Love from fans, artists energizes Electric Daisy Carnival

A stage at Electric Daisy Carnival had to be shut down on Sunday morning for almost an hour when a video tower became engulfed in flames. The blaze was quickly contained, and one stage crew member sustained minor injuries.

Pyrotechnics played a big part of the presentation of the Basspod stage — flames continually spewed from at least a half-dozen pinwheel-shaped structures encircling the space. Things went sideways when the top of one structure caught fire.

Event security stood sentry around the space’s perimeter while officials assessed the situation. The stage was back up and running within about 45 minutes.

Just an hour earlier, the scene was dramatically different when a set from Canadian dance producer Excision attracted a crowd so massive that it spilled over into the festival’s main walkway.

That turnout reflected the overall scene throughout the festival on each of the EDC stages. Sets from celebrated dance music acts such Chainsmokers, Zedd, Above & Beyond drew crowds so massive that latecomers were relegated to watching the performances from several hundred yards back with a sea of fans in front of them. Fortunately, the spectacle was just as stunning from a distance, with dazzling light displays and spectacular fireworks overhead.

For those who couldn’t get close enough to the action, VR Live, a Los Angeles-based company, offered demonstrations of virtual reality headsets at Carnival Square, EDC’s communal area, giving fans an immersive experience of seeing live streams of sets from three of the bigger stages, with a 360-degree vantage point from the stage.

More than halfway through the festival, many fans seemed to be as energized as they were in the beginning; a large number expressed their fandom with customized totem poles touting their favorite artists. One fan was Shaliz Gil, who came to Las Vegas from Orlando, Florida, with a group of friends. All were excited to see Seven Lions, the Southern California-based artist born Jeff Montalvo.

Gil has traveled before to see Seven Lions in places such as Washington D.C., but this Las Vegas trip holds a special memory for her. At last year’s EDC, while watching Seven Lions perform a Sunday morning set at Cosmic Meadows with her boyfriend, she realized she was in love.

“His sets are beautiful,” Gil said. “They’re so different every time. He explores other parts of music that you wouldn’t even think about listening to.”

This year marked the third EDC appearance of Seven Lions, who’s made his way up from the Basspod stage, to the much larger Cosmic Meadows stage last year, to this year’s set at Kinetic Field, a prime Saturday slot that easily drew the evening’s biggest crowd next to the Chainsmokers.

“It’s been quite a journey for sure,” Montalvo said backstage a few hours before his set. “Honestly, EDC is like the pinnacle of the year for me and always the most epic and intense and nerve-racking show. So it’s the same nerves and the same craziness. I know after the show, I’ll either throw up, because I’m so nervous, or I’ll just have a beer and pass out.”

Or explore the fest like everybody else.

“I’m going to put on the bandanna and go out there and run around.”

Wait, won’t he mobbed by fans?

“In the daytime, yeah,” he said. “But at nighttime, I’m like any long-haired dude with a beard.”

He’s certainly less recognizable than dance music’s latest superstar, Marshmello, who’s easy to spot in his trademark helmet. The performer — or a highly convincing imposter — was spotted on Sunday morning taking selfies with fans. It’s unknown whether the anonymous act was making his way around. Soulja Boy, however, was on hand and sat in with one of the Cosmic Meadow acts that same day.

That had everybody talking, as did Above & Beyond’s set at Circuit Grounds. The outfit, which brought Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad” onstage last year to start their song “Walter White,” had EDC buzzing again this year. An elderly couple performed the same task for the act with their grandsons, and then the group paid tribute to the recent Orlando tragedy by projecting a rainbow flag superimposed with the words “love wins” on the video panels during “Thing Called Love.”

Read more from Dave Herrera at reviewjournal.com/music. Contact him directly at dherrera@reviewjournal.com and follow @rjmusicdh on Twitter.