This past weekend the Electric Daisy Carnival made its way to Illinois for the very first time. Taking over the Chicagoland Speedway Friday through Sunday and bringing in over 20,000 EDM fans, the EDC Chicago debut was a sound success. With 5 stages, 147 performers, and optional camping there was something for everyone at the Chicagoland Speedway this weekend.
Kinetic Field, EDC’s main stage, featured some of the biggest names in the game today. Closing out Friday night with the hardstyle legend Headhunterz, Saturday with Armin van Buuren who doesn’t even need an introduction, and Sunday with former Swedish House Mafia member Sebastian Ingrosso. The Circuit Grounds stage also boasted a star studded cast. Above and Beyond, Hardwell, Fedde Le Grand, Markus Schulz, and Dash Berlin were just a few of the talented artists featured here. The Bass Pod stage was where it was at for the dubstep and trap lovers where Run DMT, Nadastrom, Borgore, Mt. Eden, and Mimosa were favorites of the weekend. Friday at the Neon Garden stage was perfect for hardstyle fans, with sets by Lady Faith and Kutski laying down some serious foot stompers. Saturday and Sunday presented a more funky sound here with the likes of Michael Mayer, Cassy and Popof. The last stage, the Wide Awake Art Car, was the spot for the lesser known artists and several local Chicago producers. Despite this it was definitely worth checking out, the smallest of the stages it was still one of the most visually interesting.
Wide Awake Art Car
While speedway’s are a popular location for Insomniac Events, EDC Chicago only took up a relatively small portion of the Chicagoland Speedway unlike EDC Las Vegas where you can walk around the entire track of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Another noticeable difference was the absence of a ferris wheel, the most standard of carnival rides. There were however multiple other classic carnival rides such as the rocking pirate ship, the spinning swings, and bumper cars. Merchandise stands were rather sparse, the majority of stands being either food or beverage related. On a note of constructive criticism I found it confusing that during a festival with a 50% chance of rain on both Saturday and Sunday there were hardly any places for attendees to take shelter from the rain and there was only one stand selling any time of rain gear. This factor clearly impacted attendance on both Saturday and Sunday, with huge names such as Armin Van Buuren and Tiesto drawing some of the smallest festival crowds I have ever seen.
The “newness” of EDC Chicago was also reflected in the ticketing processes. While I heard little about problems with using the online services to purchase tickets, I spoke with many people who encountered the same problem once reaching the gates of the festival. For those people who purchased tickets online 1-2 days before the festival, picking their tickets up at will-call was the only option. Upon arriving at the gates many people in this situation found that EDC had not yet completed the transactions with their banks, leaving the charge pending despite the fact that they had sent the purchasers conformation emails saying their transactions had gone through. I found this situation very surprising for an Insomniac event and rather inexcusable. Hopefully next year ticket purchasing will go more smoothly for everyone.
Noise was also an issue at EDC Chicago. After Friday night the sound of each stage was lowered substantially due to noise complaints from the surrounding residential areas. While this disappointed many attendees it was undoubtedly better for the health and safety of their ears; a silver lining in every cloud, after all.
Despite the rain, cold temperatures, ticketing glitches, and ambitious bass EDC Chicago held up the name of Insomniac Events and was undoubtedly a memorable experience for all that attended. Some full set recordings from EDC Chicago can be listened to here.
-Margaret Main