Things Heard and Seen in Vegas: EDC Vegas 2013 Recap

Posted on Jun 26, 2013 in Reviews

After 3 days of networking at Insomniac’s 2nd annual EDM Biz conference, it was time for one of the most anticipated EDCs of the year. After hearing that Mr. Rotella dropped over 35mil on production, we couldn’t wait to see what he had in store for all of us ‘headliners’. Check out our 3-day review below!

EDC Las Vegas Day 1

We were in awe the second we walked down the steps… Insomniac’s reported 35 million dollar investment was put to great use as there were 7 massive stages placed perfectly inside the speedway with 1 stage that rolled around the entire festival. With so much great talent set to play, we had to make tough decisions on who to hit up. Here were our top 3 of each day:

Tommy Trash @ Circuit Grounds

Tommy has to be one of the most fun DJ’s to watch when he’s on stage. We’ve been lucky enough to see him in multiple settings like pool parties, small clubs, and now massive festivals.. He never fails to disappoint. He dropped OG cuts like ‘The End’, His ‘Veldt’ Remix, and one of his new songs ‘Monkey in Love’. He went HARD.. don’t believe us? Check out his set for yourself.

Flosstradamus @ Basspod

After hearing some trashy big room, we wanted to turn up at the basspod with the dudes from Flosstradamus. The Basspod was one of the craziest stages we have ever seen.. and the addition of fire and lasers made it even more intense. Floss brought even more heat dropping unheard trap remixes of ‘Animals’, ‘Get Loose,’ and even a hard hitting remix of ‘Bugatti’ that made the crowd go wild. Floss was one of our favorite sets of the weekend.

Booka Shade @ Cosmic Meadow

After some hard hitters, we wanted to get more vibey, so we decided to hit up Booka Shade at the Cosmic Meadow sponsored by HARD. Although they usually impress with their live shows, this set was no afterthought. It had a great after hours vibe to it and we loved every minute of it.

EDC Las Vegas Day 2

We spent most of day 2 running around to different sets vs. staying at one stage for the entire one. The surprise guest closing out the Main Stage listed on the schedule ended up being Headhunterz, who was scheduled to play day 3 at the Basscon Stage as well. Is Hardstyle making a comeback? Pasquale believes so…

Avicii @ Kinetic Field

After all the negative reviews Avicii’s set received at UMF 2013 in Miami, we decided to form our own opinion and check him out. Personally, I felt his set was one of the best of the weekend. He started off with his new ‘bluegrassy’ style with ‘Wake Me Up’ and dropped hard hitting remixes like Avicii/Nicky Romero ‘I Could be the One (Nicktim Remix), and even some old-school cuts like ‘Blessed’ and ‘Seek Bromance’. Overall, we loved Avicii (and we’re not fanboys, we swear).

Major Lazer @ Cosmic Meadows

We spent a majority of the Major Lazer set in the bleachers to get the full view of the craziness Diplo orchestrates on a regular basis. Does Major Lazer ever disappoint? They brought that full ‘Major Lazer Sound’ and turned the crowd up to another level. Ladies were invited up to express themselves, and express themselves they did. We ended up moving back down to the ground for the next set, which was also one of our favorites of the weekend.

Dog Blood @ Cosmic Meadows

This last year, Dog Blood has taken festivals by storm, bringing a big room, bass-filled, techno-sounding, vibe that is as hard as it is to explain. Skrillex and Boys Noize really have found a perfect medium of both of their sounds, mixing original productions together while dropping samples and loops of their own sound as well. ‘Middle Finger’ and their ‘Wild for the Night Remix’ made the crowd go nuts. The last 3 songs they played were all unreleased Skrillex cuts we heard on his BBC Essential Mix.

Some other Highlights of Day 2: Mat Zo absolutely clowned Will.I.Am during his set.. Mat told everybody that he in fact stole the song from Will. Ha! Dirtyphonics live turned up the Basspod, its always great to see 5 people on stage absolutely mashing out some amazing bass music.

EDC Las Vegas Day 3

Laidback Luke @ Circuit Grounds

We haven’t gotten a chance to see Laidback Luke play since early 2010, so when we saw his name on the lineup, we instantly circled it. He hasn’t changed a bit, which is a good thing.. He dropped tons of music we haven’t heard before but can anticipate to be out very soon. We throughly enjoyed Luke, and hope to catch him at Exchange LA later in July.

Carl Cox @ Kinetic Field

After missing his 2 hour set the previous day, we decided to vibe out to some Carl Cox at the main stage. We got a chance to see Carl absolutely crush it at his own stage at Ultra, but playing at the main stage at EDC is another monster. He played his typical set, but changed it up during the middle dropping some aggressive Drum n Bass, which took us by surprise. Overall, it was a great main stage set, and Carl proves he can play at any venue, any stage, and any atmosphere.

Steve Angello @ Kinetic Field

This was our first time seeing Steve Angello post SHM breakup, and let me tell you, he absolutely KILLS IT. While he mixed in some classic SHM bangers like ‘Greyhound’ he played a lot of his original stuff like ‘Knas’, ‘Babylon’ and more. He even debuted some new songs off his new label, Label X, which has a more ‘deep’ vibe to it. If anyone knows how to play a marquee set at the main stage its Steve. He’s coming out with a bunch of new music in the coming months, and we cant wait to get our hands on it!

A big thanks to Insomniac for throwing such a great event, we are literally counting the days until next year.

Photo Cred: IntoTheMix, Eric Fragola

 

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