Well… not the whole thing… but bits and pieces. Extremely delicious bits and pieces for those who enjoy the more dark, tribal vibe at Monster Massive events.

In case you are looking for a ticket link, click here to buy tickets for Monster Massive.

As usual, I will begin my discussion of anything related to Monster Massive by re-stating my fear of something horrible happening at this particular event. The time I went was incredibly over-crowded and really hot inside the Sports Arena. Getting around for me was really difficult and I was constantly in fear of losing my group. Granted that was 3 years ago, but whenever I ask friends who went, I hear pretty much the same concerns in past years. Hopefully GoVentures will learn from Insomniac and not over-sell the event. Putting the main stage outside is a good idea but still, the fact is, people always assume that the Sports Arena is the main stage (or go there regardless just for the visual trip). So to prevent that from being an ant trap, GoVentures needs to take serious steps. Step one is that they have made the event 18+, just like the new Insomniac policy. Good call.

Anyway let’s see what we got…

Tomb of Doom – John Digweed, Gareth Emery, Judge Jules

Ah yes, the megastars of the dance scene will be gracing the main stage at Monster Massive as always. Replacing last year’s Sasha is John Digweed, bringing his platonic house style back to LA again. Ever since TAO 2008 I have been a staunch hater of Sasha & Digweed because I find their style fairly boring. Going from the buildups and emotional rollercoasters of trance and progressive house tracks to very steady house beats is pretty difficult, I must admit. I’ll stop talking here; I’m sure Rob will give this man a much better summary than I possibly can.

A solid addition this year is Gareth Emery. He was at #9 on the top 100 DJ charts last year (voting has begun for this year… twitter is already over-capacity from DJs asking for people’s votes) and will likely stay in the top 15 this year. He got stiffed at EDC and had to play the side stage so GoVentures is showing him more love than Insomniac ever could by putting him up at the main stage. He’s coming out with an artist album real soon, he’s got a new single out, and I’m sure he will bring the ruckus. He’s also British and drinks heavily at his gigs, which is always entertaining.

Last but not least is The Judge. Get ready for some really intense trance music. I still remember The Judge from my first and only Monster Massive in 2007 – man did he raise the energy in the room. And it’s no surprise if you listen to him on BBC’s Radio 1. He sounds like he’s constantly on at least four Red Bulls.

Oddly missing from this line-up is MM staple Markus Schulz but worry not – he will be at Nocturnal this year.

Phantom Chamber – Carl Cox, Moby, Steve Lawler

I’m surprised Steve Lawler is on this line-up and not John Digweed. If that were to happen, you could call this the “Pioneer Stage”. Big big names here, starting with Carl Cox who will bring some insane tech beats and monster grooves to the stage. Oh yes oh yes oh yes! If I were going to Monster Massive, this is the stage I would be at – a solid line-up with music that fits a dark, spooky halloween theme.

Moby is coming back for more, I’m guessing because he’s had a good time playing at EDC the past couple of times. He certainly added a lot of weight to the line-up, seeing as how he is a very well accomplished artist in many fields besides dance music, but that doesn’t mean he’s weak in this field either. He was responsible for the Area festival in the early 2000′s, one of the first big dance music events in the United States featuring Tiesto and John Digweed. He also has a lot of techno tracks of his own, including a famous remix of the James Bond Theme done for Tomorrow Never Dies back in the day. Man I hope they don’t kill that franchise by the way…

Anyway long story short Moby was sick at EDC and he will surely play some crazy s^@t again so go see him.

And that rounds up the line-up with Steve Lawler, AKA Lollerskates. Lots of tribal sounds here, very fitting for Monster Massive. Again, definitely a good stage to hit up. I will be interested to see who else they add to this one.

House of Horror – Armand van Helden, Robbie Rivera, Antoine Claraman, TV Rock, DJ Reza

A lot of repeats here. Van Helden seems to be at most LA events nowadays, going in a more electro direction especially with his new Duck Sauce project. A-Trak just played at Audiotistic but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make a guest appearance.

Robbie Rivera is an interesting addition seeing as how he is Mr. Ibiza during the summer months; however it’s not to say that I am against it. He has come out with a lot of great tracks in the last few years, and I highly recommend you check out his new Beatport compilation (Juicy Ibiza) for the summer – a lot of good Ibiza tunes there that I am hoping he will drop at Monster Massive to give people a taste of just how insane the parties on that island are.

As far as Antoine Claraman and TV Rock go – well those guys are straight shooters. European dance house all the way, straight from the clubs of Paris, Vienna, Berlin, etc. A lot of vocals and uplifting melodies that you love to hate.

And last but not least is DJ Reza, owner of GoVentures and Saturday Night Sessions in LA. The guy brings world class talent to Los Angeles every year and plays pretty damn good closing sets; check him out and support some local LA talent.

Devils Dungeon - Pete Tong, Felix Da Housecat, Le Castle Vania, Classixx

This is an interesting grab bag stage – we’ve got house master Pete Tong, who can make anything at all sound legendary as long as that anything is doing an Essential Mix at Radio 1. Then we’ve got house pioneer Felix Da Housecat with a Chicago House sound that goes way back but of course his own sound is constantly evolving. Then we’ve got Classixx who play laid back indie type electronic music, and lastly we’ve got Le Castle Vania from So Sweet Records dropping some electro beats. The last two kinda got that whole retro-hipster-electro thing going while the first two are house legends… interesting. Most people at this stage will likely have heard of all the guys on this line-up, especially since the first two are there every year. Should be good times.

