4 Las Vegas EDM Festivals That Are Worth Booking a Vacation For
Electronic dance music and Las Vegas are a natural combination. Vegas’ 24/7 party attitude and electric vibe set the perfect tone for tourists and locals alike to dance their hearts out to the electronic sounds of this new era of music. In fact, just one of the biggest EDM festivals in the city annually contributes around half a billion dollars to the city’s revenue. So with that in mind, here are our top ‘4 Las Vegas EDM Festivals Worth Booking a Vacation For’.
Electric Daisy Carnival
Image credit: Las Vegas Review Journal
Let’s start with the mother of all Las Vegas EDM music fests. EDC, or Electric Daisy Carnival, is kind of like if the artistic, post apocalyptic desert energy of Burning Man was dedicated to EDM and unleashed at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Apart from the literally hundreds of DJs and EDM acts in its roster, EDC also features new theatrical performances, fireworks, crowdsurfers in inflatable rafts, neon art installations, and some of the best futuristic festival outfits you’ll ever see. In 2016, it attracted 200,000 partygoers and raked in around $500 million in sales. In 2017, the Electronic Music Awards named it Festival of the Year. And on May of this year, EDC introduced the option of renting for campers or parking RVs onsite to reduce the traffic that the annual festival causes in the city. Next year, the festival is set to happen at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 17 to 19.
Exodus Festival
Image credit: Electronic Vegas
If you’re looking to dance in somewhat smaller crowds, the five-day Exodus Festival is divided into around 15 different simultaneous EDM events across various Vegas nightclubs and event venues. In 2018, the festival is scheduled to happen over four separate weeks: Exodus Festival Opening Weekend and Exodus Festival Canadian Invasion already happened earlier this year. Meanwhile, the Summer Love leg of the festival is set for August 2 to 7 and their Labor Day Weekend is set for August 30 to September 4. Special passes allow groups of festival goers to save some cash.
Life is Beautiful Festival
Image credit: Consequence of Sound
This music, art, culinary, and learning festival is not exclusively dedicated to EDM. However, Consequence of Sound reports that its 2018 lineup will include EDM favourites like Santigold, Gramatik, Odesza, RL Grime, Travis Scott, and DJ Snake. Festival goers can also expect big names like the Weeknd, Tyler the Creator, Arcade Fire, St. Vincent, and Daniel Caesar to perform at the event. Apart from dancing your heart out, you can also see live cooking demos and listen to interesting talks at the Life is Beautiful Festival – set for September 21 to 23 in Downtown Las Vegas.
iHeartRadio Music Festival
Image credit: By Tomás Del Coro from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA – T Mobile Arena The Strip Las Vegas, CC BY-SA 2.0, Commons Wikimedia
If you wanna see the biggest names in a variety of genres apart from EDM, head on over to iHeartRadio Music Festival at the T-Mobile Arena on September 21 to 22. Former headliners include mainstream Top 40 dance music artists like Deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia, and Tiesto. Meanwhile, this year’s lineup already includes Kygo, Logic, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, and Dua Lipa, among others. Chief programming officer for iHeartMedia Tom Poleman proudly proclaims that “This Festival has the best artists from every style of music heard on iHeartRadio stations across America, giving both artists and our listeners a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Not sure which festival to visit? The best way to start choosing is to listen to some of the best EDM songs available in order to find out which artists really pique your interest. From there, you can then see whether or not they’re playing at any of these future EDM festivals. Also, don’t worry too much about which specific Vegas festival to visit. The famous Las Vegas Strip is full of world class resorts and venues that are now regularly holding small and large EDM festivals because they’ve turned into massive cash cows for the Entertainment City of the World. Festival or not, there are EDM gigs and events that happen throughout the city all year round for you and your friends to enjoy.
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