EDC weekend, Marquee... the good and the windy

[WT661]

I dont even know where to start. Its just been an unusual weekend with some disappointments and great experiences. I've never done a Trip Report since personally I think my stories would be boring and only interesting to the people that are there with us. haha. This one was just way different than the other trips so I'd like to share the last 2 days with the forum. Sorry if its long, but Im still wired from the weekend that I just want to share it all.

Let me first say I'm in Vegas at least once a month sometimes 2-3 weekends in the month. Basically an average of every 4weeks throughout the year. Our trips are usually Friday night to Sunday night. We drive or fly in from socal so its not that far. We dont always go all out and party non-stop all day and night. We'll do tables on special occasions but mainly just GA/Pre-sale since we just want to be there.

So its been 4 weeks since the last Vegas trip which was on May 5th weekend. We did Marquee and Surrender that weekend. Like every Vegas trip, it always leaves you wanting for more. I know most of you can relate to that whether you are there once a year or as often as once a month. Being that this weekend was EDC weekend we had been anticipating this trip for weeks. Even with the 5 other trips we had planned for the first part of the year, EDC weekend was that special weekend we were really looking forward to. So it was a must to get to Vegas as early as possible. Usually we just wing it and if we get in late, it doesnt really matter. If we couldnt get in a club easy, we'll skip it and go to another one. This weekend was different though... It had to be epic.

So it was a must to get there at least by 8-9pm the latest. Our drive usually is 4-4.5hrs but with Friday traffic and more because of EDC weekend, we couldnt take the chance of being late so we allotted about 6hrs of travel time. So we would have to leave by 3 the latest versus other trips when we would leave at 5pm. My friend and his GF didnt work that day but I had to still run my business and take care of somethings. I also have my 2 kids that I had to drop off at the grandparents. Fortunately they were available at 2pm. Long story short, kids get dropped off and we pick up my friend's GF and head out around 3pm.

I usually drive and my buddy is the navigator following the traffic we are expecting. There are a couple spots along the drive where there is stop and go traffic so we have our alternates that we know that save us 15 min to as long as 1hr depending on how slow the traffic goes. We bypassed this 8-10mile slow traffic that was up ahead and stayed on schedule. We end up getting into town within 5hrs a little after 8pm. Saving about an hour from the traffic.

We had a comped room at MC for the couple and I had a room booked at Cosmo. Knowing that every single minute was important so we could get in before 11pm into Marquee to meet another group, we had to be as efficient as possible.

We decided to check in at MC first and they would just get ready and stay in my room at Cosmo for the first so they can just walk down real quick to Marquee. We even planned out how to get to both hotels without any traffic delays as possible. Coming in from the 15 North, we exit Russel Rd. Plan was to hit the backroad, Frank Sinatra Dr and take the back way to MC. I messed up and ended up on Russel towards Mandalay Bay. Quick thinking, I remember going into the parking on Russel side on MB, you can go along the side and it exits to Frank Sinatra Dr. so we were back on schedule. From there it hits Rue de Monte Carlo and its directly at the MC main valet entrance. Run in to the VIP check in and grab the room cards. There is no backway entrance to Harmon where Cosmo is in from Frank Sinatra Dr(from what I know so I didnt take a chance) so we had to just go on the LV Blvd.

Entered Cosmo on Harmon into Valet, grab our bags and check in. We're Platinum Identity card so there was only a 2 minute wait. Check in takes less than 5 minutes. I had a Terrace Studio King booked but they didnt have any ready or ran out so I ended up getting a Fountain view City Room with 2 queens. I would have spent more time in trying to get an upgrade or at least try to get what I expected. But that really didnt matter much this weekend. It wasnt a big deal this weekend. So we get up there and its around 9pm. Ironed up and ready, we were ready to roll a bit after 10pm. Take a pre-game shot but ends up in 3 for each of us. So we walk out the room at 10:30pm.

