Electric Daisy Carnival is an intense day from start to finish in the perfect venue

Electric Daisy Carnival 2014

Saturday 12th July 2014
Milton Keynes Bowl, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK5 8AA, England MAP
£65 + booking fee

Daily capacity: 65,000

I had heard many stories of the epic Electric Daisy Carnival festival in the United States, but had never been able to attend, tales of epic stage production and unrivalled line-ups. Well now I was to get my chance to witness first had this EDM behemoths second coming in the United Kingdom. With a move to the gigantic Milton Keynes National Bowl brought the chance for expansion from their first base in the Olympic Park in London last summer.

With a barnstorming line up compressed from a whole weekend into a single day event, the clashes were ruthless. As we arrived Showtek were pounding the arena with an onslaught of hardstyle progressive tech house, The Dutch duo were really working the huge crowd who had assembled in the scorching summer sun, dropping tracks such as 'Bad' and 'Get Loose' driving the crowd into a bouncing frenzy, this was to set the scene for the whole event. I have witnessed many EDM festivals, but this seemed to have taken the game to a whole new level, with the state of the art production alongside the killer line up.

I went for a wonder to find some food, and found a superb stall selling pulled lamb baps with stunning home made coleslaw, 7 pounds, but very filling. Drinks were also very pricey, but there were plenty of water taps to refill bottles about, which was very much needed in the extreme heat.

Calvin Harris took to the mega stage half way through the afternoon, bringing a slightly harder edged set than previous shows I had seen him perform at various festivals, proving just how much of a musical chameleon this man really is, dropping hit after hit, but still keeping it hard enough to please the fervent EDC crowd.

Every time I see Calvin he really has the crowd in the palm of his hand and today was no different, the unenviable task of following the modern day 'go to man' fell to an 18 year old. Not to be phased by the experience though Martin Garrix came out fighting! He started his set with his huge anthem 'Animals', with a 2 hour set to fill I was a little dubious of how he would maintain the buzz around the crowd, but this lad can play. Bringing bootlegs and samples out of his locker including such seminal tracks as SHM's 'Antidote', Blur's 'Song2' and Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', this rising star showed no signs of burning out soon.

We went for a little wander around, taking in a few of the walking performers, including a very bizarre 'truck' powered by human hamster wheels, and many zany stilt walkers in all sorts of costumes. Afterwards we settled into a bit of Steve Aoki. As per usual Steve was going berserk behind the desk, climbing up any structure he could find and coming out to get closer to the crowd. He may be a very able DJ but acts more like a hype man in my eyes. He does get the close crowd hugely up for the gig, dropping some of his monster tunes including 'Boneless' and 'Freak'.

Next to take to the stage was Steve Angello, one third of Swedish House Mafia. Last time he stood on stage at the Bowl was SHM's farewell gig. He stayed true to his roots, dropping in the odd SHM sample, all given his own unique spin, mixing up 'Don't You Worry Child' and 'Reload', he gave the crowd what they were wanting, with a set that seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Mashing some Eurythmics, 'Sweet Dreams' into the mix before rounding off his set with his new single 'Wasted Love' accompanied by an array of fire dancers all over the stage. The giant big screens either side of the main stage came into their own as the light dropped. This was an intense visual experience that nothing I had ever seen before could match.

Avicii was the headline act drawing the second EDC UK to a close. A man at the top of the tree in the EDM movement at the moment, and a sublime choice to headline act. With the two day event being compacted it meant he only had an 80 minute set instead of 2 hours, but this seemed to work in his favour in my opinion. With the sky pitch black EDC came truly into its prime, with lasers, spotlights, flame cannons and huge LCD screens surrounding all 360 degrees of the National Bowl this was truly as much a visual orgasm as it was aural.

Cutting out a lot of filler due to the shortened set time, Avicii showed just how much material he has put out of late, and all to an immense standard! The show featured 'Levels', 'I Could Be The One' and 'Fade Into Darkness'. He also touched on recent crowd favourites with Florence And The Machines' 'Spectrum', Disclosure's 'White Noise', and his recent collaboration with Coldplay 'Sky Full Of Stars'. Avicii brought the event to a crescendo with an all out barrage of fireworks pyro and lasers all set to the sounds of 'Wake Me Up'.

What an intense day from start to finish in the perfect venue, the line-up on the main stage was so strong I never made it to either of the other 3 stages or the fair ground, for me this will firmly be on my calendar for years to come.

review by: Jamie Licence