The year 1996 was a good one for music. Tupac had just released his album All Eyez On Me , everyone was doing the Macarena and nightly underground dance music parties circulated up and down the coast of California, culminating in the first ever Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles.
Twenty-years later, the Electric Daisy Carnival, now simply called EDC, has become a worldwide phenomenon taking place in over a dozen locations around the world. Today the original massive music festival has moved from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in order to accommodate more attendees. In 2015, EDC Las Vegas brought together over 400,000 music fans. Now celebrating “20 Years Under the Electric Sky,” EDC Las Vegas 2016 will be the annual music festival’s biggest yet.
This year’s EDC Las Vegas ups the ante in a way that only Las Vegas can. The event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on June 17, 18, and 19 features headliners from six continents, however, the promoter remains silent about who all will be performing at EDC Las Vegas 2016. EDC Las Vegas is also one of the only music festivals on earth that can completely sell out of tickets without releasing their full line-up of performers.
EDC Las Vegas event promoter, Insomniac, will also be bringing in new stage designs, art installations, roaming performers, and much more in celebration of the 20th anniversary of EDC Las Vegas.
Insomniac gave more insight on the demographic at EDC Las Vegas 216 in a recent press release.
“This year’s festival will host fans from all 50 states and 61 countries, with attendees speaking over 30 unique languages – from English and Spanish to Chinese and Arabic. California, Nevada, Texas, Arizona and Colorado dominate the U.S. in EDC Las Vegas attendance while Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Mexico draw the largest international crowds. Headliners will travel thousands of miles to get to Las Vegas, as far away as Singapore – 8,828 miles, to immerse themselves in an unparalleled world full of inspirational art and carnival-style thrills.”
Throughout its 23-year history, Insomniac has produced more than 1,000 festivals, concerts, and club nights for nearly 5 million attendees across three continents. Insomniac’s events are held in California, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, New York, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Brazil.
Insomniac also recently released a series of videos in which fans plan their journey to EDC Las Vegas from every corner of the globe, such as this video depicting a devoted husband from New Delhi, India speaks of his plans to take his wife to EDC for the first time.
For the cities hosting music festivals like EDC Las Vegas, the real attraction is the money these events generate for the local economy. In 2015, EDC Las Vegas generated more that $350 million for Clark County alone, according to Insomniac .
In a comprehensive study done by Beacon Economics, LLC, taking the annual music festival from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in 2011 has generated a staggering $1.3 billion for the Las Vegas economy over a five-year period and hosting over 1.7 million fans at EDC Las Vegas. Those numbers come from the additional labor generated for the event, as well as all of the money that EDC Las Vegas attendees spend that goes back into the local economy.
“It is incredible that in just five years our Headliners have helped us generate more than $1.3 billion back to Las Vegas, a place I call home,” said Pasquale Rotella, Founder and CEO of Insomniac. “I’m so grateful that I can do what I love while making a positive impact in the community.”
As EDC Las Vegas continues to trump every other music festival in terms of size and economic stimulus, Electric Daisy Carnival has truly become the world’s biggest music festival franchise.
Tickets to EDC Las Vegas 2016 are available here.
[All photos via Insomniac, used with permission.]