Knowing it was EDC weekend and we didnt want the hassle of trying to find a friend who got tables or greasing, etc., we just did pre-sale to make sure we were getting in at no hassle. Box office kinda mixed up our names and it took awhile to clear it up so we get our tickets right before 11pm. I texted Noah(NoahRam here of Marquee) and he was already inside. The rest of the crew are here on time, the rest of our girls on guestlist are in line at 2nd floor entrance and the guys with Pre-sale tix go up on 3rd floor. Entrance was quick and we were inside within minutes.

.... the crew is all here. Let's get the party started.

Part2... Friday night at Marquee is next.

[WT661]

11pm into Marquee, the crowd was just getting started. Dancefloor was packed but you can walk in and out of it. We head there first since we wanted to get into what EDX was spinning. Rest of the group walk out to the pool area while 3 of us take in the lights and get the mood of partying going. The ring of Marquee was in full effect but it wasnt packed enough to get stuck. Pool area was filling up but there was still room to walk around at midnight.

DJ line up was cool this Friday night since it was several we actually were into. Each one was scheduled to spin 1-2hrs each. Jordan Stevens started it up at 9 til 11pm. EDX 11-12:30am. Sander Van Doorn 12:30-2am, Armin Van Buuren 2am-4am, Jochen Miller 4am to close. Once we were in Marquee, the only time reference I have is pretty much when those DJs came in. The night went so quick though and 6hrs felt like 2.

I texted back and forth with Noah to say whatsup before he gets too busy and we get too crazy into the night. This guy is one of the coolest guys in Vegas. haha. He is very personable, great attitude and I hope he keeps on movin up in the industry. I've referred several friends from all over the country that come into Vegas to him and he's taken cared of them everytime. He also took care of us this weekend and wanted to say Thanks Noah! Your hospitality puts a great impression on Marquee and the whole experience.

So after seing Noah, we head back to the dance floor. We were trying to enter the main floor area and this cute girl asks her friend what the screen says. They have no idea so I was like, its the DJs name Sander Van Doorn. I had this picture on my phone I took of the lineup on Marquees site on the time schedule of each DJ and I showed it to her. Ya I'm a house/EDM nerd haha. That got her talking she was like, damn your hardcore into this. LOL. She goes into the dancefloor with me for a few minutes then her damn friends cockblocks and say they want to walk around. She ends up giving in and takes off sadly. haha. All good since the night was young. Sander Van Doorn's set was sick! I just got into his stuff recently so I was into the set. This petite cute white girl in her late 20s was dancing with some dude and she wasnt feeling it so she was slowly moving away. I had been eyeing her so she moved over our way. Danced with her up until Armin Van Buuren came on and her friends came over and we all danced together. Did the girl sandwich with 2 of them haha. But it just got too packed with Armin Van Buuren on so we stepped out for a bit.

Time flew by quick and it was already 3am. We took a breather and chilled out outside by the pool DJ booth area for 30min. We're mainly into the music so moving around, jumpin, throwin hands up for 4hrs gets tiring. We had lost the other group earlier in the night and the girls we were with. They ended up getting booted for whatever reason I dont know. At 2am they wanted us to go out and chill in my room. We said No, we're staying inside. haha. I'm not down for a bad trip if you can't handle your shit at the club. I'm not that close to them anyway so they did their own thing after.
At 2:30, a couple girls I knew had transfered over their group of hot girlfriends from XS to Marquee to hang out with some of their friends who had a table on the dancefloor. I know many of us on the forums talk about how to get girls in free on guestlist, how its easy for girsl to get in, etc. but theres some limits to it also. I tell you these group of girls have so many connects they can walk in and out even at capacity and never ever pay a dime. Never ever do they plan out if they can get in on any given weekend. They just show up anytime, anyplace and never wait more than 10min. It must be nice.. right? lol.

I ended up hanging with them for a bit and having a couple drinks around 4am. Danced around for awhile until some idiot sprayed champagne in the air all over where we were. So we had to clean up at the bathroom and I joined up with my other friends as the place was starting to clear out. Jochen Miller came on and they already closed off the pool area and had everyone come inside already. Booths were already getting cleaned and empty. By around 5am, we finally just sat at one of the booths to rest while looking up at some girls dancing on the partitions of the booths. A couple of them looked real good but that changed quickly when one of the girls' skirt started coming up her thighs. Me and my buddy and his GF were enjoying them dance around a bit until she turned around and revelead the tampon string poppin out between her thighs. That changed the mood and it was just right when the set ended with a long pause and started up again. So that was a sign the night was over and we started heading out.

