EDC New York is the start of festival season in the NorthEast, and EDC New York definitely started it with a bang! From the stages, to the artists, to the vibes in the crowd, Insomniac tried to make the best experience for their headliners.

There were four stages (kineticFIELD, CosmicMeadow, CircuitGROUNDS, neonGARDEN), plus the Boombox car. CosmicMEADOWS was the strikingly the size of EDC Las Vegas\’s CosmicMEADOW!  Insomniac brought the infamous owl from the EDC Las Vegas kineticFIELD but magnified the stage so it can fit in CitiFields.

 

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Credit:Alive Photography

Insomniac decided to come back to CitiFields this year instead of having at MetLife stadium. Both Metlife stadium and CitiFields have their pros and cons. I felt that even if Citifields was closer to the city than Metlife stadium, I thought that Metlife stadium was more spread out than Citifields. Also, Metlife had a shuttle that would take you to New Jersey. If you came locally to Citifield, it was quite a nightmare getting out if you stayed for the closing ceremony. Everyone was trying to take the same subway train or an Uber out so the wait for transportation was long. It was definitely worth spending the money to drive (if you could).

The weather in New York has been very bi-polar, going from hot and sunny one day, to chilly and cloudy the next day. This year, there was clouds, breezy winds and a bit of rain fall. Even if there were some points where you would be cold, usually you\’d forget about it when you\’re in crowd. Even the rain brought an edge to the festival. No one let the weather stop them!

Day One

The Insomniac team strategically categorized their days by genres. For day 1, it was more on the house/trance side. In Neon Garden, there was the stage sponsored by Dreamstate.  Big Names such as Aly & Fila and Cosmic Gate performed here. A big name that performed in neonGARDEN from Saturday was Hot Since 82. KineticFIELD and CosmicMEADOWS was meant for more known DJ\’s (aka electro-house, trap, etc), such as Dada Life, Zedd, DJ Snake, Afrojack and Yellow Claw.

Some of my favorite sets of today included Yellow Claw, Afrojack, and Adventure Club. Yellow Claw stood out for me during EDC because they had the livest energy within the crowd. Yellow Claw impressed me by mixing hard-style, hip hop, dubstep, and of course, trap. Even though it was raining during their set, I feel as if the rain gave the crowd more energy. I haven\’t seen an Afrojack live set since 2013, so I haven\’t really heard his new music until last weekend. I was impressed with the energy and the crowd that came to see him as well as his music. Adventure Club brought back some much needed bass, which made them top 3 performance of the day.

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Credit: Alive Photography

Day Two

On day two, there was a bass rush stage in circuitGROUNDS, more deep house in neonGARDEN, and more head honchos in cosmicMEADOWS and kineticFIELD. Overall, I felt that day two was the better than day one. There was more variety of music today, as well as a better crowd. There was more love and respect on this day than the day before, and more DJ\’s to pick. What\’s better than having more than one option?

This day I explored all the stages in Citifield, and after I had an appreciation to more genre\’s of EDM music. I usually don\’t visit neonGARDEN, but today I decided to pay a visit and WOW was I impressed… I feel like I was entering a new world of EDM lovers that love to shuffle and love to cheer each other on. I feel like I should have given this stage a chance earlier. One of the artists from this stage that really stood out to me was Chris Leibling. He is the head honcho for deep house for a reason, I felt more bass from Chris Libeling than some dubstep producers. The crowd was incredible and I\’m glad I gave him a visit in neonGARDEN.

Inside the circuitGROUNDs were all the headbangers.  There were many good DJ\’s that came from Bassrush (Excision, Bro Safari, Snails, etc) The producers that stood out to me most from the Bass Rush stage was Trollphace. I was randomly walking around and I was pulled into his set by his music. Trollphace threw it down with some dirty dubs. He made the crowd move at the same time, as well as got people hyped. His set was early on in the afternoon which gave space within the crowd. Who doesn\’t like space?

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Credit: Alive Photography

The headliner that wowed me the most was Dillon Francis. It made me a little nostalgic seeing Dillon Francis at CosmicMEADOWs this year because he closed EDC Las Vegas last year at CosmicMEADOWs. Everyone seeing Dillon Francis is always ready to get crazy and get down to dance. No other DJ can pull off moombahton quite like Dillon Francis. Dillon Francis didn\’t make me want to leave his set, which was hard because there was also Kaskade and Excision to see.

 

Overall EDC NY was a success, no matter the weather. EDC New York was a great way for the Northeast to start festival season off right. Until next year New York!

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