Beginning in 1997 in its current incarnation as part of Insomniac’s portfolio, Electric Daisy Carnival has taken over its home at Las Vegas Motor Speedway every May since 2011, growing into what has become the largest electronic dance music festival in North America. Welcoming 525,000 people over its three days each year, the festival hosts a hugely wide-ranging line-up across its neon-drenched fairground site, taking in the best of EDM, house, techno, drum & bass, dubstep and beyond. Made up of eight stages — including EDC Las Vegas’ largest area, the Kinetic Field, which has a capacity of 70,000 people — the festival also features four Ferris wheels and free-roaming carnival performers. The flagship event for a number of satellite EDC festivals that also feature in this list — which include events in Orlando, China, and Mexico — EDC Las Vegas’ site states that the festival’s ethos is all about “taking risks and breaking rules”. “We don’t chase trends, we create culture. We push the envelope to make things you’ve never experienced before.” ROB MCCALLUM
