EDC Vegas: Life After EDM Bros and Pacifiers; Lost DJ Mixes; Good Finds
In search of peace, love, unity, and respect in the Las Vegas desert
First, an Archive Update
Since leaving the full-time corporate world earlier this year to, among other things, focus on URB again, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what parts of our 20-year history are worth surfacing. Arguably, a lot of it, but not all of it. Not to mention, where do we wade into current music and culture? These questions and answers have occupied a lot of my time, and this Substack remains an experiment, the URB Archive beta, if you will.
From a technical standpoint, not everything in the archive is even digitized. Very little original material remains on the Web. And even though many gigabytes are digitally archived, assembling them for consumption on Substack poses unique challenges. A physical magazine was never meant to be a website or a newsletter, so rendering its distinct form on a mobile UI (user interface) is impossible. All this is to say that what we’ll create here will evolve as we test formats, collect feedback, and see what works.
Your comments, notes, suggestions, and ideas are incredibly valuable and will help shape the future of URB. Of course, you can email us at info+subs@urb.com or leave a comment here.
A note on URB Podcasts: Since launching in March, we’ve added several DJ mixes from the URB archive on our Podcasts page. It’s been great to get these back into the world, from Green Velvet to Zed Bias to Star Eyes. We have dozens more to post, so please check back here soon.
My thoughts on P.L.U.R., rave pacifiers, the vanishing EDM bro, and why EDC is better than Burning Man…
I drove out to EDC Las Vegas last weekend, just long enough to get a taste of where this monster of a festival is in 2023. Insomniac is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and this year marked 12 years since the festival left LA for the desert. Fun fact: Yours truly DJ’d at the first Insomniac Electric Daisy Carnival in LA in March of 1997 (there were also pre-Insomniac EDCs). I can’t say I recall too many details, so if you were there, please leave a comment.
I returned this year (my last EDC was around 2016) curious about how the event and the scene had evolved over the past half-decade. After about 12 hours on the ground, I left with 12 takeaways worth sharing.
PLUR is real: Sure, it sounds corny if you’re a cynic. But the universal maxim of peace, love, unity, and respect has withstood three generations of underground and overground scrutiny. And the now well-known acronym shows no signs of waning. Insomniac outwardly celebrates its declaration and is even trying to trademark it. More importantly, the fans believe in it. PLUR is etched on clothes, skin, and flags and is symbolized in heart-shaped hand gestures. I can’t say we don’t need this today more than ever.
Colorful styles still rule: There was a moment around 2015 when every EDM bro wore a simple black and white uniform, making bright candy kids appear very last century. So while there will always be a layer of monochromatic cool in the crowd, it’s great to see that modern rave fashion is not shy about color. EDC was absolutely, well, electric, from the merchandise vendors to an abundance of kandi, to neon Speedos. Still, I’m thankful there’s no strict uniform, and casual (i.e., shorts and T) is also perfectly OK attire.
“Buy the ticket, take the ride” — Hunter S. Thompson
Old school ravers welcome: Perhaps I’m, ahem, extra sensitive to this, but feeling like some kids’ dad isn’t always comfortable when at a music event. And despite EDC remaining a right of passage for many in their early 20s, it doesn’t seem to discriminate against those still at it decades later. In a far less creepy way than you’d imagine, OG ravers (there’s even a Camp OG onsite) mingle among the youngins without getting the side eye. In all seriousness, the event’s celebration of the multigenerational rave family is commendable and a key reason I feel welcome.
In keeping these vintage themes going and attempting to update them for fans who weren’t there in the ’90s and early ’00s, Insomniac CEO Pasquale Rotella (In full disclosure, I’ve worked with Rotella professionally) is personally ensuring this era gets integrated into his modern shows. Onsite in Vegas were an exhibit and a merchandise booth promoting LA’s ’90s rave culture, flyers, and fashion. In addition, Rotella’s hands-on promotion of clothing brands FreshJive and Gypsies and Thieves (GAT) reflects his commitment to the movement’s underground and DIY roots.