Tired and hungry, we went up the 3rd floor and as we got to the top, we saw the doors of the Pizza Place closing. WTF damn. I didnt even know they actually closed. haha. Headed down to the Henry and the wait was 20-30min plus we would have to wait for the food to be prepared so we said F it, we'll walk to Earls. We got outside and my friends girl couldnt walk anymore. Ended up just going up to the room and ordered room service at 5:30am.

Right when I was just about to doze off, the door knocks and food arrives. I dont know if any of you ever had the Ciabatta bread with egg, ham and other stuff. Honestly I dont remember what was in it but it was freakin good. Maybe we were just real hungry but it hit the spot. Got an order of waffles and fruit also. We inhaled all of that in less than 10 min and went to sleep.

So far so good for what we though was our "appetizer" for EDC. It was a great start of the weekend. 6hours at Marquee and loved every minute of it.

[Matt93]

Can't wait for more. I was following the high winds fiasco from home. I am already planning to attend EDC 2013!

[kman90]

great detailed TR wt661....no such thing as a long boring TR....keep it coming.

[WT661]

I'm working on the next part. Back at work so I'll put it up as I get to work on the next parts. Thanks for reading.

[WT661]

Saturday was the big night. Our plan was to be at EDC around 8pm to catch Sander Van Doorn's set at 8:30pm. So we took it light and planned to eat midday, take a nap and get ready to head out.

Having 2 other groups you're going out with on opposite ends of the strip makes it hard for everyone to meet up. Sometimes its best to just do your own shit, it becomes a big hassle to get together. So at this point we were just on our own so we're not wasting anytime. I couldnt really sleep much. I slept from about 6-8:30am. After that, the next couple hours, I was just tossing and turning trying to catch a little more sleep. I ended up taking a shower at 11 and got ready to go. The other 2 got up around that time and we headed out around 1.

We wanted something off strip and quick to eat. Drove down Harmon and stopped over to this usual mini-mall area in front of Hard Rock. Theres a few restaurants and quick eats there plus there is a CVS to grab a couple things we needed for EDC night. We wanted some decent food and not fast food so Kaizen Sushi spot looked like it would do be a good choice. I've eaten at alot of Sushi places in LA and all over and this place was pretty good. It was actually really delicious. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a tasty sushi place. We got done and went back to Cosmo. They dropped me off and I went up to the room at 3. They wanted to grab a drink so they chilled at the Cosmo Platinum Lounge to grab a drink before they headed out to rest back at Monte Carlo. We all took a quick nap and got up to get ready by 5.
Plan was to be ready at 6 and head out before 7. I got ready and walked over to Monte Carlo. We loaded up on water in the ice chest and headed out. Traffic started out about 1 mile after downtown. We werent sure if the freeway or sidestreets were faster but we took the chance and took the backway. As expected there was a long line to get in. We actually started driving around 7:20 from Monte Carlo and we didnt get in the parking lot until 8:30pm. Stood around for another 30 min waiting for the other group but we said F-it, we're just gonna go in on our own. VIP entrance was pretty fast. There were mayb 30 people in that line vs 2-3000 in the general admission line. We got in within 15 minutes.

This is my first time at EDC so it was alot to take in. The wind was already killer as soon as we got there. The dust affects my hard contacts so it was a bitch to keep dust away. Fortunately my friend had a clear Hello Kitty glasses so I rocked that all nite. It was a life saver and made the wind easier to deal with.
We walked for a few minutes and decided to post up and chill at the VIP stage in the back of Kinetic Field. It wasnt crowded at all at almost 10ish and the music was getting good. Reception for cell phones at EDC is bad so there is text lag or some dont even have reception at all. We finally find our other friends and we're chillin at the back of the field. The VIP section in the back was pretty cool. It had its own bars and bathrooms that were nicer than the port-a-potty style that the rest of the place had. There were bunch of places to sit and chill out. They even laid out a grassy field area with a pond and rocks. There were more stuff but I dont recall all the details it was dark and too much to take in. If I did EDC again, I would get VIP again. Not that its necessary all the time to stay at since you're there in the main field which is fine anyway. But the bathrooms and places to just sit around was a plus.

