Afrojack, Bassnectar Top Off Inaugural EDC New York

East Coast Electric Daisy Carnival also featured R3hab and Loco Dice.
By Nicholas Philippou

Afrojack
Photo: Getty Images

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — The Electric Daisy Carnival rolled up its tents Sunday night after nearly 100,000 people danced through MetLife Stadium over the weekend for the inaugural EDC New York.

Afrojack was the ringleader of Sunday's carnival, cranking out two shows and closing the weekend in front of an immense crowd that stretched from the main stage in the parking lot all the way to the stadium gates. Afrojack thanked the crowd as well as his fellow performers as the final fireworks lingered in the skyline, professing his love for New York and promising a return to EDC New York next year.

Five hours before he closed the show, Afro kicked off his first set, dropping the volume for the crowd to sing along with his mega-jam with Eva Simons, "Take Over Control," drawing in the crowd at every word before the drop, then kicking off a jumping flash-mob. He followed-up with an Avicii interlude featuring his mash-up of "Le7els" and "Silhouettes" with "Fade Into Darkness," before he busted loose a brand-new Afro-track he's been teasing around the world since the Ultra Music Festival, known for the time being as "Rock the House."

Afro's "Jacked" tourmates took over control of the Circuit Grounds tent. R3hab literally rolled up his sleeves to perform a monster set and worked the crowd into hysteria with some of his newest bangers. R3hab was definitely feeling the moment, leaping up and down at the drop of his track "Chainsaw Showers." Another huge reaction came for his performance of his as-yet unreleased future jam with Eva Simons called "I Don't Like You."

Bassnectar also drew a huge crowd for a bass-laced, reggae-infused, hip-hopping dub-step rock opera. The man can bang hard tracks for hours and still keep the crowd moving in for more. He leveled the crowd with his live tweaks of fan favorites like his remix of Ellie Goulding's "Lights" and an extra-heavy dosage of his collaboration with Lupe Fiasco, "Vava Voom."

Off in the Cosmic Garden, a completely different musical journey was unraveling with Loco Dice, a master of the minimal, and his own unique brand of tribal tech-house that creeps into your senses. It's subtle and sexy music, and it ignited some random dance-offs in the crowd — definitely a musical experience fit for Electric Daisy.

Perfect weekend weather complemented the successful kick-off of EDC New York, which finally crossed a hurdle by simply happening. After years of speculation on whether EDC could or would take place in New York, the only questions left are what took so long and when is the carnival coming back to town?

"It was an incredible crowd. We're especially thankful to have such extraordinary fans who dress up and participate in what we create," Pasquale Rotella, founder of Insomniac, said. "We're already looking at ways to enhance next year's EDC New York experience." The EDC beat is moving on to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for June 8-10, when Insomniac, EDC's long-running promoter, will run its 16th EDC and is forecasting attendance that exceeds last year's amazing 230,000 people.

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