Ok, so I like electronic dance music, more specifically Trance. When I started in the 1990's, the US was a bit behind in that department.
Still, with San Francisco and San Jose nearby, I've had some opportunities to see some great EDM/Trance DJs. Back in the early 2000's, they sadly played club music in the US that was nowhere close to the hits they had composed and were known for, but over the years, as Trance started becoming more popular, those DJs finally started playing their good tunes in the US too, and maybe from 2004 on, it's only been getting better. Popsicle Halloween 2004 was really the beginning of great music parties in the San Francisco Area, and thankfully things have gotten even better since then
As a matter of fact, after another 10 years (2015 and beyond) the good news is that Trance has grown quite a following in the US, and places like the SF Bay Area, and while Trance has been declared dead a few times in the last 10 years, it's still going strong here.
Trance Family SF is definitely strong in the area, we've been getting more big trance parties every year, including many top DJs that come visit us what feels like every other week now (as of 2018-2019), and through those events, I made many friends in Trance Family SF. Thanks to you all.
Over those years, I got the chance to meet a few of my favourite DJs, including Armin more than once, and my last hobby has been to work on lights for my shirt and pants (version 3) and (version 4)
It's hard to get numbers, I'm not sure if it was as many people as last year, or even more, but the shuttles sold out in pre-sale and the event looked quite packed.
Glad to be back, as always:
30 years!
The Grounds:
Great to have a look around to see all the art installations:
Random things:
if you party way too hard, you can actually get an IV :)
Loved pixel forest again:
loved the pixel forest tunnel again, so good
Lots of run rides:
The rave hangar was also fun althought it filled fast, and there were other dancing rooms:
VIP even had a sky dome that was pretty sweet:
For downtown EDC, the most fun place was by far the Kandi Casino:
plus several other small dance floors and attractions:
and you could get EDC married or real married:
And the artist village was also beautiful:
Skydeck was also super nice:
not cheap, though :)
As always, a good way to see EDC, is from higher up, and the ferris wheels are the best way to do it:
Great to see the LED Acrobats again, great show as always:
Fireworks
No drones this year, oh well. The fireworks were still super pretty:
Fireworks of all last 3 days:
The People
As always EDC has been great because of the people who attend and the many friends I made over the years:
TFSF + TFLA meetup
The Insomniac entertainers were fantastic as always:
Still happy to see other people bringing LEDs :)
who are you guys? didn't get your info
And it was so much fun to be able to meet favorite DJs as always:
fantastic to see my friend Chris perform at EDC
But anyway, let's get on with the festival:
Day #1
Took an uber on the first day to get there early since the shuttles get stuck in commuter traffic on fridays, and went to enjoy the grounds. The first day was the only time opening at 17:00 this year (why?) and given the shuttle mess this year (midstrip shuttles cancelled due to road closures and other roadwork), taking an uber was easier. As part of that, got a tour of the camping grounds for those staying there.
and finally arrived to see the welcome sights:
everyone was coralled in Cosmic Maedows until 19:00
rest was empty
I spent most of the day at Quantum Valley for trance:
above and beyond unfortunately conflicted with Blastoyz :(
back to QV for Blastoyz
Video Summary:
Day #2
Day #2 was more trance at Quantum Valley, finishing with our friend Triode:
dope visuals
Video Summary:
Day #3
Day #3 was the wildcard day, no trance at QV anymore, so that was an excuse to go around and check out the grounds and other stages:
Armin played a good set
While it was a bit disappointing not ot have trance at QV on day #3, the blow was softened by the Dreamstate pre-party at Area15 before EDC.
After Armin, there was some time left to enjoy the grounds, and catch a shuttle that wasn't too late, so as to arrive at the airport in time for the return flight.
jag
Video Summary:
Should you go? Would I go Back?
EDC Vegas is probably the most impressive EDM Night Festival in the world. Tomorrowland is a rival but it's not a night festival as much.
Decors are just fantastic, along with so many performers. That's the best part about EDC
Like other insomniac festivals, all the staff truly cares and goes all out. Many small details that get sometimes missed elsewhere, are usually flawless
Security is more than reasonable as usual, thank you
19:00 to 05:30 is 10:30h of partying for 3 days, lots of fun!
So many free carnival rides, lots of fun.
So many stages also, more than 10 if you could the art cars.
