From bass drops to fireworks, EDC again delivers its signature Las Vegas frenzy

T his Las Vegas honky tonk was the unlikeliest of hotspots.

But there it was, jam-packed in the early-morning hours of Saturday, lined wall-to-wall with people dancing to the directions of DJ Slim McGraw.

“When I say ‘yee,’ you say ‘haw,’ ” McGraw commanded from a small stand at the front right next to the bar.”

“Yee!”

“Haw!”

“Yee!”

“Haw!”

“Yee!”

“Haw!”

Blaring from the speakers in the mass of humanity was a techno mix of familiar country hits, such as Lil Nas X’s 2019 remix of “Old Town Road,” and Big & Rich’s 2004 “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).” On the floor dancing and answering McGraw’s “yees” with their “haws” were hundreds of ravers shuffling in and out of the tiny venue.

Welcome to YeeDC!, the country stage at the Electric Daisy Carnival, which again drew an estimated 525,000 ravers overnight Friday, Saturday and Sunday to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, continuing its reign as the largest electronic music festival in North America.

If you think a country-techno beat would be out of place at EDC, think again. As Insomniac, which produces the annual festival, says, “We groove to the same universal beat, and, together, create musical experiences that will never be forgotten.” And groove is exactly what was happening in the makeshift country saloon.

YeeDC! was situated in the festival’s bustling Downtown EDC area, also home to The Queen Bar, which featured a lively drag show and Marry Me at EDC, the venue’s wedding chapel and a silent disco among other attractions.

But Downtown EDC was a mere piece of the EDC puzzle. Giant stages were horseshoed into the 1.5-mile oval of the speedway that is the home to two annual NASCAR weekends. From elaborate stages inside areas dubbed names such as Kinetic Field and Circuit Grounds to Basspod to Quantum Valley, Cosmic Meadow, Neon Garden and Stereo Bloom, each of the venues had elaborate setups, light shows, different genres of electronic music and crowds of festivalgoers that overload the senses and fall short of easy description.

On Friday night in the covered Quantum Valley, 61-year-old trance DJ Paul Oakenfold held a crowd spellbound for his hourlong set. From his perch atop a stage dwarfed by the light show behind him,

Oakenfold played the maestro to an overflow audience easily numbering in the thousands. His remix of “Southern Sun” had the house jumping in joy, with Oakenfold egging on even louder applause despite the booming and thumping music.

Two acrobatic dancers who were hoisted high above the stage on lighted Hula-Hoops punctuated his set. A camera-loaded drone zoomed above the acrobats before darting over the audience several times and then hovered mere inches from Oakenfold’s face.

Later in the evening, at Kinetic Field — its vastness filled to the brim with ravers — American-born DJ Sara Landry held court. Though dwarfed by her setting — a giant owl in the center of futuristic cityscape dubbed “kineticMETROPOLIS” — Landry stood huge among festivalgoers.

The 30-year-old has described her music as “witchy warehouse techno,” and her hour or so onstage had her fans dancing and cheering wildly. Landry’s high-octane 70-minute set was fueled by astonishing laser and fire effects.

Over at Circuit Grounds, the famed Tiësto spun his magic with mixes that included artists such as Ariana Grande, A$AP Rocky and Sexyy Red.

Getting from stage to stage along with tens of thousands of others at the same time makes it impossible to fit in a stop at every one of the festival’s venues, even over the three full nights of EDC, let alone in one night.

A must-see arrived around 1:40 a.m. each of the three nights of the festival: a six-minute fireworks show that absolutely filled the sky with explosions of light. It’s a sight to behold and easily rivals the annual New Year’s Eve extravaganza launched from atop resorts along the Las Vegas Strip to annually ring in the new year.

Add to that the various other EDC activities, from carnival rides galore to art exhibits and eating and drinking establishments, and the festival can leave your head spinning. Saturday night, when high winds forced festival organizers to close Circuit Grounds, Bionic Jungle and Quantam Valley, there was concern that more than heads would be spinning.

Sunday, the weather again cooperated, and by daybreak Monday, the dancing, music, performers and activities came to a close for another year. Metro Police, who showed a strong but not overbearing presence at the festival, reported making 29 felony arrests, a handful of misdemeanors and issuing around 75 citations, including for traffic violations.

Through it all, the vast majority of the attendees paid attention to the festival motto: “All are welcome here. Under the Electric Sky, we come together to celebrate life, love, art and music.”

Yee-haw, indeed.