... DJ Sets... to be continued.

[smartone618]

Great report so far! I like that someone else here has mention Kaisen... the food is fresh and tasty and the ambiance is cool. I eat there monthly.

[WT661]

So we get in later than we planned. Sander Van Doorn’s set ended as we were in line walking in. We were able to catch most of Nicky Romero’s set but we were still trying to get acquainted with the area so we weren’t that settled in yet. We find the entrance to the VIP stage in the very back of Kinetic Field. You show your VP wrist band to get in and once you walk in, there are chairs, tables, a big outdoor bar, lights, a mini ferris wheel on one side. After walking around later, the other side of the back part of VIP had a temporary grass area with a pond and random stuff like a big teacup and rocks. It also had those nicer style portable bathrooms compared to the porta-potty that they had everywhere else.

So when we first get in, we walk up to the stage. It overlooks the rest of the field where everyone is. Its pretty amazing watching it from this area since you get to see everything. I can say there really is no bad area to be at to experience the music.

The VIP stage isnt packed yet since people are just entering the place at about 10pm. Behind the stage is another raised area that is covered with a bar inside. So finally we get up to this stage and get to listen to Nicky Romero’s set. I’m a fan of this DJ so the tracks he played were pretty sick. The people we were with didn’t all have VIP passes so we ended up walking out and hanging around just in front of the VIP stage. Its still a great view and isnt obstructive at all even with all the people. I’m 5’10 so that may have helped but even with the girls being only 5’0, they can still see a good amount of the lights and screen on the main stage.

So we finally find all of our friends and Martin Solveig comes on. Of course the popular tracks are played as well as others from other DJs. I don’t really follow Martin Solveig and I wasn’t really into that song Hello. So I wasn’t expecting anything much. The new song Night Out with A-Trak is pretty sick though. So I had little expectations from Martin Solveig but his set did get us going. I don’t know if the buzz was kickin in, but it was getting goooood! That hour went by quick. And the DJs do their sets down to the minute they are scheduled to perform.

Bassnectar was next and I stayed for only part of the set to meet up with a friend. The whole crew stayed in the same spot while they waited for me. I went out to meet up a friend right outside Kinetic Field and just say whattup and go back. This was around midnight and as I was waiting outside, everyone started walking into the Field. Imagine a rush of thousands of people just filling up the place. I thought to myself, damn why did I leave now, I wont be able to get back to where we were. Haha.

Everyone was rushing to get to Calvin Harris’ set. I finally found my friend and said my wassups and talked for 5min and parted ways. Man it was crazy going through the crowd. You’re squeezing between girls that are half dressed, glo sticks and lights all over. Weed in the air. People jumping up and down. It was like going through a maze but it wasn’t as packed as like a club dance floor. So I get back to my friends around 12:20 and DAMMN the set was bad ass. Of course I know of Calvin Harris’ songs but I’ve never seen him DJ live. I don’t know if it was my buzz kickin in more but we were all over the place. Jumpin up and down, dancing, etc. If I could describe my best EDC experience, it would be these 20minutes during Calvin Harris’ set. It was getting that gooood.

.... More EDC... ?

[Unum]

Moar so I can continue to live vicariously through you.

[WT661]

So it was about 12:45 and in the middle of Calvin Harris’ set, the music just STOPS. Lights stayed still, no sound in the field. Everyone was like WTF?!! At first we just thought it was one of those breaks in the set and he’ll start right back up or something. But they announced that the wind was getting too crazy and they would have to stop the set. The stage was shaking and they are concerned for everyones safety.

Are you serious!? Everyone was staring at each other in amazement. The wind had been blowing through the night pretty strong and it could have been as high as 30mph winds on the ground but more up higher on the top of the stages. I think many understood and some people walked out of the field and some just sat down in groups.