Witches Woods – Z-Trip, The Glitch Mob

Oh yes oh yes we’ve got my man Z-Trip back for another round. He seems to be a staple at most LA events these days, along with some others such as the Love Festival in Hawaii. Good for him. If his set is similar to EDC, expect some classic rock and hip hop mixed with really loud bass and dub-step. Not a fan of loud bass but huge fan of Z-Trip. He will be joined by Glitch Mob who play trip hop electronica that will surely warrant loud bass as well.

Say it with me: EARPLUGS!!!

Conclusion

Another interesting line-up with more and more variety compared to previous years. There’s a seeming lack of a drum and bass stage, but even if they add more of those artists to the Witches Woods stage it’s still not entirely D&B which is a shift in itself.

These events are indeed becoming more festivals and less raves in the sense that there is a lot of musical variety and something for everybody. The music is ahead of the game, but the vibe is a bit behind – I’m assuming it’s still going to be 90% people on drugs with pacifiers and glow sticks. I’m hoping for this trend to wane as well so Los Angeles can show the respect these musicians deserve and leave the rave culture to the smaller events. I hate to keep saying it but compared to other world class cities we really are a bit stuck in that aspect, although things are improving.

Anyway, hope gives you an idea of how it’s gonna go down and keep your eyes peeled for the rest of the line-up to slowly trickle out to the masses.

As always and again, here is the link for Monster Massive 2010 tickets. Buy ‘em now before the price goes up; don’t procrastinate!

A lot going on in EDM news these days, not enough time to discuss it all, so here is a nice roundup of some of the stories that have been circulating this week, ranging from industry to some DJ drama.

1. Audiotistic is going down right now – hope everyone is having fun. A little dub step, a little hip hop, a little trance… equals a good night for all I’m sure. Would love for someone to write a guest review or at least tell us how it went.

2. At least 15 dead in stampede at Germany’s Love Parade – you thought SF LoveFest (now LoveEvolution) was huge? This event attracts over a million people each year in Germany. And like EDC, I guess things just got a little out of hand. My condolences to the families of those that were killed… techno music festivals are really getting a bad rap lately. But it’s just because there are so damn many of them; something’s gotta go wrong once in a while.

2. Vandit and Armada join forces – Armada, Armin van Buuren’s music empire, has now absorbed another competitor. Although Armin most likely doesn’t have much to do with the day to day operations of Armada anymore, seeing as how it’s huge, Paul van Dyk is certainly involved in the goings on of Vandit. Regardless, these two have joined forces to create an even bigger dance label out of Armada, which now has all of its trance bases covered – darker stuff with Markus Schulz and Coldharbor, chill beachy stuff with Roger Shah and Magic Island, and intense fast stuff with Vandit as well as John O’Callaghan’s Subculture. All that’s left out there is Ferry Corsten’s Flashover and a few other smaller labels. Other than that… Armada is king!

3. Is ban on raves a good idea for Los Angeles? – a question posed by the LA Times comments blog. Lots of interesting comments below, including one by “hannah” who types in all caps, has no sense of grammar, yet wants to enforce the age limit. I’m doubting whether she would meet the requirements, and if she did, perhaps there should be some other literacy check in place, just in case.

4. Dirty South tickets are already 20 bucks – he’s playing at the Avalon on August 7th… I’ll be there and you should too. Don’t sleep on it! If you want to know more about August, see my preview of some of the big events here.

5. Rusko and Deadmau5 have a tiff - oh Deadmau5, always getting into trouble. Although this time he didn’t seem to be the instigator (unlike the whole Marcus Schossow Deadrat6 situation…). Always fun to see DJs acting like rock stars. Which they certainly are becoming…

6. Double Rainbow Guy was on Jimmy Kimmel – this guy is crazy. But apparently was not on drugs. Watch the top video first if you haven’t watched double rainbow yet… in all its glory.

7. New York Electric Zoo lineup is posted – Sunday looks exactly like EDC – AVB, Laidback Luke, Moby, A&B… but Friday is a little jealousy inspiring. We got Will.I.Am, they got The Chemical Brothers? Nuts. Also they got Markus Schulz and Sander van Doorn. Damn it. But at least we had Swedish House Mafia!!!

8. Go Easy on the Rave Rhetoric – another nice viewpoint from LA Weekly regarding banning raves. Long story short, don’t do it. And I agree. It would be silly, and yes I do agree with others that people die at other music festivals and sporting events as well. EDC and others just can’t have their “love for all ages” mantra anymore, which like I’ve been saying like a broken record, is fine with me.

and last but not least…

9. Inception in IMAX – go see it. Now. F^@#$ng amazing movie. Kudos to Leo and Chris Nolan.

July is slowly wrapping up; a slow month for LA as a lot of big DJs do the European tours and of course Ibiza. But August is right around the corner and after a month long break post EDC it looks like the promoters are getting ready to throw us right back into the heat of things.

The fact that during August, which is Europe’s extremely busy tourist and vacation season, is bringing us such top of the line talent just shows how big of a pull Los Angeles has. Granted, some European tourists come to Los Angeles during August, but still. Flying from Europe to the US for a few days can’t be the most pleasant thing in the world… unless something over here is really worth it. And I’m sure it’s not just the money.

On a side note, I kinda feel bad for tourists who come to LA from other cities and countries. It’s not the most tourist friendly city. One of the top attractions is riding on a bus and looking at rich people’s homes… whee!

Audiotistic

Won’t say too much about it here but it’s coming up this weekend and I wrote a preview of it.

August 7th – Dirty South @ Avalon

A little more than a month and the dirty dirty is back at Avalon. Tickets are only 15$ right now so I suggest you get on it before the price goes up.

He’s been making the rounds in LA lately, playing at both EDC and Coachella, and he’s back for round 3 at Avalon. I missed his set at EDC but he definitely blew the roof off of the Sahara tent at Avalon, dropping a lot of great house tracks including Laidback Luke’s My GOD which was a stormer and totally elevated the energy in the desert. Still waiting for some friends to confirm but 90% chance that I will see you there. Just hope my damn friends make up their minds before the price goes up.

