We packed our dancing shoes for a trip to our home turf and reunited under the Electric Sky in Orlando, Florida. EDMTunes spent all weekend exploring the Electric Daisy Carnival Orlando. Tinker Field hosted us yet again for three nights of incredible acts, tons of interactive installations, and love. The weekend of November 8-10 2024 will be one for the books. Let’s recap all the highlights of EDC Orlando, our favorite experiences and sets, as well as what we think could be improved for next year.
The Venue & Stages
Tinker Field has hosted the festival since 2011, and it continues to wow us each time. The four main stages that remain consistent through the Las Vegas edition and Orlando made a triumphant return this year. Kinetic Field featured a callback to the legendary 2014 mainstage design, while Circuit Grounds had massive screens for massive visuals, looking like an Ultra mainstage. Stereo Bloom was our highlight stage of the weekend, with a smooth and minimal structure that kept us hypnotized each night. This stage felt the least crowded as well. There were multiple water stations around the festival, and many amenities inside the VIP section for each stage. Moreover, we had tons of food options and fun carnival rides.
Neon Garden had the simplest set up this year, as the stage’s production only covered the front of the dancefloor. Although this allowed the dancefloor to have the biggest surface area yet, we were all hoping the design would mirror Las Vegas’ Neon Garden, which saw the return of its tent structure. We really really hope that EDC Orlando will give us some a covered Neon Garden again in the future. Shoutout to Casa Bacardi for having such a pretty club-like set up this year. They had their own rooftop bar with tables and delicious cocktails that kept us “hydrated” all weekend and presented pop-up sets by headliners such as Riordan, and Tom & Collins.
The Music
The speakers went full throttle all weekend, playing hits after hits on every stage. Major sets included matches made in EDM heaven such as Carl Cox b2b Vintage Culture, Eric Prydz, Oliver Heldens b2b Benny Benassi, Kaskade b2b Allison Wonderland, Worship (Dimension b2b Sub Focus b2b Shock Culture b2b 1991), and our favorite duo of the weekend Ameme b2b Honeyluv, who threw down some celestial Afrohouse on Saturday.
Other major acts include rising stars such as Max Styler, Odd Mob, Beltran, and Mau P. Legendary performances include Nicole Moudaber, I Hate Models, Amelie Lens, and John Summit. Slander’s Kinetic field set and their newest techno project Before Dawn both gave us quintessential Slander and new and fresh sounds that have claimed an even bigger audience, now press replay to that!
Honorable sets include Layla Benitez, Ganja White Night, Vini Vici’s sunset set, Mathame, Alesso, who included a heartfelt tribute to his late friend and former One Direction member Liam Payne in his set, and Illenium’s festival closing set. The DJ used all of the pyros and production left, including a uniquely crafted drone show that suited one of the best Melodic Bass artists of our generation.
The downtown takeover always provides great afterparties. This year, the Vanguard and Celine had the most notable afterparties, including fresh sets from Alesso and Patrick Mason.
The Vibes
EDC Orlando attracts tons of EDM fanatics from all over the East Coast. In fact, the attendance is basically double that of Ultra Music Festival in Miami. We traded lots of kandi, security was extremely nice and professional, and the PLUR was in full throttle. The crowds got a bit overwhelming at times this year, but that’s something that can be fixed with changes to the crowd flow and festival layout. There are simply too many people going in every direction at the same time, and it makes the trek from one stage to another quite treacherous at night. Dividing the walkways by direction would help with this. However, the point remains that everybody there was having the time of their lives!
What to look into for EDC Orlando 2025
The head of Insomniac Events Pasquale Rotella, continuesly exceeds expectations, delivering some of the best festivals in the world. As he continues to gather feedback from his shows, we notice the improvements as time passes. When it comes to Neon Garden we hope that it can return to its megastructural tent that it deserves. Moreover, Rotella also announced that given the massive success of EDC Orlando, he plans to expand the festival grounds to allow better movement and flow.
If you havent unpacked yet, be not afraid! pre-sale for EDCO 2025 was just announced as well hehehehe. See you guys next year!