This year’s edition of EDC Las Vegas was dominated by harder dance music styles, a telling sign for the scene’s future.
Just over a week ago, over 100,000 ravers finally reunited under the electric sky for EDC Las Vegas‘ 29th edition. At one of the best editions yet, headliners were treated to stunning fireworks, epic visuals, and the best artists in dance music. Of everything EDCLV offers, I was particularly surprised by one aspect: you didn’t need to be at wasteLAND to get your fix of hard music.
The mighty wasteLAND stage has historically been home to all of the harder styles of dance music. Previous iterations of this iconic stage have hosted everything in hard dance, including euphoric hardstyle, rawstyle, hardcore, and, this year, a dominating display of hard techno, whether that’s for better or for worse.
This year, in particular, boasted one of the best wasteLAND lineups in a very long time. Tons of debuts from international acts like Dual Damage, Mish, and Rooler stole the show. At the same time, American Hard Dance displayed one of its strongest showings ever as Lady Faith, Lil Texas, Yosuf, DEATH CODE b2b KAMI, and many others took the decks.
Before we get too far, let’s address the elephant in the room.
Basscon lost one entire day during EDCLV for a hard techno takeover featuring AniMe, BASSWELL, Clawz, ONLYNUMBERS, BIIA, and so much more. It’s fairly easy to tell that this is Insomniac’s effort to expose more people to the harder styles.
I didn’t attend a single set on Friday, but I walked by a few times, and the stage was packed every time. This strategy made more people attend the wasteLAND stage, but I can’t help but feel like the traditional harder styles are still getting the short end of the stick with Insomniac. There hasn’t ever been a time when the brand has pushed a harder genre to such great lengths. As a diehard fan, it’s unfortunate that it’s hard techno.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that hard techno is still a form of hard dance, and there’s a lot of talent within the scene. Even when you study the history books, you quickly learn that hardstyle, as fans know it today, stemmed from hardcore techno in the ’90s. This move is completely logical, but why does it still feel like a blow to the scene’s gut?
For over a decade, Basscon has waved the flag for hard dance in America.
It’s not much, admittedly, but Basscon is the best that America offers. When looking at the scene’s landscape in general, the hardstyle scene is one of the few spaces where PLUR, losing yourself in the music, and the true, authentic roots of rave culture are still prominent.
Over that decade-plus run, fans have been clamoring for bigger, better, and simply more. Despite the fans being loud for a change in Basscon, Insomniac has never made it clear that they’re listening. But when hard techno became the next hot and trending genre, fans saw an immediate, stark change in Basscon lineups at all of their events.
For 10 years, fans have wanted a change that never came. Now, Basscon is changing, but it’s coming from Insomniac’s attempt at capturing a flash-in-the-pan genre instead of building upon the scene it already had. Hard techno feels like a replacement, not an addition, and that’s ultimately my problem with it being the face of America’s biggest hard dance promoter. As an observer, it feels like this push isn’t authentic. Instead, it’s merely a trend being chased.
With those feelings, I didn’t plan on attending much of wasteLAND at EDCLV. Luckily, I didn’t need to be at that stage to get my hard dance fix.
Nearly every set I saw over the weekend had some form of hard music, whether hardstyle, rawstyle, hard techno, or hardcore. The most unexpected set where I heard hard music was Alison Wonderland b2b Kaskade. I watched from the grandstands at cosmicMEADOW, and for a good 15 minutes, these two played a ton of hard techno. Brutalismus 3000 even graced the same stage for a set that may have been too hard for the stage it was at, but I loved every second.
Another artist was Deorro, who played much faster music on kineticFIELD. His classic Melbourne Bounce style was taken to the next level with faster tempos, turning that sound into a form of reverse bass hardstyle. In addition, he brought out GEO for some hard dance fun. Speaking of kineticFIELD, Sara Landry and Ben Nicky both had the honor of playing this year, and both sets consisted of hard techno and hardstyle all the way through. ILLENIUM B2B Slander also threw some hard techno heaters in the middle of all the bass action.
Going over to bionicJUNGLE, horsegiirL was ripping 200 BPM bangers for the final 15 minutes of her set. Right after her, MCR-T took the decks, and although I wouldn’t consider his music a part of the traditional harder styles, he was definitely pushing the tempo with bouncy records.
neonGARDEN hosted insane performances like I Hate Models b2b Nico Moreno and Alignment, which are always heavy on the hard techno / hard dance crossover. Even on circuitGROUNDS, Excision dropped hard techno records while I Hate Models presented a new live act, FACE II FACE A/V.
The best of the weekend came when Basscon Records took over the beatboxARTCAR on Friday.
For an entire night, Basscon Records showcased the best acts that have released music on the label. KAMI presented their new Hybrid Warfare set, DEAD X brought the zaagkicks, and Rollz Royce finally showcased the best kicks made on American soil as he closed out the morning. In addition, CUTDWN, INIGMA, Water Spirit, and so many others joined the festivities for pure hard dance madness.
Looking back over the weekend, this was undoubtedly my favorite edition of EDCLV that I’ve attended. While I’ve usually spent most of my time at the wasteLAND stage in the past, I hardly visited this year outside of my must-see sets. Nonetheless, I experienced hard music at every corner I turned, a promising sign of the current times.
I’ve said it for years, but hard music is growing, and the fanbase is getting louder. It’s never been more obvious that fans want harder music, and I hope this continues into the coming years. Maybe Insomniac is pushing hard techno this way to secure a better future for hard music, or maybe nobody has thought that far ahead. Regardless, I’m sticking around. Hard dance is still the greatest subgenre of dance music, and its success in the States is inevitable.