August 13th – Wolfgang Gartner @ Avalon

Oh ja, ze German is back. You can’t tell by his misleading friendly face that he just smokes cigarettes and drops bass-booming electro tracks throughout the entirety of his set. Another DJ I saw perform at Coachella, in fact he was the first performer I saw when I got the festival on Friday. He didn’t let the energy drop for a second and I heard the same thing about his set at EDC. Clearly he is a big enough draw to be brought back for round three, so that’s what Giant has done.

Lots of electro fans in LA will be clamoring to see this guy, and tickets are only 10 dollars right now!

August 14th – Randy Boyer @ Circus Disco

Ferry Corsten & Randy Boyer

Another DJ who I have wanted to see but won’t be able to because of scheduling conflicts. Many of you probably haven’t heard of Randy Boyer but he’s an east coast trance producer who has created some high energy banging tracks over the years. He has a lot of respect in the community and even had a guest spot in Armin’s A State of Trance 400 celebration. He will definitely bring the energy to LA and if you have a chance, go check him out.

More info on the LMD Facebook Page will probably be coming soon.

August 21st – Sander van Doorn @ Avalon (also @ Sutra on August 19th)

Finally. It’s about damn time. I finally get to see one of my favorite DJs perform in a legitimate setting.Last year, Sander van Doorn premiered his “Dusk Til Doorn” concept where he has guest DJs and themes throughout the night, as well as extra production. He is bringing it back this year, with the release of his Dusk Til Doorn compilation only 5 days before the Avalon date. I’d say we’re in for a treat.

Sander van Doorn has been on my top list of producers for the past year, approximately. Every track he releases is pure gold, including my favorites Bliksem and Daisy. His tech-trance style appeals to me because it’s not too corny and vocally but it’s also got some melodic breakdowns and driving basslines. Tickets here. Already got mine

August 21st – Sied van Riel @ Circus Disco

Not to be outdone, Love Music Dance is bringing Sied van Riel to the turntables at Circus Disco on that same night, August 21st. Sied van Riel will bring some darker, more intense beats to the world of trance lovers in Hollywood. I am disappointed because I am missing out on his set but I just can’t pass up a chance to see SVD live.

No tickets yet but check the LMD Facebook page for more info as the date approaches.

Others

And there are, and will be others. I picked my favorites on this page but of course that’s not all… we will have a full August calendar posted this week so keep checking our page and don’t forget to become a fan on our Facebook page, as well as tag yourselves in our photos.

Just uploaded some pictures from EDC 2010 as well as other big events in past years – Monster Massive, TAO, the good stuff.

Go to our Facebook page now and tag yourself! Also you can add your own photos if you’ve got some epic ones to contribute; the goal is to build a photo history of all the partygoers from over the years to show the LA community what it’s all about.

Our FB url is simple: facebook.com/labeatco.

You should “like” us as well to get all our updates and access to a contest we are planning in the near future. Do it!

Well folks, here we go with a little preview of some of the music and performers that will be featured at Audiotistic 2010, on July 24th. Just to get the formalities out of the way, this event, like all other Insomniac events from here on out, will be 18 and over and may be paid a visit by the Rave Task Force. Also Insomniac seems to have hired a security company to help it deal with the concerns from EDC. As far as the 18 and over part, that is just what I was asking for after EDC; kudos to Insomniac. And sorry for all those who have to get refunds, but in my opinion and EDC recap, I must say that you should just wait your turn for now.

So now that we’re all on the same page, which is of course the “let’s have a good time with some awesome electronic music page” (page 12 if you’re wondering), let’s see what’s going to happen at Audiotistic this year.

How Does Audiotistic Stand Out?

I must say, I have never been, but judging by this year and past line-ups, Audiotistic differs in that it includes a hip-hop flavor to it. Last year had a full-blown hip hop stage, with Talib Kweli, Far East Movement (a total wtf), and The Roots all taking stage. The other stages were similar to other recent Insomniac events: a drum and bass stage, an electro stage, and a “progressive” stage with house and trance. Last year Above and Beyond were the big headliner, as well as the roots.

The location is the NOS events center in San Bernardino, were Nocturnal and other Insomniac events are held. I would expect a more ravey crowd mixed in with hip-hop heads. Also expect smog and a long drive if you’re coming from LA.

This Year

NOTE: Since there are no stage names this year, I’m using last year’s stage themes. I will also be linking to the MySpace pages of the lesser known artists. A simple “[artist name] + myspace” search on google will yield you the rest.

Hip Hop

So the hip-hop stage is back… but with a twist. That twist is the dub-step bass heavy Bassnectar, who has been making the rounds in California lately. There was certainly a lot of dub step being thrown around at EDC and that trend will surely continue. I personally don’t like music that relies on a deafening bass line to keep people moving but others seem to dig it. My advice: bring ear plugs. Tip: His music is featured in the trailer above.

The headliner for this stage is Kid Cudi. He has definitely caught the ear of hipsters and indie-rockers as a standout hip-hop artist. He will certainly perform his hit tracks Day N Night (which is pretty damn depressing… it would be weird to hear that at a festival and sing along. But I would do it.), Soundtrack to My Life, and Pursuit of Happiness. There is a possibility he will raise the roof a bit by playing some of his dance collaborations – She Came Along (with Sharam, who is playing at Avalon this weekend) and Memories with David Guetta. Cudi’s also got some new tracks with Kanye and Snoop that he will probably want to debut. A good crossover act to headline the main stage.