It took about 20-30 minutes to really clear out half of the people. By that time all the stages had shut down and all the rides as well. Only thing open still were the food and drink places. We sat around talking for a good while. Some went to the bathroom so the others waited at the meeting spot so we wont get split up. By 1:30, we decided to just walk around. We had not seen the whole place so we just walked to check everything out.

But before we left, someone was saying in the loudspeakers for people to move away from the stage and clear out the VIP tables area. They also said to move towards the grandstands of the track. It took a good hour and a half until the fields actually emptied out.

At 2am, we walked up to a couple security people and they pretty much said it was shutting down. No reason to stay. We weren’t 100% convinced so we walked a bit more and looked for the grandstands they were talking about. It was the seats of the racetrack and that started to fill up on one side. The actual track also was filled and everyone was just sitting. My phone died at that point and I couldn’t take pictures. Just Imagine thousands of people sitting on the pavement of an oval racetrack just hanging out. It was pretty calm and no craziness.

We kept walking around and music started up around the grandstand area. We went to check it out but unfortunately it was only some repetitious beat and no DJ or anything interesting. We sat around that track for about 10minutes but then we saw the event people clearing out the other side of the place and moving people towards the grandstands. Basically they were clearing out as much areas as possible and walking on a straight line to move people to a certain spot like a herd of sheep. We were going to wait it out but I was afraid that we’d be stuck in that crowd and our gate is all the way to the other side. So we got up and started walking towards the gate. Avoiding the security people and eventually made it to the other side by our gate.

Last chance of staying… we looked back at whole EDC field and wondered if we should stick it out and wait. It was already 3ish and we wouldn’t have known if they were actually going to start back up at some time. There was a possibility but it could have been as late as 5am. That would just be too long to wait it out. So we walked out and said good bye to EDC.

By this time, a good amount of people already had left so the parking lot was packed and bottle necking at the exit. Leaving the area only took long since you had to merge with every single exit that left the parking lot. This was the back exit on las vegas blvd. By the time the street opened up to 2 lanes away from the track, it was smooth sailing and there was no traffic at all. It took about 30-40minutes to get back to the hotel.

So the whole time, the feeling was the night was cut short. It was just disappointing to end like that. I know everyone was feeling the same and wanted more. I had called all our friends and most already had left EDC. Everyone was trying to find out where to go.

I contacted Noah at Marquee and he said it was already capacity at 3:30. So I ended up just dropping off my friends at their hotel. I valet at Cosmo and went up to my room. I was just going to sleep it off but I was still wired and wanted to go out. I took a shower since I can feel all the dust and dirt from the winds all over my body from the night. Got dressed real quick just in case one of the clubs was going on still.

I had been texting a buddy that was trying to get in Drais but it was packed too and I wasn’t down for getting a bottle at 5am. Haha. Another friend texted me that they got in XS at 4:30 and it was poppin over there. No one would roll down with me there though so I said F it, I don’t know what to do now. Haha. I found out later on that Tiesto went down to XS and the place stayed open til 7am.

Unfortunately the night didn’t end up epic as we wanted. We tried to salvage what we could but it just didn’t work out. I still hit up my friend and picked them up at their hotel. We were so hungry at that point we tried to go to Sugar Factory but valet at Paris was full so we said F-it lets just go somewhere “quick”. Drove back down to Fatburger and that ended up pretty long wait since there were so many people.

7am comes and we end the day. I gave up trying to keep the night going. Haha. I went back to Cosmo, went to sleep and woke up at 10 to head out. I checked out, got the car and dropped it off at my buddy’s hotel and took a cab out for a noon flight out to LA.

It was suppose to be an epic weekend.. Vegas. Too bad it had to end that way. There will always be a next time so I’m not so bummed. June 29-July1 and July 27 to 29 is booked! We’ll try to make up the disappointment at EDC the next 2 trips.
Despite what happened.. I’m doing EDC again next year. Next time I’m getting a table. LOL.

[romano2nea]

Loved that detailled TR! Keep it up, man!

[dcredsox]

Nice trip report

[gamepube]

Awesome TR

[Sterling]

Nice TR man!

[plur25]

Nice, sounds like a good trip