It was rather impulsive but after having a blast at Electric Zoo in New York and Veld in Toronto, I decided to go to Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in Las Vegas. It is one of North America largest edm music festival with a huge production budget. Not only is it about the music, it is about the experience of the festival —the performers, the carnival rides, art installations and just being in Sin City.

Day 1 – Thurs June 20, 2013

Chris and I woke up bright and early and flew direct from Buffalo. Around 11:00am, we arrived in Vegas, picked up our car rental and checked into the Trump Hotel. Boy, this 5 star hotel suite was spacious and glamourous. The bathroom itself was the size of my bedroom! The mirror had a TV and you get TWO shower heads.

Food was our next stop! We headed to the Venetian for breakfast at Bouchon Bistro! It was delicious but not crazy impressive. Chauncey had the Corned Beef Hash and I preferred that over my sourdough waffles or Chris’ French toast. I would go back for the hash.

We headed to Desert Hills shooting club after. Tons of guns to choose from; glocks, rifles, machine gun and even a grenade launcher but we just rented shotguns for clay shooting. You drive a golf cart to different shooting stations and set off clay discs to shoot. It was fun and affordable (about $30 per person for 3 hours there). I highly recommend if you’re looking for something new in Vegas.

We had froyo at Yogurtland and did some shopping at Ross before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Gordon Ramsay’s Steak Restaurant. We order the Beef Wellington since we saw so many Hell’s Kitchen contestants fail at this dish. The filet mignon was tender and soft. It was a tad salty for my taste buds but Chris loved it. We also ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding which was also amazing and “sponge-y”. The service was amazing there too. Two dedicated servers! Oh, Gordon, you don’t disappoint! We will be back. Unfortunately, no photos because our table was too dark and didn’t have a spotlight.

We tried to stay up as late as possible to transition into night mode but eventually crashed at 3am.

Day 2 – Friday, June 21, 2013

We started the morning with burgers from Holsteins in the Cosmopolitan Hotel. It was delicious but still a little salty for my taste buds… Though my buds are a bit skewed due to eating bland food for the last few months. Their alcoholic milkshakes were delicious!

I went to Armin Van Buuren’s pool party at Marquee Dayclub. I didn’t know what to expect since I’ve never been to a pool party but it was really relaxing and fun. You just lounge around, go in the water and listen to music. It gets a little crazy once and a while. People are dancing in the water and as soon as the music drops, water is splashed everywhere!

Around 4pm, we were leaving the pool to get ready. Oh man, then I started to feel really sick… It was the alcohol, sun and the lack of sleep. Not an enjoyable experience but one nonetheless. Lets just say I left a pleasant surprise in the marquee stairwell… I took a nice shower and crashed for an hour when I got back. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to go the first day of EDC. I was feeling like shit. Luckily, that one hour nap did wonders and I felt much better. I got ready and we were off!

EDC was inside the Las Vegas Nascar Speedway so you have to enter through the bleachers and walk down to the track. We walked through this tunnel of darkness and then we saw the amazing festival grounds  —the stages, the rides and all the lights. It was beautiful and exciting.

We filled our camelbak with water, bought festival merchandise and went to see our first DJ, Dirty South in Circuit Grounds. This stage had many diamond shaped screens above you that lowers and rises.

Porter Robinson’s set was next at Kinect Field.This stage was massive and was decorated with colourful nature elements like the insomnia owl, flowers and mushrooms. Porter’s set was just okay and not that memorable except for his track “Language” that played during 20 minutes of fireworks. We listened to Armin’s set after. Good set but I liked the set at then pool party better.

Tired, we rested on the spider/octopus ride! It was more extreme that the one that use to be at wonderland. At 2:00am, we were exhausted so we sat around the picnic benches and listened to Tommy Trash’s set. It was great and really wish I had enough energy to go into the tent.

We listen to some Blutonium Boy at the BassCon stage for some hard style trance. Much smaller stage with an industrial warehouse theme. Around 3:30am, we were beat and left. Traffic was decent and we got back to the hotel in a reasonable time.

Day 3 – Saturday June 22, 2013

We woke up around 1pm and went to the Bellagio buffet. Some items were veryyyy tasty but some items were just mehhh. We did some quick shopping at the Fashion Show Mall and then got ready for the second night at EDC. This time, I actually had more time and energy to get ready and dressed up. Today, we arrived as the sun was setting. The grounds were beautiful.

We started the night with tritonal’s set which was fun and energetic. After that, we went on some spinning rides and then lined up for the ferris wheel. It was great bird’s eye view of the festival. You can see the massive amount of people pouring out of the stages. Chris wished me a “Happy Anniversary” at the top, which was sweet.

I went see Sander van Doorn with Lewis and Nikki while the others went to catch Yoji’s set. It was my first time seeing Sander and he was so good! He also played a new mix of the song I wanted to hear the most at EDC. It was Lana Del Rey’s new song Young and Beautiful. I heard the intro and I was ecstatic, jumping and going crazy! I had to record it to live it over and over again. I didn’t expect Sander to play it either… It was epic!

