\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Insomniac Events<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tTi\u00ebsto is without a doubt one of the biggest names in dance music. He\u2019s played EDC every year since the festival moved from California to Las Vegas in 2011. You would think he\u2019s turned every possible stone the fest has to offer, but this year, the legend was excited to play Circuit Grounds, a fan-favorite stage, for the first time. Circuit Grounds offers more screens to visually bring the audience into new and unexpected tracks like Ti\u00ebsto\u2019s upcoming collaboration with Sexyy Red on the F1 soundtrack, \u201cOMG!\u201d Backstage the artist rhetorically asked us \u201cWho would have thought Ti\u00ebsto would have collabed with Sexyy Red?\u2026 No one. Absolutely no one. And it\u2019s an amazing track.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAlso bringing the unexpected this year was EDM titan Kaskade. He brought his b2b act with Alison Wonderland to the Cosmic Meadow stage after the artists debuted as a duo at EDC Orlando last year. This time around, they expanded their sound to include some of Wonderland\u2019s signature trap tunes. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s just about playing stuff we love and trying to figure out that bridge in between,\u201d Kaskade told us. \u201cWe\u2019ve only played a handful of shows so we\u2019re still discovering that as we play out more together.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKoen Ten Holter<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tWhen you\u2019ve played EDC for as long as Ti\u00ebsto and Kaskade, who\u2019s performed at the festival for two decades, you have to continue making changes to your solo sets. Ti\u00ebsto reserved a special set for the mainstage, closing out the three-day festival with a set that saw a return to his trance roots. Rising German producer Marlon Hoffstadt introduced \u201cThe Godfather of Trance\u201d before his In Search of Sunrise Set, named after his legendary 1999 compilation album. <\/p>\n \n\tTi\u00ebsto told us the time was finally right for such a moment, saying \u201cI reconnected with the sound I started with back in the day, and I feel like it\u2019s a full circle moment. When [Insomniac Events founder] Pasquale [Rotella] asked me \u2018Will you do a sunrise set?\u2019 and I thought \u2018Yeah, the time is right now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tFor Kaskade, his solo set was sprinkled with pieces of his decades-old hits. Many DJs\u2019 styles evolve over time, and Kaskade says he still struggles trying to resurface his former fan-favorites but admits, \u201cPeople online will like this. There\u2019s sometimes when there\u2019s somebody hitting me up like \u2018You haven\u2019t played this song in 10 years!\u2019 and I\u2019m like \u2018Oh yeah. That is a good song. I should remember to bring that out.\u2019\u201d So, if you\u2019re waiting for more tracks from his 2008 album Strobelite Seduction<\/em> to make it into his next set, like us, keep posting.<\/p>\n \n\tThe electric sky still shines just as bright, if not brighter, almost 30 years later. Alison Wonderland is still amazed at the impact that EDC has had on her and her friends after playing the festival 10 years later. She reflected on her first time playing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and crying, telling the audience \u201cI started in my bedroom and now I\u2019m here.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tA decade later, she\u2019s still humbled by her EDC experience saying that she can\u2019t believe she is sharing the stage with Kaskade. But there\u2019s nothing that could prevent her from taking the stage at the Electric Daisy Carnival. \u201cIn fact, I actually love EDC so much that at 9 months pregnant I played main stage,\u201d she said of this set that happened in 2023.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tWith over 500,000 people attending the festival every year, it\u2019s the perfect opportunity for an artist to not only reach their fans but also expose themselves to a group of people who have potentially never heard their sound. Just ask Ben Nicky. <\/p>\n \n\tWe caught up with the British producer 10 minutes after his first set at Kinetic Field on Saturday night before he made his way to Neon Garden for a b2b set with Maddix. Walking into his trailer, he was already on his computer working on a track because he\u2019s aware of how every set offers its own opportunities. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m like a DJ\u2019s DJ,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m always changing something. Mainstage you\u2019ve got your big fanbase there, but you\u2019ve got another fifty to sixty thousand people who might not know you or be more into commercial stuff. So, you have to tailor and play more well-known vocals. Whereas in the trance tent, I can get away with more dark and underground stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKoen Ten Holter<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tBen meticulously tweaks every element to fit the crowd he\u2019s trying to appeal to, and the crowd at EDC is some of the most knowledgeable when it comes to dance music. Brazilian star Alok told Billboard <\/em>that means you can\u2019t phone it in. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI feel like people here each year are more and more educated,\u201d he said, \u201cso, it\u2019s not easy to please them. So you really have to bring stuff that makes sense and not obvious.