Is it worth flying across the world for? Yes, absolutely. Do it!
Conclusion
Another year. This one was quite busy, maybe the most people at EDC ever? Some complained of over crowding, and it's unfortunate that the shuttles sold out so quickly.
Thoughts about this year:
People complained it was a bit cheaper than usual, a few things missing (minor in my opinion), no drone show, people complained about the lineup being weaker (the trance lineup sure was and was only 2 days)
Some new installations like the Kandi Casino were absolutely awesome
All the insomniac staff and entertainers were top notch as always
Kinetic field was beautiful again, the face with eyes and hands moving was really well done
The original pixel forest tunnel from 2019 was back, it was my favorite
The added multiple signs with directions, which was good for people who get lost
People complained about bigger crowds and less Plur, that might be true, but at the same time it's hard to avoid and happens with everything. Burning Man has the same problem.
The visuals on all stages were top notch again. Nothing beats EDC there.
Thank you to everyone at the insomniac team who put so much effort into making so many details right all over the place, with the great result that we all got to enjoy..
Given that EDC 2023 only had 2 days of trance this year at Quantum Valley, it was nice to have a little Dreamstate Pre-Party at Area15. Area15 itself however had good enough sound and visuals, but their staff was not stellar at the timed (they got better later for future events).
It was of course great to see our favorite friends and DJs:
Despite the challenges, nice evening and warmup for [EDC 2023|/perso/clubbing/post_2023-05-19_Another-Big-EDC.html
Video summary:
Just before going to EDC, I found out about Transfix, which displays a good amount of Burning Man art pieces. It was a bit tight to fit a visit during EDC week, but was able to go on Thursday just before going to Dreamstate at Area15. I came well dressed for the event :)
It was a quick visit, but it was enjoyable. Glad I was able to see it.
π
2023-05-17 01:01
in Arduino, Clubbing, Electronics, Festivals
This is an upgrade of v5, keeping the same panels and controller, see LED Pants and Shirt v5 on ESP32 and Raspberry Pi with P2 RGBPanels and Wifi for how that part works.
Version 5 was a bit upgrade with my P2 run rPi run RGB Panels for a resolution of 128x192 per side. The oldest part of the outfit at this point were actually the Neopixel strips I've had for about 5 years, and despite being more reliable WS2813B with backup data line, the PCB traces would break and the chips solder points would eventually break too. The amount of time I've spent fixing and replacing LED strips is more than I'm willing to talk about, but there was just no good alternative, until now.
In the past, flexible LED strands with wires between each pixel did not have enough density, maybe one pixel every 5cm, which was not acceptable for my use. And after many years of waiting, a company finally made P15 flexible strands, one LED every 1.5cm, which looks much better and is even a bit more dense than my previous strips that were P16.6.
Here there are: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804447608449.html . Update, don't buy these, they are shit and broke within hours. See at the bottom
While I was at it, I added a small programmable 16x32 panel to my fanny pack, because why not (the existing fanny packs didn't have sufficient storage, so I ended up decking out mine), and here is the end result:
I have no idea how reliable the strips will be, and unfortunatley they are WS2811 without the backup data path that WS2813 had, but time will tell. I'm bringing it to EDC and we'll see what happens :)
Update: these broke within hours, they were crap.
Version 6.5.1: Ray Wu Strips
Update #1: after the terrible failures of the first strip from the first vendor (the internal wires broke almost instantly), I picked this new one from Ray Wu: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805296356090.html
It ended up being more solid, but the flexing and occasional pulling on the bare strips that were attached with safety pins (I didn't want to glue or sew because it would then be unwashable), eventually caused the strips to fail, although it was more slowly. It worked for 4 festivals in Europe and required some resoldering, but it was not terrible. Still, it wasn't a long term solution either.
Version 6.5.2: Full LED Tubing Protection
So, I tried one more way to do it, this time I put the LED strings inside water tubing of the exact right diameter (fishing them in was a bit tricky), hot glued them on each side, especially the side they are soldered to RC servo connectors which I use for all the electrical wiring.
The next challenge was how to fasten this, and clothes safety pins didn't do the trick, so I used rolls of velcro cut to the right size, and the glue is so good that I was able to glue the velcro strips directly to the fabric. If somehow it won't hold, I'll superglue it.
End result looks like this:
This is now going to burning man, I hope it will hold, especially with lots of biking :)
