We all hold our breath and pray when artist set times for New York’s largest electronic music festival hit the Internet. Now, Electric Zoo will try to elevate the standard for festival production in 2015. Their remodeled motif, labeled ‘Electric Zoo Transformed’, looks to deliver a fresh experience to returning attendees, in addition to an inclusive environment for first-timers. Electric Zoo has dropped set times for their massive labor day weekend event, and to prepare, we’ve curated a playlist of some highlight tracks you can expect to hear from each stage:
Friday’s schedule presents a lot of opportunity, regardless of what sound you’re into. There are a handful of up-and-coming artists who are definitely worth checking out. Starting on the main stage at 2:45, Slander will be turning up the volume early in the afternoon. Black Tiger Sex Machine will be at the Hilltop Arena from 3:45-4:45. We’re hoping for some B2B action from 5:00-7:00 at Riverside where Destructo (Gary Richards) will be followed by Alison Wonderland. We’ll have to split the sunset hour between Borgore on the main stage and Galantis back at Hilltop. Finally, we’re wrapping up the night with Gramatik and your choice of headliner: Adam Beyer / The Chemical Brothers.
Above & Beyond have become a fixture headliner for Electric Zoo. Leading into their closing performance, there are several other legendary dance acts piled into Saturday’s lineup. Ferry Corsten will be featured at Riverside from 5:15-6:30, then we’ll bounce over to Hilltop to see Headhunterz throw down from 5:50-6:50. Following-up Headhunterz is a 70-minute Bro Safari set that only slightly overlaps with our second dose of trance with Markus Schulz from 7:45-9:15. Finally, it’s easy to just default to Above & Beyond, but no one should overlook the unique chance to see house pioneers Claude VonStroke and Green Velvet play B2B as Get Real.
There’s so many choices to start your Sunday with, but at 5:15 we’ll not be missing Griz tear up the Hilltop Arena with his sax-infused electro funk, followed by RAC Live until 7:45. DVBBS and Deorro take over the main stage as the sun goes down, and The Glitch Mob will close down Hilltop from 8:10-9:25. Sunday School Groove will climax with Pete Tong‘s set from 8:00-9:30 and Hot Since 82‘s conclusion from 9:30-11:00. Simultaneously, the main stage will be shut down by Alesso, playing from 9:25-10:55.
So what are our expectations of EZoo 2015? Basically, we expect an experience that’s completely unlike any previous Electric Zoo Event. We expect the classic elements of the festival to be maintained, but improved, and new festival features to be massive. The lineup presents a refreshing vibe to a normally predictable cast of talent, and we expect the production to match the music. We can’t give away all of the festival’s surprises in one article, but we can share some of the sounds that will be heard throughout the Zoo this Labor Day Weekend.