better place to be this past weekend, celebrating Michael’s music and dancing all night long with my friends and favorite DJ’s. Los Angeles is properly holding it down and setting the standard for massives across the globe. All hail our new King of Rave, Electric Daisy!!
- Lara Kelley
