EDC Orlando took place this past weekend at Tinker Field and was an absolute hit. In its eighth year, the festival ran seamlessly. Lines to get in moved smoothly, security and staff were friendly and happy to help. Not to mention, the weather was absolutely perfect and for Florida that is a HUGE win.
Some people like to knock down EDC Orlando as the tinier version of EDC Las Vegas and while yes it may be smaller, how cool is it to be the ‘little sibling’ of arguably the biggest EDM festival in the United States? Uh- it’s freakin’Â awesome, and we can’t thank Insomniac and Pasquale enough for picking this city to host such a fantastic festival.
kineticFIELD
The MainStage production at EDC Orlando never disappoints. This year, an enormous naked man and woman towered over the stage holding a heart in their hands. Truly this might’ve been the coolest one they’ve done.
Day one: Huge names like Don Diablo, Martin Garrix, Alesso and Dillon Francis took the stage offering up really fun sets. Dillon even brought out Alison Wonderland to preview their collab. JOYRYDE killed his set bringing out remixed Kendrick Lamar and dropping FISHER’s Losing It.
Day Two: Saturday, things got lit – literally. While Kayzo was performing, part of the stage caught on fire.
@EDC_Orlando main stage right now pic.twitter.com/NZOjM9Or3K
— Felix Galvan (@TheFiFiGalvan) November 11, 2018
However all ended well as firefighters took care of the problem swiftly, while Kayzo actually moved to the Corona Electric Beach Stage to continue his set. kinecticField watched the sunset while Tiësto did what he does best, Alison Wonderland played a special show and Kaskade closed out the festival, making everyone cry.
circuitGROUNDS
circuitGROUNDS was absolutely insane this year. The stage was huge and could’ve been MainStage if it had a naked man and woman towering over it. From the light production to the surround sound insanely loud speakers, this was hands down my favorite stage of the festival.
Day One: Friday was bass bass bass – if you weren’t wearing earplugs you should probably get your hearing checked. The stage saw Boogie T b2b Squnto, Space Jesus, Pendulum, Ganja White Night and none other than Bassnectar (who went so hard he blew out a part of the stage TWICE). However the stand out was Space Jesus – his visuals and set were truly outstanding.
Day Two: Saturday took a different route than Friday at circuitGROUNDS. Tchami took everyone to church while Malaa played his masked house music. Illenium offered up some diversity while an insane b2b with Valentino Khan, GTA and 4B closed out the night.
neonGARDEN
Last but not least, the third stage at EDC Orlando: neonGARDEN. The smallest of the stages, located underneath a billowy tent brought the growing genre of techno and tech house music. Last year, Jamie Jones’ set at neonGARDEN was half full. This year however, neonGARDEN was absolutely packed at all times.
Day One: Friday was a heavy techno day. If you had just wandered into the tent, maybe thinking you were about to take a nice break from kineticFIELD or circuitGROUNDS you would’ve been in for a rude awakening. Patrick Topping, Pan-Pot and Paco Osuna all brought the heat with their dark sets. However it was Nicole Moudaber who stole the show when she took the stage with her infamous curly hair and twisted techno.
Day Two: Airing on the tech house side of music, Saturday saw two hour sets from Richy Ahmed, Tiga, The Martinez Brothers, and Jamie Jones. Although The Martinez brothers showed up a little late to their set, Tiga and Richy Amed held down the fort and brought a party to the garden. The Martinez Brothers and Jamie Jones then closed out the festival in a b2b that had the packed stage dancing with strangers.
All in all this was the best EDC Orlando yet. The diversity of the artists alone was enough to sell it out, but along with interactive activities and a seamless production it’s a Florida festival that we hope sticks around for good.