\u201d He knows a thing or two about keeping an audience on their toes. He just had a buzzed-about Coachella performance, for which he hired dancers with two-tone arms to create eye-catching live visuals.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tWhile some DJs meticulously plan their sets, others prefer to \u201cjust rip it\u201d in the words of Tape B. He started playing EDC in Orlando while doing his undergrad in Florida. Now that he\u2019s worked his way up to EDC Las Vegas, he attended a programming meeting for the first time ahead of his solo set on Friday. When it came to his joint set with dubstep super DJ, Crankdat, they planned to start their set with their unreleased collab but keep it loose otherwise. <\/p>\n \n\tHe told Billboard about the planning that went into the set saying, \u201cMet up with Crankdat. Worked on our back-to-back for a little bit. Got songs kinda together. We\u2019re mainly freestyling it tonight. So, it\u2019s going to be very interesting, but very fun.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKoen Ten Holter<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tOne of the most exciting aspects of attending EDC Las Vegas is the massive amount of unreleased music you\u2019ll hear. REZZ said she was most excited to give fans a taste of what direction she\u2019s taking her project next. \u201cI\u2019m super excited for this year. I\u2019m playing like, seven new songs, more than half of which I\u2019ve never played before.\u201d Check TikTok to see fans\u2019 live reactions to some of this new music. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJulian Bajsel<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tIt\u2019s become customary for DJs to head to Las Vegas with a ton of unreleased music. Riot Ten used it as a chance to treat his most dedicated fans to an early listen of his new album, Requiem For a Riot<\/em>, before it drops in a week. Other artists may opt to test out some tracks they\u2019re workshopping to see how the crowd reacts, like DJ Snake who played his upcoming song \u201cParadise\u201d for the audience at AYU dayclub, not once, but twice, to make sure it went off every time.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tWith this year\u2019s addition of the Ubutu stage, Afro-house had a major presence at the festival for the first time. Francis Mercier noted that EDC is \u201cthe home to different types of music from hip-hop to dubstep to house to now Afro house. It\u2019s a place where you can hear all different types of music.\u201d This new stage opened the door for artists like Karaba, who hails from Montreal, Canada, to play a stage at EDC Las Vegas for the first time. <\/p>\n \n\tMaking the most of these opportunities is key, according to Morten. His first time playing the fest was in 2016 when he thought no one would see him spinning at one of the art cars. When he took the stage he was surprised by the energy. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what stage you\u2019re at, the party and the crowd is incredible.\u201d Since then, he\u2019s played solo sets, b2b with David Guetta and this year played Kinetic Field with Artbat.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tIf you really want to see how quickly you can ascend to greatness, you just have to look at Cloonee\u2019s trajectory. He admitted that EDC wasn\u2019t really a festival you thought about as someone who grew up in England. After living in the States for a few months, he found himself nervously playing the Stereo Bloom festival back in 2022. This year he played Circuit Grounds right after Ti\u00ebsto,z who said he wasn\u2019t going to play Cloonee\u2019s hit song \u201cStephanie\u201d with InntRaw and Young M.A because it would be this year\u2019s most played song and you don\u2019t play the most played song before its creator takes the stage. <\/p>\n \n\tMeanwhile, the advice Cloonee would give himself before playing Stereo Bloom in 2022 is, \u201cCalm down because you\u2019ve got bigger ones to do.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Tiesto_EDCLV2025_0517_012456-9028_JMM-Mejorado-NR.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tEverything Old Can Be New<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Kaskade_EDCLV2025_0518_033409-00702_DIV-Enhanced-NR-2.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\tThe Bright Lights Never Dull<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Luis-Colato-for-Insomniac-Events-1-1.jpg?w=240\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\tThe Power of Planning<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n
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<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\tDon\u2019t Forget to Live in the Moment<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n
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<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tUnreleased Tracks Make Everyone Happy<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n
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<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Karaba_EDCLV2025_0518_024402-03712_JKS-Enhanced-NR.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\tThere Are No Small Opportunities<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n
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