Also on the bill are Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek. I have seen Talib perform live a couple of times, and I must say every time is another reminder why hip hop usually just doesn’t deliver as well live. On records he has that soft preachy voice that makes you want to listen to his clever lyrics and poignant stories. Live… it’s more shouting and less rhythmic. However Talib does have a few catchy sing-along tracks such as Get By and Eternal that are really fun to join in with, so that is certainly a plus.

Adding to that are The Cool Kids, which seems to be a very rap-heavy group, and Flosstradamus which is some sort of indie-punk R&B group that sounds interesting. Lastly, there is Deadelus, an LA artist, who plays very eclectic and interesting, sample heavy, melodic music that I would love to hear live. However I am still pretty danced out after EDC and it’s getting kinda hot so I won’t be coming out for his performance.

Progressive

Well here we have a nice mix of house and trance to fill the “progressive” side of things. I suppose progressive means there are more buildups than other genres? I never did get what progressive means… but anyway.

The big players here are Marco V and Cosmic Gate. Yet another Dutchman, Marco V has been a veteran in the game for quite some time and has constantly developed his sound. His latest musical direction seems to be that of techy trance, which I love dearly. Expect to hear stuff from his last couple of albums, especially his two big tracks “Unprepared” and “When the Night Falls”, which were dropped by all the big names last year. Cosmic Gate, from Germany, are even more trance based and will be playing their latest remixes as well, including their excellent remix of “I See You”, the Avatar theme, and Paul van Dyk’s “Home”. Those should get some hands in the air for sure. Cosmic Gate have been getting a lot of love from California in the past couple years, and that is because their live sets deliver a nice progression (is that where it comes from?!) from melodic slow tracks to really intense instrumental trance.

Also on this stage will be another German – Wippenberg, who is responsible for crossover tracks such as “Chakalaka” and “Pong”, which were played repeatedly by trance and house DJs alike. Expect lots of buildups and intensity from this guy, who is surely hoping to make his mark on the west coast. Most likely more of a house sound, especially since he comes after Sonic C (who has an old school housey vibe) and before Donald Glaude, who is definitely all house all the way. Donald Glaude seems to be a consistent and reliable dancefloor filler at a majority of the side stages at the big dance events in Northern and Southern California, and will attract the house crowd at the festival with his intense, almost tribal, ravey music.

Electro/Whatever

My knowledge runs a bit thin here but I certainly see some familiar names. A Trak is back from his epic double Travis + Duck Sauce performance at EDC (still weird to see him on electro line-ups seeing as how he used to be an international scratch champion in the turntablist realm) with some more pounding beats, and he is joined by Riva Starr. To me this seems like a weird stage because Riva Starr certainly isn’t electro – he plays minimal and club house tracks that are very popular in Europe, especially Ibiza. But what the hey, let’s have it anyway. And let’s throw a little Treasure Fingers in there, who plays some sort of weird disco-house music from Brooklyn hipster clubs, mixed in with Harvard Bass, who plays …. bassy minimal ravey house music. That should be perfect. But wait, might as well throw an artist in there named Dances with White Girls, just for good measure and have him play some urban/hip-hop infused house.

Sounds like a nice cauldron for insanity which only the extreme music lover could appreciate. Sobriety not allowed.

Drum and Bass

Still too scared to go to this stage. Someday… a man can only dream.

The usuals are all there – Craze, Ed Rush, Nero, etc. and the headliner is Rusko who will surely try to out dub-step Bassnectar. Of course it’s hard to compete in bass with someone who has it in his name. Best of luck to you gentlemen, and best of luck to everyone’s ears. Again, bring ear plugs!!! Please!

Final Word

Looks like a solid line-up with some interesting acts. Allows for a lot of meandering between stages to see all sorts of different music, ranging from hip hop to dubstep to trance. BPM differences could be as much as 60 at any given time! Hope your brains can handle it, Audiotistic goers.

If this tickles your fancy, go buy your tickets! Link here.

So after all the happenings at EDC a week ago, including the death of a 15 year old, LA County has come out with a temporary plan of action: a “Rave Party Task Force”, spearheaded by County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Don Knabe. If you want to read the official proposal that was signed, click here (it’s only 2 pages long).

This comes right on the feet of the very surprising and alarming news that the girl who died may have taken some MDMA. The toxicology reports are still being compiled but I don’t doubt that some sort of drug was involved. MDMA does not surprise me, but it does slightly surprise me that she may have drank from a water bottle with some other stuff in there. It never ceases to amaze me just how large an amount of chemicals people will put in their body to escape reality.

But that’s beside the point; back to the task force. I have been posting on the tranceaddict boards here and there (where there is a lot of hate for Insomniac, which I think is undeserved) trying to get my message across but a lot of people seem to be missing the point. In my opinion, the main MAIN huge in your face problem is all the underage kids who went to the event. Now I know that perhaps Insomniac wants to let all ages come to these events so they can make more money and so kids can have more fun. But I say boo-hoo.

I still think all of the stage-rushing, irresponsibility with drugs, and inability to take care of friends largely rests on the younger crowd. Yes there are occasional issues with the older crowd as well, but that’s on them. When a 23 year old dies of a drug overdose (like what happened in San Francisco in May), that’s one thing. It was his decision to come to the event, not act responsibly, and thus face the consequences. People overdose in their homes all the time. It’s unfortunate that someone chose to do so at a rave but those are the facts – people take too many drugs for various reasons and die.

It’s different, however, when a 15 year old does it. It’s different because kids that young are scientifically known to not have fully developed decision making skills. That’s why they can’t drive, buy alcohol, see rated R movies, etc. Those limitations are put in place for a reason, not due to some arbitrary sorting hat decision. So when a 15 year old dies of a drug overdose there is, I agree, a huge problem there. Why was she allowed to go and why was she in an environment where something like this happened?

