Awesome People We Met at EDC Orlando 2017 Day 2

We take self-expression pretty seriously around Insomniac, encouraging every last soul to let their inner light shine through all things DIY. It should never feel like a competition—but if that were the case, we definitely noticed a few Headliners who showed up to win. They went all out with their outfits, makeup, and just overall fierceness. While we don’t have actual trophies to hand out, here and now feels like the perfect place and time to call them out. Way to be super awesome.

Name: Dallas
Age: 21
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Occupation: Hair dresser
Number of EDCs: First one
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Bring more money than you might normally plan to, because you should just buy everything here. There are so many cool vendors and awesome stuff.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
Hell yes, my mom would love this. I think would have to keep her on a leash. My grandmother would just die; she would love this. She would want to sit on one of those big blow-up puffballs, and she would sit there with a margarita all day. Grandma be poppin’.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
Flight Facilities “Crave You” (Adventure Club Remix)—because it is such a cool place to dress up, and you get to put your all into yourself just to have a good time, and I feel like that song.

Name: Patrick, Kim
Age: 39 (Patrick), 43 (Kim)
Hometown: Born in NJ but lives in CT (Patrick), born in SoCal but lives in Tampa (Kim)
Occupation: Poker dealers (Both)
Number of EDC Orlandos: First one (Both)
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Patrick: Be yourself, and have as much fun as you possibly can.
Kim: Don’t put anything valuable in your back pocket.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
Patrick: Definitely. In the ‘90s, we would throw these house parties, and we were all together. They’re hippies; they love it.
Kim: No, my parents are ultra conservative. Never.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
Patrick: “Tired as Fuck.” I don’t think it’s a song, but that’s how I feel right now.
Kim: American Authors “Best Day of My Life” (Just a Gent Remix)

Name: Chelsea, Camile
Age: 24 (Chelsea), 22 (Camile)
Hometown: Miami, FL (both)
Occupation: Works for fashion designer (Chelsea), business and marketing student
Number of EDCs: First one (both)
What’s your best advice for anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Chelsea: Drink a lot of water.
Camile: Make sure to also eat before coming.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
Camile: Hell, no.
Chelsea: Yeah! My parents are life. They are turnt up. I love my parents.
Camile: My mom is very old-school Hispanic. She is going to judge everyone here, including me.
Chelsea: My parents know me and what I’m about. I feel like they would just vibe, getting jiggy to the beat.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
Camile: This one is chillin’ [points to the Corona Beach stage].
Chelsea: Yo Gotti ft. Nikki Minaj “Rake It Up.” That’s my jam. I like her.

Name: CJ
Age: 35
Hometown: Tampa, FL
Occupation: Robotics automation developer
Number of EDC Orlandos: Two
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Wear the most comfortable shoes. And hydrate, obviously.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
I’ve DJed before, and at my first gig, they came out. They had the glowsticks and everything, right with VIP, dancing away. My parents are awesome. They would be completely involved with this.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
Tiësto & Sevenn “Boom”

Name: Rebecca
Age: 25
Hometown: Pool supervisor
Occupation: Originally from Texas, but has lived in Orlando for 2 years
Number of EDC Orlandos: Three
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Definitely stay really hydrated. Make sure you’re eating plenty. Be safe, and make sure you’re always with a friend. Bring good vibes, and be prepared to meet new people.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
Absolutely. My mom helps make all of my festival outfits. I think they would have a lot of fun, but they definitely would be interested in seeing everyone else. They have always supported me going to festivals, so I think they would have a lot of fun.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
Seven Lions “Rescue Me”

Name: Celeta
Age: 20
Hometown: Tampa, FL
Occupation: Nail tech
Number of EDC Orlandos: Three
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Go all out. Don’t be shy. Don’t give a fuck. Just do it as hard as you can.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
I would totally take them. My dad is a military man, so he would be real stiff about it. My mom is wild, though—I think that’s where I get it from.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
REZZ “Edge”—it has so much momentum. I’m, like, so ready right now and feel like I’m on edge.

