To the Crystal Village, and Beyond!

June 19, 2014, was a typically warm evening in southern Nevada, the blacktop of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway still warm to the touch from baking in the daytime desert sun. On this night, EDC eve, Pasquale Rotella stood in the front of a massive, cathedral-shaped structure at the Speedway with his hand on his chin, watching the performance on the stage in front of him with laser focus.

In less than 24 hours, more than 70,000 people would be engaged in various modes of high-level revelry in this same spot. Tonight, though, the Speedway was populated with just a few hundred individuals putting the finishing touches on the largest music festival in North America. Onstage, the rehearsal ended and robed owls milled about, while Rotella, still in a pose of contemplation, offered revisions to the spectacle happening on kineticFIELD. After a few more run-throughs, the show was ready, perfect, and as goosebump-inducing—despite the heat—for the handful of people watching as it would be for the hundreds of thousands who would witness it throughout the next three days. The kineticCATHEDRAL had been born.

“We want people to lose themselves, find that inner child, and escape into a different world.”

It is one thing to build a stage so grand and technically astounding that it causes legitimate screams of joy. It’s another to establish a story around the stage that immerses Headliners deeper in the festival experience and their own emotional journey. This year’s kineticFIELD, a visual and mythological continuation of the narrative started in 2014, will do both.

“I don’t see it as a challenge,” says Rotella of creating increasingly elaborate stage designs each year. “It’s more of a dream you pursue.”

This year’s kineticFIELD moves deeper into the story of the owl realm known as the Crystal Village. The stage design involves myriad focal points that, throughout each night, showcase the entirety of the vast owl universe, from deep sea to deep space. Performers will enhance this journey, all the while celebrating EDC’s core tenets of life, love, art and individuality.

“Everything we do starts with a story,” says Insomniac team member Marjolein van de Stolpe, “and the great thing with a story is that it has a beginning, middle and end. Throughout the night, we and a team of all kinds of professionals can create a journey that we invite the Headliners to join in on.”

The intention with this lofty vision is not simply to awe Headliners, but to transport them to a place so far beyond their everyday reality that they simply cannot help but let go, be present and experience peak and profound moments. Says Rotella: “We want people to lose themselves, find that inner child, and escape into a different world.”

“When such a sense of freedom is experienced, EDC transcends being simply a party and becomes a spiritual journey with effects that extend far beyond the three-day weekend.”

When such a sense of freedom is experienced, EDC transcends being simply a party and becomes, as Rotella calls it, a spiritual journey with effects that extend far beyond the three-day weekend. There is a reason people call EDC life-changing and get the festival logo tattooed on their skin.

Rotella himself had such transformative experiences in the underground rave days of the early ‘90s. His inspiration for the Crystal Village came from the mind-blowing settings of these parties, as well as the immersive experiences of amusement parks—specifically, Disney. The aim is for EDC to be a pop-up theme park, with each stage area having a unique identity as defined by the music and vibe.

“I always had a dream of completely immersing people in an environment that will take what is already happening to another level,” Rotella says. “It’s simple as that, and with the help of some friends, we’re able to take it to a whole other level.”

Whereas last year’s cathedral was a shrine at which to honor the sentiment of music as religion, this year’s narrative seeks to bring Headliners deeper into the kinetic world. This year, between each DJ set, the mayor of the owl community will appear and take charge of the biggest celebration seen in thousands of years in the Crystal Village. He will release crystals to the audience, each containing the power of earth, fire, water and air. This integration of nature into the technological spectacle is a longstanding goal of EDC that was first established with the creation of the daisy symbol.

“Technology seems to be taking over nature for people sometimes,” Rotella says. “Finding balance and being in touch with nature is good.”

Other elements of the Crystal Village mythology include an actual language, the Owlphabet, developed to deepen the culture of the owl community and create a more comprehensive, otherworldly atmosphere. Other stages will get similarly immersive treatments, ultimately turning EDC into a realm of themed areas connected by pathways dubbed Rainbow Road, Daisy Lane, Electric Avenue and more. This total vision came to fruition thanks to a collaboration across a number of Insomniac departments—from art, engineering and fabrication to writing, choreography and sound design. Scheduling the conference calls alone was a production in itself.

Last year, the closing ceremony on the final morning of the festival was nearly cut, as it was anticipated Headliners would be exhausted and eager to head home. Ultimately, however, this finale was included, as every good story needs an ending. Instead of leaving, the crowd flooded in to see this last performance. This was the moment, more than 72 hours after those final dress rehearsals, that the team exchanged high-fives.

“Everything we do is to create magic for everybody saving up to join the festival,” van de Stolpe says of this moment and all of the moments to come. “To succeed in that is a dream come true.”

And this year, these dreams are bigger than ever.