Now is the solution having a “task force” investigate the medical issues behind these “rave parties”? Which. by the way, are vaguely defined as long-lasting musical events, but I’m sure they will know who to target. I’m not so sure. Older people should be responsible for educating themselves. Otherwise, I saw plenty of medical staff, water available everywhere for a decent price (at a musical event anyway), food, shade, places to sit, etc. There is no reason for someone to get dehydrated or heat stroke or any of those things, unless of course they are at the main stage and refuse to go to the bathroom.

Although it would be lovely if the county came up with recommendations such as having drug testing stations available (to check purity content) and things like that, I am more afraid that their advice will be “shut it down, everyone’s on drugs”. The problem is that this will just move the events to another county, such as San Bernardino, where the same problems will exist and more (such as people driving all the way over there from LA and back in one night).

So my hope is that

1) The task force is concerned, like the motion says, with safety at events and not ending them completely

and more importantly

2) Insomniac and other promoters (especially GoVentures who, for example, moved the main stage to the outside at MM, preventing the overcrowded oven inside the Sports Arena) address the issues with age, overcrowding, and bathroom access themselves, similar to what I recommended in my previous post regarding the future of EDC. Preventing bad news from resulting from these events will help them flourish and continue.

Now let’s all calm down and listen to some sets from EDC 2010. Might I recommend Armin and Swedish House Mafia to start?

I promise this will be my last post about EDC.

But this does need to be said.

Most of you have kept up with the news this week about a girl who died at EDC. They haven’t officially stated the cause but I think we can all guess that it was most likely due to dehydration or some other issue related to ecstasy. Although you can’t easily overdose from ecstasy (it’s like overdosing from marijuana – you have to take a TON), you can die if you don’t drink water or have heart or kidney complications, etc.

Long story short, a 15 year old girl died and now everyone is trying to figure out what is going to happen next. This triggered other things coming up:

1. The police (lapd) said they had warned about the drug culture of the rave beforehand. I’m not sure what they were trying to accomplish by publicizing this – it’s not like they canceled it. Maybe just trying to wash their hands clean of responsibility?

2. ER doctors called for an end to raves after hospitalizing over 120 people over the weekend. They said the hospitals are under the same state as if there was a catastrophe (such as a train crash) during the weekend. That’s pretty crazy. I did see a bunch of wambulances at the event but I didn’t know the number was that high.

3. LA officials prompted the Coliseum to temporarily ban all raves which, essentially, means EDC and EDC only since that is the only event held there. I’m assuming the other events at the Expo grounds and Sports Arena such as the Love Festival and Monster Massive won’t be affected. That is funny because in my opinion GoVentures is much more irresponsible than Insomniac when it comes to massive events. They probably just do a better job at covering it up, or have gotten lucky by avoiding a death of a 15 year old directly linked to the event… however they did have a death at Together As One but that weren’t as publicized because it was way after the fact and probably not a 15 year old. I repeat, a 15 year old died at EDC. Ridiculous.

Ok so all this stuff happened and I’m sitting here on a Friday afternoon trying to come up with a solution and an answer.

What does it all mean and what should we do next?

What it all means - that’s right, I have the answer to life’s questions right here. Well I want to address all the people who want to cancel or ban raves and all the people who don’t want to do it based on “they will just do it somewhere less safe”. I think both sides are right in some aspect.

If they ban EDC, for example, at the Coliseum, and even ban a couple of other events, they’re not going to stop anything. They are just going to transfer the problem somewhere else. EDC had approximately 200,000 people over the entire weekend (according to police estimates. I have reason to believe that Insomniac and GoVentures have a lot of motive to deflate their numbers so it seems like everything was under capacity and under control. In reality I bet attendance is always higher than what they say.). Are those 200,000 people, who each spent on average over 70$ a ticket, just going to become dormant and not attend events anymore? Electronic music is at an all time high in terms of popularity and diversity. The events will continue to happen, and will continue growing. I don’t think banning a couple will solve anything at all. They tried to do that in the late 90′s and look, the scene came back even stronger.

Now the other side is that I don’t think everyone will just do it somewhere else if EDC is banned or altered in some way and that brings me to my next point:

What we should do next – I must say that urb.com did a great article on six things EDC could improve next time. The following will be a summary of their suggestions with my additions which can be found in the comments section of the linked article.

1. RAISE THE AGE LIMIT

Keeping high school kids out won’t mean they will just go somewhere else. There is nowhere else they can go where they can find hundreds of thousands of people in the sun dancing to music with no access to a bathroom. Kids don’t make good decisions 100% of the time – that’s why we have a driving age, voting age, etc. It’s scientifically proven that their brains aren’t done developing yet. When a 15 year old girl takes narcotics around so many people, there is absolutely no guarantee that she will do what’s right. So I’m sorry kids, but you’re going to have to wait till you’re older to go to a bigass rave. In the meantime, if you MUST try drugs, try them at home around your friends where it’s safe, there’s water, there’s a bathroom, there’s an air conditioner, etc.

I’m not sure if I want the age limit to be 18 or 21… what do you guys think? I’m leaning towards 18. If a kid has a fake, it’s going to be 21+ anyway.

1B. CHECK ID

I’ve been to 18+ insomniac events before where my ID was not checked. I was 21 but it’s not like I was obviously good to go. Check EVERYONE’S ID, airport style. It will make the line a little longer but if you know where to go, you should be fine.

2. BATHROOMS ON THE MAIN FLOOR

This was pretty obvious in my Saturday EDC review but there NEED to be bathrooms on the main floor of the Coliseum. Having to go all the way out surely deterred people from going. And that deterred people from drinking water. And that deterred people from being safe. That’s what causes problems.

