 1) Electric Daisy Carnival New York – MetLife Stadium; East Rutherford, New Jersey (Tickets)
EDC New York gets the top spot on this list for one simple reason; kineticCATHEDRAL. Insomniac’s massive and innovative main stage design kineticCATHEDRAL made its debut at 2014’s Las Vegas installment, and 2015 marks its EDC New York debut. The Vegas version was downsized from 440 feet wide to 240 feet wide to be more suitable stage for traveling, but still represents a massive spectacle to behold on the main stage. Both days of this year’s festival bring incredible performers; the headliners on Saturday will be Hardwell (for a second year in a row) at kineticCATHEDRAL, Armin van Buuren at circuitGROUNDS, and Carl Cox and Bassnectar at the other two stages neonGARDEN and cosmicMEADOW. On Sunday, Calvin Harris will close out circuitGROUNDS while Knife Party holds the fitting honor of shutting down kineticCATHEDRAL and the entirety of EDC New York. To get the most up to date information prior to and during the festival, you can download the Insomniac: EDC New York 2015 app, and check out the official EDC New York 2015 Playlist from Insomniac.
2) Counterpoint Music Festival – Kingston Downs; Rome, Georgia (Tickets)
Heading down south and coming in at number two is Counterpoint Music Festival at Kingston Downs Racetrack in Rome, Georgia. Originally held in Atlanta between September 27-29 in 2012, Counterpoint had to take 2013 off due to the arrival of TomorrowWorld, taking over their location. The festival made their return in 2014 at their current Kingston Downs location, with a diverse but also electronic heavy lineup. Moving the festival to Memorial Day Weekend presents an opportunity for Counterpoint to show its chops as one of the country’s premier dance festivals. This years lineup features several dance headliners, with appearances from the likes of Knife Party and Excision on Friday, Dillon Francis, RL Grime, and Thomas Jack on Saturday, and Zedd, Kygo, and Zeds Dead to finish off the weekend. If you’d like to give some of the artists on the lineup a listen, you can check out this Counterpoint 2015 playlist on Soundcloud.
3) Sunset Music Festival – Raymond James Stadium; Tampa, Florida (Tickets)
Sunset Music Festival has occupied the Memorial Day Weekend spot at Raymond James Stadium since 2012, and its 2015 version looks like it will be the best one yet. Heading to Tampa in a well rounded headlining class will be Tiesto and Skrillex on day 1, and Armin van Buuren on day 2. While the top of the lineup is bright, this year’s Sunset lineup is pretty much stacked from top to bottom. You won’t want to miss a chance to see Porter Robinson’s live Worlds show, and acts such as Audien, Don Diablo, Oliver Heldens, DVBBS, and Tchami showcase the variety offered this year. To learn more about the Sunset Music Festival experience, head over to their website.
4) Mysteryland USA – Bethel Woods, New York (Tickets)
Mysteryland USA made an awesome debut as a 21+ festival last Memorial Day in Bethel Woods, and will be returning to the site of Woodstock for a second year in a row. Mysteryland holds the historic privilege of hosting their festival on the grounds of Woodstock in 1969.  The historic value combined with the fascinating stage designs make Mysteryland a one of a kind festival experience. This year, they have gathered a great group of electronic dance artists such as Kygo, Madeon, Diplo and Dillon Francis, but Mysteryland dipped much further into different genres this time around. To see the rest of the lineup head over to Mysterland USA’s website; it’s certainly an experience worth exploring if you’re looking for something different.
5) We Are NRG – Long Beach Arena; Long Beach, California (Tickets)
Finally, we bring you We Are NRG, Insomniac’s mini west coast festival in Long Beach, California. In contrast to the rest of this list, We Are NRG is a much smaller event, but packs quite the punch. This year’s event will take place the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, and will bring in five huge artists, Luminox, Bare, Julian Jordan, Don Diablo, and W&W. It’s a treat to see so many great artists in the span of one day, and We Are NRG provides just that. Two or three day festivals are fantastic experiences, but the one day festivals bring something else to the table. And, for the more adventurous ones, you could attend We Are NRG and make your way to one of the other festivals on this list to make it a full weekend.
