It was the London debut of the Electric Daisy Carnival so American ‘experience creators’ Insomniac needed to impress.
And in many ways impress they did.
Saturday morning Westfield shoppers were treated to the spectacle of 50,000 neon painted, scantily-clad ravers marching towards a serious party.
Spanning the width of the Olympic Park the site boasted backdrops of the Olympic Stadium, the Velodrome and the Olympic Gardens. What a different event this was going to be to Britain’s moment of sporting glory!
Walk- around entertainers included fantastical, theatrical characters, a traveling circus, infernal steam punk machines operated by maniacal crews and a creepy, giant black spider. There were also mysterious big green and blue things which no-one seemed understand…
No carnival would be complete without fun-fair rides which EDC had plenty of including a sort of elevator-merry-go-round that went high enough to make our little crew feel a little sick just looking at it. The same zip-wire that Boris Johnson got stuck on was also open taking a little under a minute to get a “wheeeeeee”ing raver from one side of the festival to the other.
Dotted about the site were fixed art installations the most impressive and of which was an enormous articulated electric daisy producing a dazzling light display slowly moving about and greeting faces across the main arena. Whilst this was impressive the overall number of installations was disappointing. Images on the EDC website of previous events in Las Vegas had painted a picture of an electric daisy-filled wonderland in my mind which EDC London didn’t really live up to. The decor in the three tent arenas could also have been more imaginative and more….more.
The only other disappointment was the VIP area – an isolated hilltop in the middle of the site with a lonely bar and a few deck chairs with, admittedly a very decent view, of a great party that you definitely didn’t feel a part of.
This is where the bad points end though. Each stage played host to its own style of music with absolutely walloping sound systems and mega-mean projection and lighting kit.
Early afternoon ravers at the Basspod were treated to seamless mixing from Jaguar Skills dropping new tunes every 30 seconds to projections and sound effects from Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. Great tunes with added comedy. Always a win.
At the end of the night Basspod came into its own with a dubstep and drum and bass set from Sub Focus sending shock waves to the back of the arena along with brilliantly timed light shows across two arc-shaped structures above the DJ.
The Kinetic Field hosted EDC’s main attractions with nothing but the cream of the house industry playing to an open arena of super- smiley ravers. The creative themes continued onto the stage with the creepy, black spider casting a neon-green web pulled out across the whole crowd as the sun started to go down. The crowd grew and so did the volume levels as the giants of Ibiza counted down with decent set lengths of an hour and a half from Steve Angello, AVICII and finally an almighty eruption of fireworks to accompany the triumphant King Tiesto himself.
Whilst the crowds were swarming and the booze was truly flowing even at the busiest parts of the arena the vibes were positive and happy. Drinks were shared, bumps were smiled at and hugged off. Every sound system delivered punchy, crystal clear beats. Every laser show was varied and interesting. These were definitely the high points of the festival.
The only other negative point to mention from an organisational perspective was a lack of assistance at Stratford station at the end of the festival. Clear direction to get back to London’s key areas by night buses was definitely missing. Large numbers of party- goers struggled to find their way back as trains and tubes stopped running.
Overall a positive London debut for Insomniac. Let’s just hope that in future we’ll be treated to the same mesmerizing, immersive environments that have been provided in Electric Daisy Carnival in the good ol’ US of A.
Smiley Dan
Published on 24 July 2013 by ukfestivaldan