3. CONTROL THE MAIN FLOOR

Either have special main floor only tickets (capped at a certain number) or VIP only or something. People must be allowed to leave and come back. See number 2.

4. HIGHER FENCES AND SECURITY

URB brought this up – sad but true. It must be done due to irresponsible people who can’t be adults. This year, people were able to scale the fences and storm the side entrances, resulting in the music being stopped, people getting trampled, etc. Raise those fences and put barbed wire on them, and put gates or more guards at each entrance. Give people no reason or method to cheating their way down there. We don’t want to bring Lil’ Jon back again do we? (By the way apparently some people found him annoying. I thought it was kinda cool.)

5. NO VENDOR BOOTHS AGAIN

Good call EDC. Do that again. The place looked way more music oriented instead of being a sea of glowsticks and drugged-out people not knowing who’s behind the decks. I’m not super-down with rave culture, to be honest, and these big festivals should be about the music. You want to have a rave? Go have one in a warehouse in San Bernardino with some crazy ass DJs and plenty of glow-sticks. If world class talent is coming to LA, don’t spoil it by sitting in the middle of the dancefloor with your face mask and strobe light.

I do wish I could have bought some gum though… can we get gum?

Final Thoughts

I honestly thought EDC was really fun this year and am disappointed by how many irresponsible people came to the event. Just SO many people abusing substances and doing stupid shit. I guess it’s the American way to go all out and binge but this was just too much. If people partied responsibly I wouldn’t be typing this post. C’mon people, just enjoy the music! I hope we can keep having these events. Insomniac shouldn’t have to babysit us. They did a good job.

After all… don’t we want to have moments like this again?

I woke up Saturday with my legs extremely sore from barely sitting down on Friday. But that was in the past. Friday was over (Friday review here). It was time to head to EDC Saturday. And in the morning I logged onto their website to find out the whole thing was sold out! It was going to somehow be even MORE crowded than the night before (although, ultimately, I couldn’t tell the difference). I got my gear in tow and met up with my crew to head over to the festival for another night of epic dance music.

I won’t go through the motions again but let’s just say we barely had to wait in line and got in very quickly. If you read my Friday review, you know what’s up.

Kinetic Field

Well, we decided we wouldn’t make the same mistake as the day before. Once we got onto the grounds at 5 PM, we headed straight down to the main coliseum floor before the whole thing was closed off. In order to get down there, you have to wait in “line” at the gate. And by wait in line I mean go into a zoo of people and get nearly trampled on your way through; a-la the entrance to a slaughterhouse. My girlfriend and I barely survived and made it down there at 5:30 to catch the banging beats of Afrojack.

Afrojack and Chuckie, both of whom play the new “Dirty Dutch” sound, along with Dada Life, got to play both nights. On Friday Chuckie took the Coliseum while Dada Life and Afrojack were at the other main stage (Circuit Grounds) while on Saturday they switched. I was disappointed that I missed Dada Life but there was no way I was going to be at EDC from 4 PM to 2 AM, although I’m sure many people did exactly that (and more).

Long story short, I found Afrojack’s set to have some good likeable tunes but also a lot of same-ness to it. And by sameness I mean various manipulations of basically the same sound – a chopped up bleep going up and down in crescendos (see video above for example; one of the better opinions in my opinion). Luckily, a good friend stopped by. His name? Lil Jon. He got on the mic toward the end of Afrojack’s set and basically become the MC for the night at the Kinetic Field… more on how that happened later.

After Afrojack wrapped up, Will.I.Am came on. I didn’t really know what to expect from him but I did listen to his set from Ultra Festival in Miami and that was basically a mish-mash of electro and pop songs; pretty high energy but pretty random. I thought maybe after a few months he had gotten some practice in and his sets had improved. Boy was I wrong.

EDC 2010 Kinetic Field – welcome to the Will.I.Am Pandora Station! Each track will be played for approximately 2 minutes, just enough for you to start singing along but not enough for you to enjoy it. Also songs will be interrupted with random rapping and constant reminders of the fact  that will.i.am is from East LA (but somehow went to Palisades High). I was not happy with Will.I.Am’s set and neither were most people around me, to be honest. 2 things, however, made it interesting.

Thing #1: I couldn’t leave

The main Coliseum stage was closed off at about 6:15, even earlier than the night before. No coming in and out. And better yet: no bathrooms. My group decided that we were going to try to stay down there the whole night, until 2 AM, without going to the bathroom once. “Hmm, interesting” I said, but internally I knew it would only be a matter of time before my bladder failed me. I decided to hold out as long as I could.

Holding out as long as I could meant staying through the entirety of Will.I.Am’s set. Again, I must re-iterate: it was not very good at all.

Thing #2: People hopping the fences

At one point during Will.I.Am’s set, everyone started looking toward the back of the Coliseum. Was there a glowing stilt walking furry moose back there for everyone to enjoy? Nope. It was a multitude of ravers literally stampeding the side exists (exit only from the main area, not an entrance) to get onto the main floor which, like I said, had been closed off a while ago. The news chopper caught a pretty solid view of what happened:

From where I was standing, it didn’t look that scary, but I’m sure to the people nearby as well as security it wasn’t a pretty sight. I have to admit, it is disappointing but not surprising to see activity like this. Almost every massive I go to in LA there is some instance of gate storming and people hopping fences to get their fun. Usually security is on top of it but in this case it got out of hand. I will speak more to this later but my recommendation is raising the minimum age for these events. That may not eliminate the problem completely but it sure will mitigate it.

