This past weekend (6/27/08) the GenerationQ West Coast US team decided to pack up the car and take a drive from the hot weather here in Phoenix, AZ to the much-cooler Southern California area. Our purpose: the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in Los Angeles on Saturday. In its 11^th year, the EDC is sort of mix between a giant carnival and a fun night of raving. This year’s event saw attendance in excess of 50,000 partygoers with a truly world-class DJ lineup including Paul Van Dyk, Moby, Rabbit in the Moon, Christopher Lawrence, Colette, Benny Benassi, BT, Krafty Kuts, and D.Ramirez, to name a few.

We arrived in Los Angeles late on Friday night. After visiting one of my favorite restaurants in Long Beach, we made our way to our hotel the Radission at USC (I highly recommend this hotel for any large LA Massive—its right across the street!). Friday night was rather uneventful, and we were all very excited about the festival on Saturday afternoon.

Of course, this perfect trip can’t go without some problems, and boy…did we really have our troubles on Saturday. We arrived at the festival grounds around 4pm to pickup our tickets and get in line. We were in line for 4 ½ hours and still didn’t get in! To make a long story (and I mean, a really long story) short, there was an excess of incompetence from the security staff, the promoters (Insomniac Events), as well as the venue. We decided to upgrade to VIP just so we could get in and we ran into a lot of trouble with the promoter’s ticketing agency GrooveTickets. The prices listed on our tickets had a much different value than what we actually paid for – no one at the venue or GrooveTickets were willing to help us out. GrooveTickets makes a big deal about how they are a small company and more service-oriented…that couldn’t be farther from the truth. If you are thinking of using GrooveTickets in the future and have the opportunity to use a more “legitimate” ticketing company (like TicketMaster) I would highly suggest paying the extra $3 or $4 for the ticket to ensure that you don’t have trouble from these people. On top of all that, their service representative recently argued with me over e-mail. What ever happened to “the customer is always right?” Yah right! By the way, at press time, the promoters did respond to each of our problems and laid out ways that they are going to improve the event for next year. I am looking forward to seeing those improvements in action.

Rabbit in the moon wows the audience with an audiovisual experience.

Okay, enough about the problems, let’s talk about the party! When we finally got into the venue and settled down (lets just say it was around 10pm) we got a chance to see the end of Christopher Lawrence’s set. He always puts on a good show. What we really came for was to see Rabbit in the Moon…

I have been blessed to be able to see a variety of incredible electronic acts in my life (Daft Punk, Faithless, Underworld, Portishead, Kraftwerk, Pendulum, Tiesto, Thievery Corporation, etc.). I would have to say that the show that Rabbit in the Moon put on at EDC was so fantastic I have to put it on this list! Bunny from Rabbit in the Moon really knows how to work an audience and their set was more of a carnival freakshow than an electronic music act. Nonetheless, I haven’t been that entertained at a concert in a long time. I can’t really explain the things he did on stage, and words really won’t do it justice. You should go to youtube right now and search for some videos from RITM! Do it! Right now! (and then come back to read the rest of this article – here’s one to look at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwRLDU0DZP0 )

Rabbit in the Moon. Photo (C)GenerationQ

Okay, wasn’t that incredible? You should have been there…it rocked my world. After we settled down a bit from that show, we decided to go back into the main arena to see Moby’s set. It’s been about 6 or 7 years since I have seen Moby play, and he didn’t disappoint. When I walked back into the main arena, I felt like I was back in the apex of the rave culture. There was something about the way that he integrated old school beats and anthems into a set that felt very, very new. If you have a chance to see Moby in the future, I would highly recommend it.

Our night ended by seeing Paul Van Dyk for a while. The many times I have seen him, I have always felt the same way…he’s good, he’s solid, and he’s very predictable. Overall, it was a good set and quite enjoyable, but nothing truly fantastic. Finally, we got to see Krafty Kuts. You know, I’ll be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of breakbeats, but they were really good! After seeing Krafty Kuts, I might have to revaluate my thoughts on good breakbeats.

Moby plays to a massive audience at EDC 2008

Despite our trouble getting into the event, our night was really good. I am glad that we took the trip out to Los Angeles to attend the Electric Daisy Carnival. The 6 hour drive back to Phoenix wasn’t so fun on Sunday, especially when we all didn’t get to sleep until 6 in the morning…but, it was worth it! What’s next for the GenQ crew? I don’t know…I guess you’ll have to keep watching to find out!

Tags: Electric Daisy Carnival, Los Angeles, music, Rabbit in the Moon, rave