Under The Electric Sky: EDC Remains Mexico’s Highest-Ticketed Festival

Throughout the weekend of EDC Mexico, Leizer Guss, head of festivals at OCESA, is constantly putting out fires. His phone sets off every few minutes with another brief crisis as he figures out solutions and ensures everything gets resolved. It’s par for the course for any festival promoter, where new problems always find a way of springing up.
On Friday, Feb. 21, a brief rainstorm swept across Mexico City. It’s not uncommon for the city’s weather, but it slowed traffic down to a crawl and those en route to the festival, located at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Iztacalco, from across the city found themselves faced with up to three hours of idling traffic. A typical ride from neighborhoods like Polanco or San Ángel would take just 30 minutes, but Mexico City traffic is infamous and people are warned to expect up to an hour’s drive. Despite the long waits, fans still came to the festival ready to party, and the vast majority of artists had minimal issues with making it to the stage on time for their sets.

Guss began his partnership with Insomniac 11 years ago, the Mexico-based promoter wanting to bring a massive rave to his country. He and his wife traveled to Europe, checking out established electronic dance festival Tomorrowland, and Ultra Music Festival in Miami, but when Insomniac and its flagship Electric Daisy Carnival joined Live Nation in 2013, Guss felt there couldn’t be a better fit.

OCESA partnered with Live Nation in 2021, bringing both under the same umbrella and making for further efficiency between brands.

“Insomniac is very special in that they have a clear vision,” Guss says. “They plan everything from the view of the fan.”

That vision is clear long before fans even step through the festival gates. As they walk down the path, inflatables of every color arch over them. Once they’re through security, an art car with a DJ playing Rüfüs Du Sol’s “Innerbloom” greets fans as they swarm around and dance. Throughout the festival, EDC lives up to its name with various carnival rides including Ferris wheels and swings interspersed throughout the grounds. For fans with varying VIP tickets, they’ll have their own spaces to dance with an assortment of food vendors and nicer bathrooms. Up in the cabanas, food service provider OVG Hospitality mans an open bar and serves complimentary food along with trays of Mexican candy. The festival draws 115,000 fans per day, making it Mexico’s biggest ticketed music festival.

“It’s a fun event,” Guss says. “I think what makes EDC special is once you go deep inside and down the rabbit hole, it’s very magical for dance music lovers. But, it’s great even if you don’t like electronic music. There’s a theme to the main stage. There’s fireworks, there’s decoration, there’s rides. You can have a lot of fun even if you don’t like dance music. If you’re open to it, and once you come and experience EDC as a rookie, you tend to like it and come back. Yes, there’s a rave scene and I believe the festival [enhances] the rave scene and encourage people to follow the values [Peace, Love, Unity, Respect], which I think are very important. But this is good for new people.”

Insomniac CEO and Founder Pasquale Rotella is happy with where the festival is at, telling Pollstar, “I feel the capacity we’re at now with this venue is comfortable and has a good vibe. Our focus is to always work on evolving EDC and take it to the next level in different ways. We’ll continue to create new experiences and to discover new talents so that it is even more special for the next generation of headliners.”

Kinetic Field, the festival’s mainstage, is equipped with a massive owl and intricate designs. The entire thing is made from elaborate inflatables, allowing for easier transport between EDC’s varying locations and shortening build and tear-down times.

While EDC spans the gamut of electronic music genres, fans in Mexico trend toward more classic dance music. John Summit has not yet broken through, though Guss hopes that will happen sometime soon.

“Old school EDM has a place in people’s hearts,” Guss says, and the Kinetic Field lineup reflects that. Some of the biggest draws from the weekend include KSHMR, Gryffin, Mexican DJ and music producer Deorro, Solomun, Dimitri Vegas and Tiësto.

Elsewhere across the festival sits the Dos Equis Stage, which focuses on Latin American rhythms and Latin artists.

The festival pulls a large part of OCESA’s resources, with 70% of employees working on something related to the festival each year.

Already, Guss has his sights set on next year’s event with plans on what to do differently. He’s already awaiting feedback from fans after relocating the house and techno stage, Neon Garden, a major change in the event’s layout. For next year, he’s considering switching around another house stage, Bionic Jungle. Meetings on topics like these, the beating heart of EDC, may go as long and heated into the night as the party itself.