I started planning this trip with a return ticket home from New York on labour day. Westjet was having a deal for only $60 return flight (tax included!). I figured, we can take the megabus to get there for dirty cheap as well.
After doing some research, I found out Electric Zoo, a large 3-day music festival was happening the weekend we are in town. So, Linda and I decided to go on Friday and take the Thursday overnight bus.

On Thursday morning, Linda’s co-worker told her that Backstreet Boys is going to be on Good Morning America and will do a free reunion concert in central park. The first time with all five members since 2006!! This worked perfectly with our schedule so we were determined to go!

The bus ride was decent and we got some rest. We were late by an hour and arrived in Manhattan at about 6:30am. We walked to our nearby hotel and were lucky to check in at 7:00am! We freshen up and rushed to the BsB concert.

We got there in PERFECT time and they started minutes after we arrived. It wasn’t too crowded at all. I was worried they wouldn’t let us in or we couldn’t see anything since the park opens at 6am. I managed to find some standing room in the bleachers.

They did a quick interview with the Good Morning America hosts and then sang about 4 songs including, larger than life, incomplete, I want it that way and backstreet’s back. It was so good and it bought out the 2000s boy band fan girl in me.

Linda wanted coffee after and I convinced her this cupcake/bakery, Magnolia has it. But I couldn’t find that store, instead another cupcake shop called Sprinkles that Jenny recommended. I got the red velvet and it was so delicious!

We went back to the hotel to get ready for electric zoo. Woo!!! We were so pumped. We had lunch at ippudo ramen but that’s another ramen blog post I’m working on. We had to take the shuttle bus from Harlem and Linda got creeped out by the area. The line was slow due to traffic but eventually we got on within an hour. We picked up our tickets from will call and started hearing the beats.

We started with a main stage and listening to Alvin Risk.Then moved to the group therapy tent to hear Andrew Bayer. Both of these acts were decent but it wasn’t my style. Norin and Rad played next in the tent and they were much better! There were some slow and mellow parts that bored me but it was better than Andrew Bayer’s set imo.

Nicky Romero was next and he was really the first act I was looking forward to that day. He was SO good! Every song he played, I knew it and I was jamming along like crazy.

We moved closer and closer to the stage and got to the fenced area. It was a great spot and it wasn’t too crowded. Lots of room to dance and the event staff to spray us with cool water mist. I snagged some free swag too –a Nicky Romero bag.

The next DJ was Hardwell which I was also excited to see. He was amazing too! Huge hits and hard fist pumping tracks. Linda loved him!

Her favorite mix was Jay-Z & Kanye West – Niggas In Paris w/ Benny Benassi – Satisfaction. Mine was the Nari & Milani vs. Otto Knows vs. OneRepublic – Million Atoms To Apologize but also the track w/ Alesso & Ingrosso  – Calling (Lose My Mind).

We were very close to the front and still had so much room. I managed to get a free hat too!

We wanted to go see ferry corsten after but decide to grab food and rest since we just danced like crazy for the last 3 hours. I had scooped out the food truck in tent vendors and ate at Korilla BBQ. Their bulgogi taco was really good and I’m sure it would have been better if it was from the truck rather than a tent.

David Guetta was starting and we wanted to see him. Lots of people don’t like him and think he is a sell out but whatever I like him! His tunes are catchy and I wanted to see how he is live.

He started with Titanium and right away the light show was amazing! The stage looked so different from the day acts. I loved it! It was my first big light show… (veld was incomparable!) and he brought fun energy to the crowd.

He played a few new tracks including Shewolf and another one for the first time in North America. Really starting to dig this single.

Above and Beyond was starting in the tent and we made way there. Totally exhausted at this point… We made way closer to the stage. Surprisingly the right side was roomy and the left was packed.

There was ton of dancing room and I danced like no one was watching. The set was SO good! My tired feet suddenly had energy!

They played my favorite tracks on the Group Therapy CD; alchemy, thing called love, on my way to heaven and ending with sun and moon.

Unbelievable! It was my favorite set of the day… Although each set I saw was good in their own ways. We took the bus shuttle back to the hotel with minimal lines. Exhausted I passed out after a shower. What a great day to start the trip!