Photo Credit: aLIVE
EDC Mexico, where have you been my whole life?! I am sitting here asking myself why it has taken me this long to make the trip down to Mexico for this event. In the years to come, I can see this festival attracting more of an audience from other countries especially the United States, mainly because you are getting a massive festival experience at a fraction of the cost. I am going to walk you through the festival grounds, my top 3 acts of the weekend, and the overall festival energy and why you should add this festival to your list for next year!
The Festival Grounds
This place is absolutely massive. I had no idea that the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez racetrack would be so big. The entire festival grounds honestly felt much bigger than EDC Vegas. As we walked in on day one we went straight for Kinetic Field. I was blown away by the beautiful Kinetic stage. The feathers on the wings would change color and there were two massive screens just under the wings that would display unique visuals on LED screens, it blew me away.
After checking out Kinetic field we made our way to our first ride of the weekend! Having to pick a ride was difficult because there was so many to choose from, 9 in fact. But my go-to ride will always be… THE DROP!!! Kat my Australian friend was low key terrified but still came with me. After about 30 minutes I was at the top of the drop looking at the festival below, in the distance I could see the Kinetic Field. After three minutes up there, I started asking myself “Ok when are we going to drop?!” Then I heard the click and before I knew it we were at the bottom. The rush of adrenaline was so much fun!
After the drop, we started wandering in the middle of the festival grounds and made our way to the massive Dos Equis Stage where Insomniac Records artists were playing. I was thoroughly impressed with this stage and the artists performing at it. We continued wandering the grounds in the distance I saw this massive boat stage with hundreds of people surrounding it. A few minutes later we found ourselves on the stage with the DJ looking out at the crowd. This was one of the coolest experiences of the weekend. They did such a good job designing this boat stage they called “Parliament”. The boat also had this massive owl on it, which was so cool to look at. I really hope they bring this to Vegas because the vibes and energy coming from this stage were on point.
As the set ended on the Parliament, we decided to check out the infamous Wasteland. If you didn’t already know, Wasteland is the festival’s hardstyle stage. As we approached the stage there were these massive shipping containers stacked vertically up in the air like an arch welcoming us in. The graffiti art on all the containers surrounding the stage made the entire environment feel like an abandoned industrial… well… wasteland. I must say that the people that were at this stage had the most energy out of any other stage of the festival.
An hour later we gathered with a lot of people from around the world at a meetup. We then started walking down Rainbow Road. I look up and see a stage off to the left and I ask everyone what stage is that. They responded saying “Circuit Grounds”. I then asked myself how after 5 hours have we only just explored half of the festival grounds?! This stage was hands down the best stage of the festival. The stage production that they had organized for this stage was mind-blowing. The sound quality was also much better than Kinetic Field. I really enjoyed watching artists from Slushii to Above and Beyond to Deadmau5 on this stage.
My Top 3 Favorite Acts
This weekend was filled with so many amazing artists it was hard deciding which sets to see so there could have been performances I missed out on but from the ones I went to these are my top 3 in no particular order.
Illenium. Illenium never disappoints. Never. The entire set I was singing along with all the songs he dropped. Either I am a huge supporter of Illenium or his music is just amazing… or most likely both of those. I love how he only plays his own music and how his mix down is flawless. If you have still not had a chance to watch Illenium live please please please make the effort to watch one his performances you will not be disappointed.
GOLDFISH. These guys are so much fun to watch perform. They are both from Cape Town, South Africa. They are bringing a new twist to EDM with their ability to mix in live instruments into the performance. David Poole who is one part of the duo was playing saxophone when I showed up and I was amazed at how great it sounded with the music being mixed in. Later on, he started playing the flute while Dom Peters, (second part of the duo) banged away on his keyboard. Dom even jumped up on stage and started playing this massive double bass. I lost it at that point. The last time I got that feeling of pure shock of watching a performance was watching Timmy Trumpet perform at last years Tomorrowland. There is something about live instrument performances mixed in with EDM that I really love watching.
DeadMau5. Watching Joel perform with his cube was so much fun and memorizing to watch. I love his music and love his personality. I am super happy that Joel and Pasquale are finally on good terms now because I was missing out on watching him growing up, being from the west coast it was hard to catch him perform because of the drama they both had. When I was at EZOO he did not have his cube and I totally can see why he didn’t. They spent about 10 minutes bringing in 2 parts of his cube in. There must have been 30 people on stage setting up this massive LED cube that goes with the music while he performs. I’m going to show you guys the first 10 minutes of his performance below!
Overall Festival Energy
This year they have announced that 230,000 people have attended breaking last years record. This crowd is so much fun to be around. Everyone I came in contact with was so friendly and most everyone spoke English. In fact, they actually love having conversations with people that are not from Mexico. Getting through the crowds was easy, not once when I was moving around the crowd were being rude, people moved out of your way giving you space.
One thing this crowd down here does was so funny that I have to talk about. During Dillon Francis set, Dillon accidentally restarted a song. He looks at the crowd and laughs it off. All of a sudden I hear everyone, I mean everyone, start building up this sound starting off sounding like “PHUUU….” As the sound got louder and louder they finish the phrase, which goes something like PHHUUUUTOOOO. It’s apparently part of the culture down here when someone messes up at a sporting event to do it. If you know what the phrase is that they are saying you are probably laughing right now if you don’t well… moving on.
There were some wild characters running around and I know they were not paid performers. This one guy had a ridiculous mask on I couldn’t help myself but I had to grab a photo with him to show you all. This festival brings out so much unique and creative ravers that you would not normally see anywhere else in the world. Have you seen anyone dress up in a mask like this?
Making the trip to Mexico next year
So having now been to my first EDC Mexico the question is now, will I make to journey for next years EDC? The answer is without a doubt yes. With the price point that this festival is at and how massive the show is it’s an easy decision. To see these many artists, at a show with so much stage production would cost 2-3 times more in the United States. Not only that but food and accommodations are all so much cheaper in Mexico, so planning to make the trip to Mexico on a smaller budget is possible. If you are living in the United States or another country other than Mexico another big bonus is that you are able to dive into another culture, which is always a big plus. I believe that this festival will only continue getting better as it grows. Next year I’ll be sure to bring some more friends with me to share this Mexican electric sky with.