Are pacifiers finally dead?: Pacifiers have a long, and some might say embarrassing, history in US rave culture, dating back to the early ’90s. They’ve been debated as an acceptable form of accessorizing and called out by the Justice Department as drug paraphernalia. Their presence didn’t help the scene fight off critics who said we were too young and irresponsible while some of us impersonated actual babies. Judgments aside, the pacifier as rave accouterment seems to have finally gone the way of JNCOs… UPDATE: Apparently, JNCOs never truly died (see below), but pacifiers are banned!
Fighter jets flying over the festival site are oddly cool: EDC Vegas takes place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which happens to be in the flight path of Nellis Air Force Base. So, if you’re camping over the weekend as I did, you might see (and surely hear) some serious American firepower flying very low. It’s pretty rad if you like that sort of thing.
Shrooms are the new weed: From therapeutic options to a mellow day trip, mushrooms (psilocybin), readily available as tea or gummies, might be the perfect gateway to psychedelics. Moreover, shrooms seem to be having their moment, long a part of rave and festival culture but now available in more digestible and downright tasty forms. I’m happy to report — yum.
Dubstep, drum n bass, trance, gabber, deep house, et al.… are not going anywhere: Rule no. 1, genres never die. If anything, they go back underground and satiate the diehards until the mainstream calls on them again, especially in the age of limitless music libraries and about 45 years of electronic dance music evolution. A healthy scene can embrace its diverse lineages, reimagining them for each subsequent generation. Across EDC, these genres were loud, alive, and kicking. Even Tiësto proudly dropped some drum n bass.
Is EDC the more inclusive Burning Man?: OK, EDC is not Burning Man and likely doesn’t want to be. But the festival’s Nevada desert setting, onsite camping, its embrace of self-expression, and plenty of visible hippie vibes are at least channeling the neighboring Black Rock City ritual. And from my vantage, EDC has a far more socio- and economically-diverse crowd. From the trippy clothing to the PLUR mantra, it is becoming a rave generation Burning Man without the radical self-reliance and Winnie-the-Pooh part.
Also… Vegas is the right town for EDC: Most of today’s fans don’t recall its birth or run in Los Angeles, but LA couldn’t contain what this has become, and the show is all the better since its move. Camping beats a hotel: A rich community of campers includes silver spacey tents and an RV area. It gets quiet during the main show hours, but living the full onsite experience has major advantages and avoids the traffic. The “EDM Bro” is dead — I hope. Rave may continue to struggle to live up to its utopian ideals. Still, body-positive rainbow-colored ravers, PLUR armies, and far-less-bro-y dudes diluted the all-white cis-gendered hetero model the OG bros represented. Insomniac’s founder/CEO is the driving force. Rotella personally prioritizes the scene’s roots and values throughout EDC. It’s remarkable to see his dedication to the festival’s evolution worldwide while maintaining a space for rave’s 30+ year legacy here at home.
OK, what do you think of these observations? What are some of yours on this past EDC or any others? I’ve linked some 2010 and 2023 vérité videos below, as well as this photo gallery. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
And before I go… here’s stuff I love, found, or need to tell somebody about:
Plus, this vintage Björk video you can only watch on YouTube.
I still remember those early LA raves days. Thanks for bringing back underground memories Raymond! - Tony Lin
"Rule no. 1, genres never die. If anything, they go back underground and satiate the diehards until the mainstream calls on them again." God, I've missed this writing ability. It's what made URB what it was.
You just described an incredibly healthy scene, which is precisely the verdict that I get when I crawl out of raver retirement a select few times per year. This generation *gets it*, perhaps better than the two before it.
As a 90s raver, knowing this is so, so affirming. I care about the legacy of what we built more than about 90% of the things that I participated in during my youth. Being able to go and walk away knowing that you helped build something that's not only been adopted but improved upon, that it's in good hands, and the kids are alright, means that the idealism which we helped build the scene around was enduring, powerful, and won in the end.