We went to circuit grounds to see Cosmic Gate but then it was interrupted by this parade with lit up floats and performers.

We caught most of Avicii’s set after but then I need a break and some food! So Chris and I explored the other areas. The art installations were all lit up and nice to chill around. My favorite was the “Rabbit Hole” which was a tunnel with Christmas lights. They also give you these crazy glasses to wear which makes each light source glow rainbows.

We caught half of Tiesto’s set which was not bad. Some tracks I really liked and some were just “okay” The final set for that night was Hardwell’s. It was excellent and full of energy. We left shortly around 4:30am, exhausted again. Traffic was not bad. We grabbed a bite at Earl of Sandwich before sleeping.

Day 4 – Sunday, June 23, 2013

I was keen on hitting up Secret Pizza in the Cosmo as well as Jean Philippe Patisserie. The line at secret pizza was super long but their white pizza was delicious. I picked up some pastries from Jean Philippe and it was just as delicious as I remembered. All filled up, we got ready and left for the final night at EDC!

We started with Simon Patterson at BassCon stage. It was good but I sat down for most of it. I had to conserve my energy for Dash Berlin’s set at 4:30-5:30am (the final set of the festival) I’ve been waiting to see him for over a year!

We went to lineup for the tall swing ride since we had some free time in between DJs. Holy geez it took 2 hours! The ride was good but not worth missing Nervo’s set which was a huge regret because from what I heard while lining up,  it was sooooo good! *sigh

We saw Above and Beyond’s set which was good but not as special as the first time I saw them on Electric Zoo. Another DJ I was excited to see was Calvin Harris. He started his set strong and he was killing it. It was one of my favorite sets so far. I couldn’t stop dancing and jumping around. The 20 minute fireworks was paired perfectly with “We’ll be coming back one day”. It was a perfect song to describe EDC. He then finished his set with “Sweet Nothing” and mannnn it was so good I love that song!

I would have been completely satisfied if that was the last set of EDC but I knew Dash Berlin was the finale. I was a little nervous that he would disappoint me since I had high expectations. Dash came on and mannnn it was so good. He started with Apollo (Hardwell) and followed it up with one of my favorite Dash Berlin songs “Waiting”. It was emotional and my eyes were watery. His set was indescribable. It was everything I expected and more. He even played Sandstorm, a classic! We’ve never stayed pass 4:30am at the festival. This time, we slowly saw the sunrise as Dash’s set progressed. It was so unique and beautiful. Mannnn it was perfect.

The music stopped, the sun was up and everyone was making their way out of the festival. Getting out of the lot was really bad since everyone was leaving now. We didn’t get back until 9am!

Day 5 – Monday June 24, 2013

With about 4 hours of sleep, we woke up for breakfast at Hash House a Go Go, which was featured in Man vs. Food. The breakfast was massive… The biggest I’ve ever seen. I could only finish 1/3 of it. Taste-wise, it was decent. I like the Chicken and Waffles over the Eggs Benedict Man vs. Food favourite.

We went to a Korean spa house, Imperial Spa after to get some rest and relaxation. The place was friendly, clean and very affordable. They had a nice hot tub, cold tub, steam room and dry sauna. They also had unique relaxation rooms with different benefits. For example, the red clay ball room was a heated room with beds of little clay balls to help muscle fatigue. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to spend there since we had early dinner reservations.

We made dinner reservations at Raku but they were very strict with their set menu policy for groups 6 or more. We didn’t want a set menu so we left. We ended up at a Yu-Yu Kushiage Japanese Restaurant, where everything is deep fried on sticks. It was good but I didn’t like eating so much deep fried foods.

Chris and I went to see Penn and Teller’s Magic show after. We were exhausted and Chris even fell asleep but the show was good. I wish we were closer to watch each trick carefully. One of the tricks (hard to explain) was hilarious and we were bursting out in laughter.

I wanted to go to Jean Philippe one last time for some pastry takeout and dessert crepes. The nutella crepe with creme brûlée gelato was delicious but not crazy impressive. I would have it again but not rushing back for it. However, the dulce de leche brioche I got for the next day was delicious. There was a little too much dulce de leche but I just scooped it out. Next time, I want to try the cakes!

Day 6 – Tuesday June 25 2013

Chris and I woke up early and departed Las Vegas. We flew back to Buffalo and drove home.

It was an amazing trip. One of those trips that you look back and think… “Man, that was so fun!” The festival, the food, the friends… I had a blast and would love to relive it. No other music festival will be the same but I would love to go to other festivals like Tomorrowland in Belgium or Ultra in Miami. Eat. Sleep. Rave. Repeat! Until next time Las Vegas.

p.s. Thanks again for the awesome company memories my EDC family, Chauncey, Andrea, Lewis, Nikki, Kei, Dai Viet & Chris!