Boxoffice Insider: Electric Daisy Carnival Mexico –$50 Million Strong In Seven-Year Run

The scene
Victor Chavez / WireImage – The scene
during Electric Daisy Carnival at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico, March 15, 2014.

Electric Daisy Carnival’s roots stretch back more than two decades to 1997, when the earliest edition of the electronic dance music event produced by Insomniac Events was held at Shrine Expo Hall, the first of several Los Angeles-area venues to host the festival in its early years. Although the flagship EDC festival ultimately moved from L.A. to Las Vegas in 2011, Insomniac began staging events in locations outside of California as early as 2001 with the introduction of EDC Texas at Thunderhill Raceway near Austin.

Ultimately a variety of cities including Denver, San Juan, Dallas, Orlando, New York City and Chicago all were destinations for dance music events staged under the EDC brand, and in 2014, Mexico City was added to that list. The inaugural event in the Mexican capital city occurred on March 15-16 of that year with about 50 artists in the lineup including Axwell, the late Avicii, Kaskade and Steve Angello, among others. It was presented on the grounds of the racetrack Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez which includes the Foro Sol sports stadium and has remained the host location of Mexico’s Electric Daisy Carnival ever since.
Mexican concert promoter OCESA, also headquartered in Mexico City, has partnered with Insomniac since that first event and reported box office results to Pollstar every year through 2020, when the most recent festival occurred. Overall counts from those reports show that EDC Mexico has racked up more than $50.2 million (USD) since its first year, while attendance tallies during the seven-year span top 1.1 million.
The Mexico City event ran for two days in each of its first six years until 2020, when it moved to three days. Held on Feb. 28, 29 and March 1, last year’s festival garnered EDC Mexico’s largest gross on record with a $12.5 million box office take (235.7 million pesos) – not surprising with the extra day added, but continuing the festival’s tradition of setting a new gross record each year.
In the first year, box office earnings were recorded at $2.7 million, but it was topped the following year by a $3.8 million final figure. The next year, 2016’s gross hit $4.9 million followed by $6.9 million and $8.9 million at the next two festivals. Then in 2019, it surpassed the $10 million mark by about $540,000.
The number of available tickets also rose consistently from year to year as attendance continued to expand. In 2014 the number of tickets offered to fans was 36,765, but that amount grew to 118,414 by the 2020 event that completed its three-day run just days ahead of the March live industry shutdown due to COVID-19. Top draws last year included Headhunterz & Yellowclaw on opening night and the Saturday and Sunday headliners, Tiësto and David Guetta. 
In addition to Mexico City, box office totals from EDC events in three other markets have also been reported during past years including three festivals in 2015. A two-day event held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. stands out with the largest gross among them: an $11.2 million box office haul from performances on May 23-24, 2015. Attendance reached 91,432 at the festival, which included Calvin Harris, Bassnectar and Afrojack on its lineup. Then on Dec. 4-5, 2015, Electric Daisy Carnival Brazil was staged in São Paulo at Autoódromo de Interlagos with total attendance logged at 60,807. The two-day gross topped $2.7 million as reported by T4F-Time For Fun, the local producer working in tandem with Insomniac. Skrillex, Martin Garrix and Steve Aoki were among the 80-plus artists performing.
Electric Daisy Carnival Orlando was reported in 2015 and 2017. The first two-day event was held on Nov. 6-7, 2015 at Tinker Field, the open-air site of a former baseball venue located adjacent to Camping World Stadium. Attendance totaled 37,571 for the weekend with a gross of more than $6 million. The 2017 event saw the gross jump to $7.4 million over two days, Nov. 10-11, with attendance measured at 21,386.