In the past, Made Event has done a great job of filling the Electric Zoo lineup with artists who meet fans’ myriad sonic preferences. From Above & Beyond, Tiesto, and Jack Beats to Marco Carola and Sasha, festival attendees have had the option to see both the big names and explore the underground. While their choices mostly appease everyone, there are always some names people feel have been erroneously left off the list. So this year, Made Event is giving us the option to help in the curation process with their lineup wishlist form. Just like with the Presidential Election, if you don’t vote you can’t complain so head here to enter your choices.
Click past the break to see my wishlist and let us know yours in the comments.
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With the colder weather moving in, Summer has come to an end. Labor Day Weekend held the biggest festival in New York City for the fourth year in a row, Electric Zoo on Randall’s Island. Dancing Astronaut was there for all three days of mayhem – taking pictures and critiquing sets – bringing our fans the most coverage possible. Check below the break for everything we covered because we pumped out a ton of content so wanted to make reading about EZoo that much easier.
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As I had started to notice on day 1, Electric Zoo was not your average festival. It was my first time on Randall’s Island and I knew I couldn’t miss Hardwell’s set. Not soon after Nicky Romero finished on the main stage, a long majestic beat started emanating from the speakers. The regal-sounding track sped up, and suddenly Hardwell emerged from behind the decks saluting the crowd. The track was “Spaceman” — and Hardwell was letting the crowd know that he was ready to go.
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As someone who is very picky about her dubstep, and can for the most part only handle it in small doses, seeing Flux Pavilion and Doctor P was a risky move fueled mainly by curiosity. Although the Circus labelmates often produce and perform together, they are at their core separate entities. My preference is for Flux but having heard good things about their collaborative sets, I chose to skip Knife Party in favor of the dub duo. I found the set enjoyable, but I also learned that their shows are certainly not for the faint of heart. The crowd is rowdy, their dance moves spastic, and the bass so hard that even with ear plugs in it rattles your bones to their core.
My typical complaint about festivals is that I wish I had more time with each DJ but in this case the opposite was true. I likely wouldn’t survive a headlining show, so the shorter length of their performance was a better fit for dubstep weakling like me. (more…)
I have never left a Sander van Doorn performance feeling disappointed, and Saturday afternoon at Electric Zoo was certainly no exception. In fact, multiple people I spoke to said it was one of one of the best sets from the festival. Not only are Sander’s shows energetic and exciting, but he always takes the stage with a grin that lets us know how happy he is to be there. His hour-long at Zoo set was full of classics like “Koko” and new hits like “Kangaroo,” but also riddled with unreleased bombs that caused the packed crowd to go wild. The sonic wizard pulled many a musical magic trick out of his hat on Saturday, but these were his five best…
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Best of the Rest is a daily feature from Dancing Astronaut that recaps the most important posts of the day as well as the stuff we didn’t get to. With the rapidity that dance music news and releases come out it’s difficult for us to hit everything — we hope BOTR serves as a catch-all. Make sure to check it out at the end of each day to ensure you don’t miss anything! 
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When making a list of dance musicians who have had a ridiculous year, it’s impossible to leave out Nicky Romero. A DJ and producer of just three years, he has already cemented his position on major festival lineups and in most of our iTunes libraries. He got his big break with “Flash” just over a year ago, and ever since then, he’s been cranking out quality production after quality production, rapidly taking the scene by storm. Well, he played the Electric Zoo main stage this year, delivering a set in the early afternoon that had the crowd fully attentive and fully bonkers the entire time.
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Day one of the 2012 Electric Zoo festival is officially over, but thanks to the lovely invention we call ‘the Internet’ and the existence of SiriusXM, we all get the chance to re-live the sets like we’re back on Randalls Island to see them in person. With headlining performances from Pretty Lights, A-Trak, and Above and Beyond serving as the anchor for the day, there was no shortage of good music to be heard and raging to be had. Countless DJs provided the soundtrack for a beautiful day off the east side of Manhattan, and now the fun continues. We’ve chosen an assortment of sets to include in this post, but you can be sure to find more on SoundCloud and MixCloud.
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Aftermovies have become highly anticipated pieces in the festival circuit. They allow attendees to relive the experience and give those who were unable to attend the opportunity to feel like part of the event. The songs featured in the background of these highly trafficked movies set the scene and the comments section is typically flooded with tracklist queries.
Hardwell recognizes their value and is giving fans the opportunity to contribute to the soundtrack of his own Electric Zoo aftermovie. The task? Create an acoustic version of his hit single, “Spaceman” and submit it to win@djhardwell.com by September 14th. Not only will the winner’s submission be featured in his aftermovie but he or she will also see “full support from Hardwell,” VIP access to a Hardwell show of their choice, and a meet and greet with him. Good luck!
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Best of the Rest is a daily feature from Dancing Astronaut that recaps the most important posts of the day as well as the stuff we didn’t get to. With the rapidity that dance music news and releases come out it’s difficult for us to hit everything — we hope BOTR serves as a catch-all. Make sure to check it out at the end of each day to ensure you don’t miss anything! (more…)