Will.I.Am had to stop his set a few times to tell people to stop climbing the gates. Even though he wasn’t that great, I still feel bad for the guy. Having to stop your set always sucks. Will.I.Am did a pretty good job at telling people to stop; he kept the party atmosphere in good spirits and told those climbing over the wall that it’s a privilege to be at an event like this (true) and they shouldn’t ruin it for everyone else (true).

Eventually his set ended and Laidback Luke came on.

I’m not going to lie, Laidback Luke was awesome. He was not only awesome just because, buthe was even more awesome because he was following Will.I.Am who sucked. He started things off with “Where’s Your Head At” and played a lot of intense house tracks with a lot of familiar vocals and tunes strewn in throughout. His set, unfortunately, also had to be stopped because of the gate crashers. This time, Lil Jon got on the mic. What he said, in my opinion, was hilarious in its vulgarity and simplicity. He got the message across. After this, there were no more problems. Warning: adult language in following video. Lol.

After a fantastic set from Laidback Luke, nature’s call got the best of me and I had to leave the main stage to use the restroom. I wasn’t too disappointed because I wanted to go explore anyway, wasn’t too excited for Benny Bennassi, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold it all night. So we left.

Exploring

After using the bathroom, we walked around and checked out some of the art sculptures at EDC. My impression: WTF. How do people come up with this stuff? I mean, there is a fairly simple explanation for Cubatron L5. Ok. Pretty lights. I get it. But a snake with fire blasting out of its spine? Pretty cool but also trippy as hell. Other art installations included some sort of steam punk carriage (with blasting fire), tall sculptures made of some sort of wire (which also blasted fire and had acrobats swinging off of them), and plenty of glowing things everywhere. Fire and glowing. Awesome.

Next we hit up the trance stage (I had to stop by for at least a bit) at the Neon Garden. I was disappointed that I missed Gareth Emery’s set but I wanted to check out Christopher Lawrence having never seen him before. We stayed for a total of 15 minutes. The music was some sort of really hard, intense trance with barely any breakdowns. There was no time to rest! The guy was just pounding the crowd with massive beats. Furthermore, the side-stages seemed to have the music up way louder because my ears were in pain even with my earplugs in. I left Lawrence – the time was 10:15 and Above and Beyond was about to take over back at the Kinetic Field.

Kinetic Field Pt. 2

We came in through the side and the Coliseum was packed to the brim, although the main floor was a bit less packed (apparently other people had to use the bathroom too… weird). There weren’t many empty seats but we found a spot just to catch Bennassi playing his remix of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Californication. A Cali favorite that he exploited last year at EDC as well. If it it works, it works, right? Thanks to KROQ, every LA resident MUST love RHCP or else…

Above and Beyond finally took over after Benny wrapped up. Lil Jon made his last “YAYUHHH” and he was done too, basically having MC’ed the main stage the whole time after his “Mothaf@#%in” announcement. I say bring him back next year!!!

The whole place got quiet. Things got relaxed, mellow, melodic, and my LA night at EDC was just getting started. Ahh… the soothing sounds of trance. I was expecting a good set because of multiple interviews in which Above and Beyond said EDC 2007 was their best gig of that year (and, coincidentally, my first EDC). They certainly delivered again this year.

Above and Beyond played their usual fare – uplifting progressive house built up into uplifting epic trance. Nothing new and yet more of the same was exactly what I wanted. Some of the tunes they played – “On a Good Metropolis Day”, “Home”, “Love Comes Again” were trance anthems which got everyone pumped and singing along while others such as “100″ by Wippenberg, Rank1, and Nic Chagall, and Armin’s “Not Going Home” were just meant to be heard on a massive sound system.

After A&B wrapped up with a couple of classic tunes, the music got quiet and Saturday’s headliner took stage. The #1 DJ in the world – Armin van Buuren.

Armin played an energetic set and pleased me greatly, although just like A&B he didn’t quite throw any curveballs. He played for 2 hours and included some techy favorites of mine such as Humanoid and Aisha, as well as uplifting trance toward the end of course, and some new stuff in the middle. Apparently he played a few tracks off of his new album but because it is not out yet I did not recognize them. I was in “A State of Trance”.

Again, overall exactly what I wanted and expected from Armin. However I could see if you are not a big trance fan or you have seen him a bunch of times how you would expect or want more. I guess that is how I felt when I saw Tiesto at Coachella. The eternal showman, Armin dropped Alex MORPH’s remix of “Broken Tonight” as an encore and then it was all over. Done. Finito. It was time to head back to the mundane lives that we all lead during the day, which do not equate to hundreds of thousands of people jumping to electronic music in the middle of a sports coliseum downtown at one of the biggest cities in the world. *sigh*. Some day my life will matter that much. Until then, keep dancing and keep raving! And most of all, stay safe.

I will write one more post this week regarding safety and my advice for EDC next year.

Thanks for reading the LA Beat Connection!

Whew… *sigh*. After a solid day of EDC recovery I am ready to reflect back on the ridiculous weekend that just took place in Los Angeles. Seriously unbelievable, epic, good times all around. I will slowly re-tell my memories of what happened to you starting out with Friday.

Friday

Arrival

OK guys time to break a big fat secret. If you hate standing in line at EDC, it’s because you need to stop following everyone else and getting in the huge lines out front. Of course, I would only share this info after the event because I don’t want you crowding my “top-secret” back line. Even though it’s not really top-secret because it’s by all the parking lots and now there is a will call there, which totally negates any need to go to the front entrance.

Say it with me folks: next year, go through the rear.

Circuit Grounds

My friend (guest post extraordinaire Kiran P.) and I got in around 6:55 and headed straight to the 2nd main stage – the Circuit Grounds. It wasn’t as full as I expected (about 1/3 total capacity) and never really got that big the whole weekend, to my knowledge. Everyone headed to the Coliseum and stayed there the whole time, no surprise there. But props to Insomniac for trying.

