Feature photo by Calder Wilson courtesy of Insomniac Events
EDC Orlando returned to Tinker Field for its ninth year, this time bigger than ever. The now three day festival featured an additional 10.5 acres along with a new fourth stage and hosted a massive sold-out crowd throughout the weekend of 225,000 Headliners. The festival brought with it some incredible music, too many different parties to choose from, and some long lasting effects to Central Florida.
The Impact
Orlando definitely felt the impact of EDC, and not just because of the bass. Five arrests were made for trespassing, battery, possession, and theft. A whopping 91 noise complaints were also made throughout the weekend, some even coming from up to six miles away.
The pros definitely outweigh the cons here, however, as EDC is speculated to have an economic impact of over $50 million for the city of Orlando. They also will be donating over $60,000 to Strengthen Orlando through Insomniac Cares. “While the event is always colorful, fun and welcoming to everyone, the economic impact continues to benefit our community long after the music stops.” says Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer [Orlando Sentinel].
The Parties
The festival attracted a lot of pre parties, after parties, pool parties, brunch parties, house parties, all the parties. The entire city of Orlando really gets into the EDC groove as there wasn’t a minute during the weekend where something wasn’t happening.
TEAM Events Official EDC Afterparties
TEAM Events works really hard all year long to bring some of the best artists to downtown Orlando, and EDC weekend was no exception. With three different venues to choose from (Celine, Tier, and The Wellborn Hotel), TEAM Events hosted after parties all weekend with artists like JAUZ, Nitti Gritti, Chris Lake and even a surprise set from Carnage and birthday boy, Diplo, at The Wellborn on Sunday night.
Home Bass
Home Bass has become almost synonymous with EDC Orlando. The music festival resort provided all the pool parties, pre parties, and late-night after parties you could ask for. To make life unbelievably easy for you, they had shuttles to and from the festival every day. Wake up, rave. Take the shuttle to EDC, rave. Take the shuttle back to your hotel, rave until you can’t keep your eyes open anymore. Go to sleep, repeat. Brilliant.
The Music
EDC Orlando had some of the biggest names in the EDM industry. Afrojack, Kaskade, Steve Aoki, and DJ Snake are just a few to name. We even had a special appearance from Dillon Francis via Facetime at the beginning of his BFF’s set to lead everyone in signing Happy Birthday to Diplo. All weekend, whatever your style is, you had plenty to enjoy. There were two sets in particular, however, that I enjoyed way too much to not highlight.
ZHU
Now, I’m a huge fan of ZHU, but having him close out Circuit Grounds on the last day was a little bit of an odd schedule decision, I thought. I was definitely mistaken, however, because ZHU was probably my favorite set from the weekend. Ending my EDC weekend hearing “My Life,” while I was chilling much too comfortably by myself, in my Tame Impala hoodie, on an empty balcony looking perfectly down at the stage was just about everything I could have ever asked for (ok maybe I would’ve also asked for Kevin Parker to make a surprise appearance for that last song but I’ll take what I got).
REZZ
I think REZZ absolutely gave one of her best performances last weekend at EDC. It was her first show in Florida since February, and you could tell people were long awaiting her return. This time she brought some new tracks from her latest EP, Beyond the Senses, as well as her recent collab with Malaa. She even played a few unreleased tracks that I’m going to need her to put out ASAP.
Aside from the music and the hype of the weekend, this year’s EDC was really something special. I think just about every single friend I’ve made in the industry was in attendance. It felt like a big family reunion all weekend and served as just about the perfect way to close out festival season. Don’t miss out on the fun next year. Three-day passes for EDC Orlando 2020 are available now for just $10 down, so be sure to purchase them here.
