EDC may be the largest festival in America but size isn't everything. Last year, 185,000 dancers flooded the Coliseum, but, honestly, it wasn't all that comfortable.
“If it’s not big, then it’s not for me.” At least, that’s how I used to feel. There’s no denying that the energy of a massive rave can be exhilarating for the body and the spirit. But, during the last two years I’ve witnessed a sad thing happen in the Southern California rave scene. Promoters such as Insomniac have set aside concern for individual ravers and have started overloading venues.
Consider the Electric Daisy Carnival. It’ s Insomniac’s largest annual rave. Year’s ago, when I first started attending, there was approximately thirty thousand people. A very large, but comfortable number for a venue like San Bernardino’s Orange Show, or L.A.’s Colliseum. By 2010, that number had grown to over 100,000 people. At this point the event took a turn for the worse.
An overcrowded venue led to frustrating and even dangerous scenarios as people aggressively fought to gain entrance into overcrowded stage areas. And the most disappointing part about all of this is that the promoters didn’t even seem to notice that they had paralyzed the event by overselling tickets.
I often day dream about the days when I got rolled out on ‘E’ and ran merrily from stage to stage taking in the energy of the event. It’s a contrast to the Electric Daisy Carnival of the last two years where thousands of people were locked out of certain areas and nearly started rioting in protest.
If you’re reading Pasquale (founder/promoter of Insomniac) can you please stop being greedy. These venues can only hold so many people comfortably. Whatever happened to the concept of a sold out show? In case you haven’t noticed, it’s kinda hard to dance when there’s no breathing room.
Yeah, I’m going to this year’s EDC in Las Vegas. But I’m going to be paying close attention to how ravers are treated. That’s right Pasquale, I’m giving you one more chance. Massive raves may be awesome, but like they say, size isn’t everything.
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