Name: Jessica
Age: 31
Hometown: Originally from Wisconsin, but I live in Orlando
Occupation: Cashier at the Titanic the Artifact Exhibition
Number of EDC Orlandos: Five
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Meet new people, and trade as much kandi as possible. You never know when you’ll have that perfect memory. I actually had a great one yesterday with someone completely random.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
Actually, I’m glad you asked that question. I’ve been talking to my mom about this. She knows that I rave, and I was interviewed by Insomniac for EDC Las Vegas, and I made some of the EDC20 videos. My mom saw some of that. I used to write for EDM Identity, and she’s read all of my work, and she’s curious about it. I actually popped the question, and she said yes. I gave her the choice between Orlando and Las Vegas, and she said, “Oh, we’re doing Vegas.” Hopefully in 2018, you’ll see me and my mom there.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
Kid Cudi “Pursuit of Happiness” (Steve Aoki Remix). It’s the story of my life. Basically, I’m always trying to find happiness, and here at raves is where I’ve found so much happiness. I was actually at such a low point in my life, and raves have brought nothing but good vibes to me. It’s all about the people who you surround yourself with, and having fun at these events.

Name: Kayleigh
Age: 30
Hometown: Originally from Ohio, but lives in Orlando
Occupation: Bartender, server, and makes accessories, saddlebags and jean jackets
Number of EDC Orlandos: Five
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Definitely come here with an open mind. Be aware that you’re probably going to see a lot of things you’ve never seen before, but don’t be scared. And just have fun.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
If they would be down for it, then yes, definitely. My mom would hate it; she’s square—it would just be to show her my realm. But my dad would kinda be more with it, just because he’s an old-school hippie.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
I’m so eclectic that it’s impossible to not give a multitude of songs.

Name: Brandon
Age: 21
Hometown: Jacksonville, FL, but currently lives in Orlando
Occupation: Health Science student, pre-clinical
Number of EDC Orlandos: Four
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Definitely bring a CamelBak with some water. Stay with a good squad who can keep an eye on you. Just have a good time, enjoy the music, and take the vibes in.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
Yeah, I would do it if they were down. I feel like they wouldn’t like the music, but if I brought them to an artist that played not-as-exotic music—not dubstep, but maybe something like trance—they would probably accept it better and understand why people enjoy the music so much.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
Kaskade “Something Something Champs.” Kaskade has been a huge artist I’ve been following for the past few years—one of the first dance music artists that I’ve been introduced to. I heard that song, and I was like, “Wow!” It’s a really emotional song that you can still rage to.

Name: Miguel, Cha Cha
Age: 37 (Miguel), 27 (Cha Cha)
Hometown: Puerto Rico (Miguel), Texas (Cha Cha)
Occupation: Costumer (both)
Number of EDC Orlandos: First one (both)
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Miguel: Find a group of friends—you can definitely come by yourself—but having a group seems to be working out well so far.
Cha Cha: Bring a sign, if you have a group, so that everyone knows where to meet and you can find each other.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
Miguel: Nope, not at all. They’re just not into it.
Cha Cha: My parents are cool. My parents love art, and they support me greatly so between watching me be able to do my thing and just coming out to have a good time with people, it would be the perfect atmosphere.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
Miguel: Michaell Jackson “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”—it’s MJ, bruh!
Cha Cha: Basically anything from Big Wild, because it’s nice outside, it’s refreshing, we’re in nature, and it’s a calm, cool and collected atmosphere right now.

Name: Isla Bonita
Age: 39
Hometown: Puerto Rico
Occupation: Model/actress in Tampa
Number of EDC Orlandos: Five
What’s your best advice to anyone planning to attend his or her first EDC?
Hydrate and rest the day before, because it is cardio for 12 hours straight. You can’t stop dancing.
Would you ever take your parents to a rave/dance music festival? How would they react?
I’m sure they would go. They would think this is awesome. It’s high energy, so it would be recharging.
Name one song that best encapsulates your current mood.
Anything by Migos, it just gets me in that party mood.