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Electric Daisy Carnival 2009...where is my mind?
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Electric Daisy CarnicaI 2009, main stage in L.A. Coliseum...pretty nuts huh?
The one and only reason I haven’t been able to report back on L.A.’s long awaited and famous early summer rave, Electric Daisy Carnival 2009, is because I am still trying to desperately recover from it. Unfortunately, I was unable to dish out the cash as well as the brain cells to go both days, yet my experience was nonetheless out of this world. It was Saturday, June 27th, and the grounds of the L.A. Coliseum as well as USC’s campus were peppered with characters, ravers, flower children, and house/trance music lovers. There were girls in wigs and lingerie, their bodies wrapped in sheer fabric and covered in glitter and neon colors, teetering on platform boots and heels. There were guys shirtless, their faces hidden behind masks and handkerchiefs, all eager to begin a long night of heart thumping bass and the most elaborate of light shows any stage and DJ set could offer. The front gate could be seen from down the street and already our group was unable to keep it together, each member fearful and excited to steer away and get lost in a mind bending ride where only the music trickling through the endless crowd could be your bread crumbs. The sunlight was slowly disappearing behind the monstrous coliseum, a foreshadowing to the behavior that ensued shortly thereafter, uninhibited, passionate, and relentless.
We entered through gate 23, to our left the last comfortable restroom facilities for the rest of the night, our right loads of people shuffling around, a bubbling moat of heads ready to boil over. We immediately got our drink wrist bands and headed for a DJ set already aglow in green laser beam light in the bassPOD. We caught some LTJ Bukem, a dj lush in deep bass rhythm and island influence. As people bounced around and kicked up the dust that was the dance floor, I could smell the dirt and mania in the air. Already this place was becoming it’s own planet, with its own topographical lay out, culture, and traditions. We were thus in a wild city, void of any sense or natural need for reality.
All around us was a circus. Stilt walkers dressed as flowers, costumed and masked dancers all jumping around, loads and loads of people littering the sidewalks and the grassy knolls, holding, hugging, talking, sitting. There were parades of people dressed as clowns and passing out flowers, ravers naming each other, meeting each other for the first and last time. The abundance of love and music released such a primal desire to befriend everyone around you, a modern day Woodstock.
We eventually made our way over to circuitGROUNDS, a stage on the far east donned with fire cracker esque lights and beams of bold color. The scene was pregnant with madness. It was at this point, as our minds doubled over in the sudden realization that we were in this place for at least another seven hours, we decided carnival rides were in order. We wanted to stay near circuitGROUNDS to make sure we caught Infected Mushroom, so we headed towards the Orbiter, a loopy ride where you sat in a car with one other person and got twisted and turned in the air. As we stood in line, we were quite near the edge of the rave, big green gates separating us from the lucid world outside. We began to see security run towards the gate and then it began to bulge. It became alive, it was trembling, waving and then with a sudden burst, it fell down and a swarm of desperate ravers came rushing inside, yearning to be a part of the biggest event to kick off the summer. Security went crazy and it was do or die. Tiny girls were getting knocked out by heavy set guards, full grown men were trapped under the fence. Any one person a guard could grasp was doomed to be thrown out and/or arrested. Soon after the melee, security put the fence back up and everything resumed normal, except the handful of party goers still running through the crowd to avoid getting caught.
circuitGROUNDS in the mean time was heating up. The Crystal Method and Markus Shulz had already been spinning and as fire dancers came out to roll their bodies for the crowd, more and more people began surrounding the stage. M.I.A. even made an appearance as Paper Planes’s remix came pulsing through the speakers. It was as if the grand finale was in the air, and you could just smell it as well as taste it. Finally, 2 A.M. and Infected Mushroom takes the stage. Every perfected beat came through like a tidal wave and it knocked us out until 4 A.M. when the memory of real life came crashing down on us and we were too exhausted to even care how dirty, sweaty, and grassy our bodies were. Infected Mushroom was certainly the set to end on, that final note ringing through the air like a friendly wave goodbye. The darkness lifted and the sky lightened as the sun began its roundabout through the sky. EDC was now a distant maniacal memory only remembered through photos and the candy (beads) that were looped around our arms and wrists. Candy and an alter ego named “Astrology.”
Photos: S.Morales, 2009
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