Electric Daisy Carnival's Las Vegas Debut Deemed a Success

Swedish House Mafia and Afrojack emerge as the electronic music festival’s new champions in a genre that's influencing pop and rap more than ever. Next up: EDC the movie, coming in August.

North America’s largest dance music event, Electronic Daisy Carnival, thrilled around 200,000 fans over the weekend in Las Vegas, the first time the annual gathering took place in Sin City.

Top-name draws from Scandinavia and Europe, such as Tiësto, David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia shared the limelight with dozens of equally compelling DJs, known to electronic music boosters abroad and increasingly in America, such as Laidback Luke, Martin Solveig, Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Richie Hawtin, Sander Van Doorn, Avicii, A-Trak, ATB, Ferry Corsten and others.

“It was incredible,” Holland-basedDJ Afrojack, born Nick van de Wall, said after his set Saturday evening, during which he proclaimed EDC to be the “greatest party on the planet.” The DJ-producer’s slot was a highlight of the fest, proving he may well be one of the top draws next year. With a set to mirror the carnival rides that operated in the background of Electronic Daisy, Van de Wall offered up dizzying drops, smooth-coasting rolls and everything in between. Operating more like a novelist than a DJ, he employed foreshadowing; teasing tracks that he would spin later in his set (everything from Daft Punk tunes to neo-“rave” anthems such as Laidback Luke’s “Turbulence”) to great effect.

The DJ was not an official headliner, but the predominantly 20-something crowd put Van de Wall