LAS VEGAS — Although Insomniac CEO Pasquale Rotella had been discussing a two-weekend format for the sold-out Electric Daisy Carnival event here in 2014, Rotella has since indicated via Twitter that EDC 2014 in Las Vegas will most likely remain a single-weekend, three-day event.
The double-weekend format, which was launched by the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2012 and successfully repeated this year, was also adopted by the Ultra Music Festival in Miami this year. Both double-weekend events were sellouts — although UMF’s organizers needed to overcome local opposition to the two-weekend format.
With fewer residents in the immediate vicinity of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Las Vegas site of the Electric Daisy Carnival, residential complaints about noise and congestion were less likely to be deterrents to a two-weekend EDC, even though the single-weekend event that was held June 21-23 generated more than 345,000 turnstile clicks.
While this year’s EDC event in Las Vegas went relatively smoothly, with occasional winds that remained calmer than those that disrupted EDC Vegas in 2012, close to 30 of the 65,000 who attended the first EDC at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL May 24-26 were reportedly hospitalized, and police also made a number of drug-related arrests at the event, prompting calls for more rigorous security.
The trouble was reminiscent of EDC 2010, prior to the carnival’s relocation from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Held at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, that event was associated with a spike in drug busts among attendees and the death by overdose of an under-age teen girl.
Rotella and others also faced a civil lawsuit by Coliseum commissioners alleging unfair business practices after the 2010 event, but a Los Angeles Superior Court judge recently indicated that the civil suit was likely to be dismissed.
In other EDC news, the first Electric Daisy Carnival London is gearing up for its U.K. debut as a one-night event. It’s set to take place at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park July 22.
In the weeks following EDC Las Vegas’ 2013 events, lighting and staging manufacturers have issued a number of press releases detailing their involvement in the event. Here’s a sampling:
Elation Helps Transform EDC 2013 into Fantasyland
http://plsn.com/wp/news/21-news/11468
Eurolite Dazzles 345,000 at Electric Daisy Carnival
http://plsn.com/wp/news/21-news/11429
Mountain Productions’ Largest Scaffold Structure Used for EDC Las Vegas
http://plsn.com/wp/news/21-news/11476
Gallagher Staging Plays Supporting Role in 2013 Electric Daisy Carnival
http://plsn.com/wp/news/21-news/11480
Visions Lighting Helps Create Memorable Bass Pod Stage Experience at EDC Las Vegas
http://plsn.com/wp/news/21-news/11481
