EDC 2013: Under the Electric Sky

What an amazing movie! So uplifting and positive! Discussions of PLUR and seeing everyone having an amazing time! It's almost like a 90 minute commercial for the event, that Insomniac holds at the Las Vegas Speedway every year in May. I watched and came to literal tears from seeing the stories, and thought, I need to experience this at least once in my lifetime!

So I did in 2022.

Let's be clear - the reality of the actual event vs. The expectations you have from watching this commercial are wildly different. The one thing I will absolutely agree on is the production, stages and DJ lineups - nothing comes close. However, everything else is just way too biased and not the experience you'll have if you decide to attend. Consider this is a festival, that this year averaged 166,000 people PER DAY. It was the busiest festival they have ever had to date. The entire festival people roll as a couple, friends, or groups. Everyone keeps to themselves mostly. I feel that you need to be under the influence to experience what the movie had to offer. Attempting to view the main stage - if you were in a wheelchair, good luck, it was crazy packed at the main stages pretty much all the time, and getting to and from them was a challenge by itself.

For some people it may have been amazing, but let's be real - if you went solo and sober, it's wildly different than the movie portrays. Bring drugs and friends, then it might be more a 7 or 8 out of 10.

It was quite surprising the group of people that Insomniac chose to follow for this event - not going for sexy & stylish, but the real, raw, silly, and the sometimes foolish to truly capture the diversity of people drawn to events like EDC. It was very refreshing in a documentary.

I've seen many documentaries where the influence of the camera is very felt in the final product - one can imagine that we are not witnessing actual real life but something deeply influenced by a camera there to watch it all. I don't get that feeling at all in this documentary. It's an authentic look at these people's lives and what events like EDC and the music means to them.

This is such a lovely film. It really captures the essence of why Insomniac does this, how come they do it every year and that this is more than just a music genre. It's more of a community and Insomniac chose to do this for the community and be the expert 'experience creators' that they are. I been going to EDC Las Vegas since 2013 and every year is magical in a different way. This is definitely one of the must-see films that a fan and non-fan should watch to see what it's all about

Recently made available on Netflix, Under the Electric Sky, is a documentary of the 2013 Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) held in Las Vegas. As an EDM fan that attends several shows each year that are unfortunately nowhere near the size of EDC, I have had a good amount of exposure to the US EDM scene. While I was familiar with most of the DJs, fashion and sights, I was still astounded by the sheer amount of production, lighting and people at EDC. There also honest about their subject using "normal", "strange" and even an oafish group of guys to guide you though the festival. Altogether, well-put together documentary of the people attending the show as well as a glimpse the actual festivities that take place.

While this film does a decent job of explaining why people feel drawn to EDM and EDC in particular, it is ultimately a bust. It glaringly ignores the impact and influence of the LGBTQ community (which had a major role in the birth of EDM and dance culture) and it conveniently downplays the impact of drugs and how they are woven into the fabric of the EDM experience. By doing so, the movie comes off as a watered down informercial intended to bring in more revenue for the promoters, instead of an honest representation of this rich and vibrant culture. What a waste of a great idea.