Reflections on EDCLV 2025

I never thought I’d call myself a raver–until EDC happened.

A couple of friends persuaded me to attend EDC. Before then, I’d always associated ravers with a negative stereotype–I’d seen people make raving their identity and it put me off.

I’d enjoyed some EDM before, but most of my music tastes leaned toward rock and pop. In fact, I seldom listened to music; I preferred spoken content like YouTube videos, shows, or podcasts.

Every Tuesday, a group of friends and I would play Factorio¹ and as it got closer to EDC, we switched from trying to finish Aquilo to designing our totems². I joined late in the design phase, but I enjoyed every moment—equal parts nerdy experimentation and creative iteration. I hadn’t touched microcontrollers in seven years, so diving back in was especially fun.

It had occurred to me after I arrived in Vegas that I had no idea who most of the artists were at EDC and I have no idea what genres I would enjoy. I sat down with Brian and he picked out a couple of sets based on my taste and I also shoved all of my past “liked” songs on YouTube Music into Chatgpt/Gemini and asked them to make a schedule for me based on what I’ve liked in the past.

None of that mattered. I definitely found genres and artists that I liked. But none of that mattered. What really stayed with me was the community. The people I was surrounded with. This feels very cliché to say, but being surrounded by friends, friends I see often, friends I barely see, new friends, old friends, was the best part. Everyone was wholesome (for the most part) and invited me in with open arms³. For the most part, I just followed different friend groups around, catching up, making memories.

By sunrise on day one, I felt exhilarated and exhausted–and then it hit me: two more days of this. Somehow I mustered the energy for the rest of the festival and each sunrise left me even more awe-struck.

One of my friends put it best:

I know it appears like a debauchery gateway from a distance but it’s truly something beautiful

The days after EDC, but before I left, I was internally deciding whether or not I should come back. Am I a raver? Am I going to be one of those? I didn’t know it at the time, but I had already made my decision. While I was on the plane heading back home I received a text from Insomniac, the producers of EDC:

EDC: … Presale for EDC Las Vegas 2026 starts THIS Friday @ 10am PT

I knew what I had to do. I’m going next year. I am a raver.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this experience possible.

• Samson and Brian for dragging me out here.
• Viet, Paul, Alex, Benny, Willy and the rest of the group for inviting me into your group with open arms
• Bond for all the fish
• Wes, Winston, Dave, and Matt for making the totem with me. It came out amazing.
• Derek for your amazing kandi and for taking me around
• Aydin and Oliver for spending a lot of days 2 and 3 with me. And for enduring my curiosities and questions
• Ben for the mudkip pearler, guiding me around and making sure I was safe
• Jo for spending time with me afterwards and getting a much needed dinner
• Caleb for your daily stickers–they were a highlight
• Yan for being supportive
• Raveon, Green Stop, So Jelly, Lips and all of the other groups for being welcoming.
• There’s so many more, even if I don’t list you out, thank you for being a part of this journey.

If you’re curious what my (rapidly growing) EDM playlist looks like now, you can see it here

Tips for friends who are coming to EDC:

• Verizon (VZW) is (at the time of writing) one of the sponsors at EDC. If you want (usable) cellular service, pick up a VZW or one of their MVNO’s SIM (or eSIM). Make sure you get a plan/phone that gives you VZW’s Ultra Wide Band (UWB) coverage
  • MobileX 1GB for like $5
  • Visible Only the Visible+ Plan includes UWB
• Precision Find My worked suprisingly well! I was able to find friends inside of thick crowds with this. Both of you need to have service (VZW w/ UWB) and an iPhone 15 or higher
• I did something slightly unusual and I had a “personal totem”. Usually, totems are bigger and allows people to find groups, but I had a small-ish one that stuck out of my backpack. It worked really well for people to find me when they get lost! I didn’t have to hold it the entire night since it was in my backpack
• Pace yourself. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. EDC reminded me of my time working at the NYC Marathon, where my call time was 3a and I would get home at around 8p. I felt so tired, but at the same time I felt such a sense of pride and accomplishment. EDC was like this, but 3 days in a row with no rest
• Premier shuttles passes have a specific time window of 1 hour before and after. If you miss the time slot, you can try to go into the standard line and after you get past security, ask to get into the premier line
• The group I stayed with did a big Costco trip at the beginning. Highly recommend
• Items I ordered that I found useful:
  • Osprey 2.5L Hydration Pack
  • Shorts with a “hidden” inner pocket - Lots of people get their phones stolen at EDC. Don’t be one of them!
  • Running belt storage - Another option if you want a under the shirt style.
  • Eargasm Earplugs - Tinnitus sucks.
    • Eargasm High DB Filters - These helps reduce the sound even more!
  • 37Wh (10k mAh) battery pack

Gabe Chai

Software Engineer in NYC