Preview Wed Jan 16 2013

First Thoughts on Electric Daisy Carnival Chicago

By Katie Karpowicz

There's been a lot of buildup to the first big official announcement from Electronic Daisy Carnival Chicago (EDC Chicago). First the festival itself was just a rumor...then it was confirmed by dance music festival titans (and the company behind the flagship EDC in Las Vegas) Insomniac...and today (January 16) the festival announced its first details via Facebook and Twitter. However, with the "big news" was a bit disappointing in both quality and quantity.

Despite the fact that the festival is still months away (and more than likely materializing lineup-wise) the hype surrounding the announcement suggested we were finding out a little more other than the most general of information about venue, dates and ticketing. EDC Chicago posted a three-paragraph statement to its Facebook page just past noon. Here are the bullet points:

• It's going down the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

• It will take place at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.

• Camping grounds will be available.

• The festival will be 18 and over and will go til 2am every night.

• There will be "thousands of beautiful people" there.

Here's the thing: even though there will also be thousands of "pleasantly average" people there as well, I likely won't be one of them. Today's announcement brought some difficult news to a city of electronic dance music fans so used to their favorite festival being just a few L stops away. Joliet isn't attainable for a lot of us. Sure, the Speedway will provide plenty of space for the festival to truly embrace the "electric carnival" theme but - by the looks of the comments popping up on the festival's Facebook page - I'm not the only city dweller upset with the inaccessibility.

Maybe Chicagoans get spoiled by having an entire summer's worth of festivals in their backyard. Maybe it's time for the suburban kids to have their day in the sun (although it's still an hour drive from Schaumburg to Joliet). I'm not ruling out the fact that a lot of the ticket buyers to similar festivals that take place inside city limits are suburbanites and out-of-towners, so EDC will still do fine attendance-wise. Whatever the case, it'll be interesting to see how Chicagoland's version of EDC pans out.

The truth is that, accessibility aside, the biggest struggle this summer won't be for the festival goer. It'll likely be for the festival talent booker. EDC Chicago marks the fifth electronic music-focused festival in the area and will already be competing against Chillicothe, Illinois festival Summer Camp over the same weekend. Already we know that Bassnectar will be making his third straight headlining festival appearance in Chicago (jumping from North Coast Music Festival to Lollapalooza to Spring Awakening this coming June). Is there enough talent to spread between five weekends in less than a four-month period without things feeling stagnant? Maybe the next "big" announcement from EDC will clue us in a bit more.