Electric Zoo: The Big Ten Lit Up NYC

September 7, 2018

Electric Zoo came back to New York City this past Labor Day Weekend for its biggest and best year yet. The festival celebrated its tenth year in production with a stacked lineup and a top-of-the-line rave environment to match.

With about 100,000 festival-goers from all over the globe in attendance on Randall’s Island Park, Electric Zoo more than lived up to it’s namesake of “The Wildest Party In NYC”. Over 120 acts were performed over the span of the weekend, with a line-up of uber talented performers in turn causing the event to sell out on Saturday and Sunday.

With a wide arrange of electronic music styles on display, EZoo definitely had something to offer everyone. From DJ Mag’s top artists to small underground acts with promise, there was a never-ending supply of good music throughout the weekend.

Over a span of 5 stages; Mainstage, Hilltop, Riverside, Sunday School and Treehouse, the festival maintained a simplicity in order to focus on the musical element. The zoo theming was definitely present though with the scattering of animal statues and live performers throughout.

Electric Zoo experienced an extremely successful weekend, with tons of new and old music bumping throughout the evening with the sparkling Manhattan skyline as a backdrop. Electric Zoo will return for it’s eleventh year Labor Day Weekend 2019.

Photos: Dimitry Petrov

Sets to Remember from Electric Zoo 10

Tiesto

Being the closing act of the festival’s ten year anniversary TIesto knew he had to have a special set ready for the attendees. Many people agreed that it was the best Tiesto set they had ever seen. In addition to dropping some of his old classics and some of his new tracks he also mixed in some incredible remixes of songs like Post Malone’s “Rockstar” and a few of Avicii’s classics. The set was taken to the next level with the small tribute to Avicii and his incredible music. He also added in some Kayne swag when he said “I love the old Tiesto, i love the new Tiesto” and the crowd went absolutely wild.

Illenium

The best part about Illenium is that he can release the most amazing album (Awake) but still add unexpected twists and drops to the songs during his sets. He was the perfect artist for the sunset set on the final day of the festival. The energy was high, the crowd was engaged and the feels were in full force. He closed his set with his newest release “Take You Down” that had an incredible heavy bass finish. Illenium is going to be an unstoppable force in music for the foreseeable future.

Alesso

Alesso definitely was out to make a statement about bringing progressive house back to the forefront of the dance music scene. His set was like taking a time machine back to 2012 at the peak of his song “Calling” while still showing his 2018 talent with the new song “Remedy”. Overall he remains to be a staple in the progressive house genre.

Kasade

Every festival performance put on by Kaskade is sure to be a good one. He took over mainstage on Saturday with all of the classic tracks like “Atmosphere”, “Disarm You”, and even an ultimate throwback “I Remember”. The entire crowd was fully engaged and ready to see what next drop was around the corner. The main stage perfectly executed the visual aspect and the pyrotechnics took them to the next level.

Virtual Self

It’s been about a year now since Porter Robinson debuted his new project Virtual Self in Brooklyn, but this time he was back in New York for the first time with his full festival set up. Everyone had been heavily anticipating this act, since most people still haven’t the chance to witness Virtual Self yet. Ghost Voices, Particle Arts, as well as some unreleased tracks took over the crowd. Porter Robinson also took Virtual Self to the intimate setting of Output in Brooklyn for an official E Zoo after party.

Troyboi

Troyboi took over the Deadbeats stage on Saturday with an impressive amount of swag. His track “Afterhours” created the most amount of energy the Hilltop Arena had seen that day. He also dropped a lot of tracks from the EP “Left is Right”.

Zeds Dead

On Saturday the legendary duo of Zeds Dead took over the Hilltop Arena stage with Deadbeats. They even threw down their classic throwback remix of Eyes on Fire that took the scene by storm in 2009. Other artists that made an appearance on the Deadbeats stage were Mija, Troyboi, and Habstrakt.

San Holo

San Holo always does a good job of having an uplifting, cheerful set when playing for festival crowds. He performed on Friday at the main stage and released his track “brighter days” featuring Bipolar Sunshine! The release of his full debut EP is set for the end of this month.

Ekali

It’s safe to say that Ekali was prepared to bring the heat at the Brownies & Lemonade stage on Sunday. He dropped his own tracks as well as mixing in some hard hittng bass tracks such as RL Grime’s “Pressure”. He posted on Instagram that Electric Zoo was “the most fun he’s had in awhile”. He also made an appearance at the official Brownies & Lemonade afterparty.

G Jones

G Jones brought the most powerful bass performance to the Hilltop Arena. He is being recognized and praised by many of the leading artists in the industry such as Porter Robinson and his performance proved why. He dropped some of the filthiest bass drops that the festival got to see that weekend. Many people were extremely impressed by his performance.