First up was DJ Z-Trip. I’ve been a fan of Z-trip since the 90′s when I was into underground hip hop and he was pioneering the whole mash-up craze in the underground (check out Uneasy Listening – a mash-up mixtape masterpiece from the 90′s) . He is a party DJ at heart, always on the mic and always throwing down epic rock and hip hop tracks. This time, Z-trip also threw in a whole bunch of dub-step and drum and bass, just to spice things up. His set was awesome and one of the best of the day, according to myself and a lot of other people who I talked to. Playlist included California Love, Smells Like Teen Spirit, I’ve Got A Feelin, Sweet Shop, Paper Planes, and many more. Very nice job by Z-Trip, who is now a resident at club Rain on Fridays in Vegas.

After Z-trip was Basement Jaxx. I had no idea what to expect from their set, seeing as how their actual music is more of a jazzy-funky-non-ravey feel. They definitely dropped some interesting tracks. Again the theme was a lot of dub-step, bassy tracks, and ravey remixes of familiar songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody. Overall a great performance but I didn’t stay to the end because we then headed to the main main stage to catch Swedish House Mafia (SHM).

Kinetic Field

The first thing we realized when trying to go to the Coliseum was that our plan to head to the floor to see Swedish House Mafia and Kaskade was not going to come to fruition. The gates to head to the floor were closed. There was no line or any way to get down there, seemingly, unless you had VIP tickets (which I will definitely buy next year just for that reason). A girl in the stands told me they closed it down around 7:30 PM. Good thing I was prepared on Saturday…

So we went up into the side stands where there were seemingly just as many people, if not more, as on the floor. Everyone was dancing along to the sounds of Swedish House Mafia, who made sure to tell us who they were and who the members were approximately every 10 minutes. I hate, but I hate because I love. One of the things that I enjoyed the most about EDC this weekend was more mic presence. Save for Armin, Above and Beyond, Moby, and Basement Jaxx, every DJ I saw either got on the mic or had an MC along side (Lil Jon anyone?).

Swedish House Mafia started things off with Sander’s Reach Out and Leave the World Behind, then played a lot of classic old-school euro tracks (Show me Love, Tell Me Why, etc.) alongside some new intense house (Pacha on Acid, Ghost Ship). An awesome set, my favorite of Friday (very likely because it was at the epic Coliseum stage… ). They ended things with  Daft Punk’s One More Time and of course their new track – One.

Next up was Cali favorite Kaskade. No real surprises – very melodic, lots of female vocals and epic buildups, and seemingly Kaskade’s new trademark – white beachballs (which were also introduced during his set at Coachella). His set started out with the title track of his new album – Dynasty, and then proceeded into more Kaskade along with the acappella of “Your Loving Arms” over Guetta and Afrojack’s “Louder than Words”. The man just can’t play a track without female vocals. But it’s okay; that’s how he makes the big bucks. The fireworks really got going during this set and I was very happy to see fireworks all night after it got dark, coming from various stages around the grounds (the biggest coming from Kinetic Field of course).  After listening to some good ol’ Kaskade we headed back to the Circuit Grounds to hear Moby.

Circuit Grounds – Pt. 2

Moby was in full force by the time we got there, playing a long 1 hr 45 min set. I thought a lot of people would be there to see him seeing as how he put on a good show at 2008′s EDC but apparently that wasn’t the case. The area was no more, if not less, full than it was during Z-Trip and Basement Jaxx. Unfortunately the crowd was just 100% into the Coliseum. This affected my Moby experience but I can still say that I liked it overall. He mainly played old-school techno/trance music mixed in with a few Moby remixes such as Porcelain (would have loved to hear more of those…). Based on what I heard about his 08 set, it seems like Moby tried a new direction this time and I wasn’t quite feelin it, but I wouldn’t say it was bad either. I’d see him again.

After this set I was pretty beat; we caught the end of Jack Beats at Cosmic Meadow along with the beginning of Armand Van Helden’s set. Seeing as how it was all bass-thumping intense electro-house, I couldn’t handle it. We walked back to the car and left the grounds at around 1:30 AM. Overall a good friday night – very crowded, a little less than Saturday but probably just a little. Insomniac did a good split this year, bringing in the house crowd on Friday with Deadmau5 and SHM drawing in the numbers, and then the big Saturday crowd (no work, Armin, Above and Beyond, Afrojack, etc.). Well played sirs. I’m sure they made a killing this weekend.

I didn’t catch any of Deadmau5′s set but from what I heard it was very similar to the set he played at Coachella, which I saw, so I wasn’t too disappointed. It looks like the glowing cube was back, along with the glowing mask. I’m not a huge fan of Deadmau5 sets – a little too intense for me – but for those who are into his stuff I’m sure it was a good way to end EDC Friday night.

As for us, we got a very lucky parking spot right near the entrance, got in before things got out of hand, and drove home to rest up for Saturday night. That review will come soon…

Sorry everyone, the site was down for a few hours because our bandwidth hit its limit. We’re back online now…

Also back online for this weekend is the Cubatron L5. This thing is so awesome words can’t describe it. I remember at Coachella it was like a lamp in the middle of a firefly nest; Saturday night there was a good 15 ft perimeter of people AROUND it, not to mention all the people undernearth. Drugs or not, this thing is fun to stare at.

I welcome its return to EDC. In case you’ve been living under a rock, the map and set times are posted, and there parking maps and stuff on the main site.

If you’re still looking to buy tickets, Click here for Friday and here for Saturday.

See you all at the Coliseum this weekend… be sure to RT @LaBeatCo if you’re posting photos – we wanna see ‘em and post them on our blog.