Electronic dance music (EDM), also known as dance music, club music, or simply dance, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres made largely for nightclubs, raves and festivals. It is generally produced for playback by disc jockeys who create seamless selections of tracks, called a mix by segueing from one recording to another. EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a live PA. In Europe, EDM is more commonly called ‘dance music’, or simply ‘dance’.. To get a taste for how the scene bumps in different cities and countries, here are some hand-picked selection of the best EDM festivals around the world.
Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival is an annual outdoor electronic music festival that takes place during March in Miami, Florida, United States.] Alongside the flagship event in Miami, Ultra has spawned a larger series of international franchises under the blanket branding Ultra Worldwide, which have included locations such as South Africa, South Korea, Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and others.
Electric Daisy Carnival
Electric Daisy Carnival, commonly known as EDC, is an annual electronic dance music festival, with its flagship event held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. EDC was created with the purpose of utilizing music and art to inspire individuals. In addition to the music, individuals can experience the three-dimensional superstructures, colorful, glow-in-the-dark environments, and all manner of LED-infused flora and fauna
Electric Zoo
Electric Zoo has become a Labor Day staple for EDM enthusiasts on the east coast. Electric Zoo is an annual electronic music festival held over Labor Day weekend in New York City on Randall’s Island. The festival represents all genres of electronic music, bringing top international DJs and live acts from multiple countries to four stages.
Creamfields
Creamfields is now one of the largest electronic music festivals in the world in terms of attendance, number and size of stages, and size and depth of lineup, regularly featuring headline performances from a wide range of mainstream and underground DJs and performers.
Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions that depict views of the future. Disneyland Park in Paris includes a similar area called Discoveryland, which shares some elements with other Tomorrowlands but emphasizes visions of the future inspired by Jules Verne. Taking place in the Belgian city of Boom (fittingly), it’s probably the most famous EDM festival in all of Europe.
Shambhala
Located smack dab in the middle of one of British Columbia’s beautiful evergreen valleys, Shambhala takes the cake as the most naturally stunning venue on this list. Whatever its historical basis, Shambhala gradually came to be seen as a Buddhist pure land, a fabulous kingdom whose reality is visionary or spiritual as much as physical or geographic. It was in this form that the Shambhala myth reached Western Europe and the Americas, where it influenced non-Buddhist as well as Buddhist spiritual seekers and, to some extent, popular culture in general.
Holy Ship
Holy Ship! is an annual electronic dance music festival held aboard a 4,000+ capacity cruise ship, with two back to back sailings leaving out of Port Canaveral, FL with stops in the Bahamas. 2019 will mark the event’s eighth year since its inception in 2012,debuting two sailings in one year.People rave about the experience and consider it as one of the most unique EDM festivals in both North America and the world.
Nocturnal Wonderland
Nocturnal Wonderland has changed themes and names a bit over the years, but today it stands strong one of the United States’ heavy hitters in the world of dance music. Formerly known as Nocturnal Festival, is an electronic dance music festival that was founded in 1995.
Electric Forest
Electric Forest has one of the best reputations in the world of EDM festivals. Electric Forest is a 5 day, one-weekend, multi-genre event with a focus on electronic and jam band genres, held in Rothbury, Michigan, at the Double JJ Resort. In 2017 and 2018, the festival expanded to 2 weekends back to back, before switching back to one weekend for 2019. The original event was called Rothbury Festival, debuted in 2008, and focused on jam bands and rock bands. The event was not held in 2010. Electric Forest, which debuted in 2011, is co-produced by Madison House Presents and Insomniac Events. The 2015 event drew an estimated 45,000 attendees.
Sunburn
Sunburn is a commercial EDM (electronic dance music) Festival held in India. It was previously in Vagator, Goa, India every year, but now has been shifted to Pune in Maharashtra. It is Asia’s largest music festival.
