The second night of EDC Las Vegas was filled with some pretty epic moments, including a surprise set from Skrillex, plenty of surprise sets on the art cars (San Holo at Forest House, anyone?), and more. Unfortunately, much of the night was marred by high winds which prevented the fireworks display or pyrotechnics at many stages, and actually caused a couple stages to shut down.
KineticField was one of the stages that shut down due to the high winds, during Kaskade’s set, in addition to QuantumValley. However, some unclear language at the stage alerting headliners of the winds led to some terrible issues.
“Due to high winds, we need to evacuate the venue,” the messaging read. Note the use of the word “venue” rather than “stage.” It continues, “Please walk calmly to the nearest exit. Event staff will guide you. Please find shelter in [you] car, or in any available indoor space. Thank you.”
Insomniac attempted to curb the outpouring of attendees with the tweet below, emphasizing, “We are not evacuating the venue.” However, for many, it was already too late.
We are experiencing high winds and as a precaution have shut down a couple of stages at this time. We are actively monitoring the situation but we are not evacuating the venue.
— EDC (@EDC_LasVegas) May 19, 2019
By the time EDC issued the tweet below, telling attendees they could re-enter the venue — never having needed to exit the venue in the first place — many had already gotten in line for their shuttles, made it back to their cars, or even as far as the Strip.
Hi Headliners! You may re-enter the venue if you have already left. We are not shutting down the entire venue, only a few stages. Please let us know if you have any issues re-entering the festival and we will work swiftly to get you back in.
— EDC (@EDC_LasVegas) May 19, 2019
Incorrect messaging was displayed at kineticFIELD instructing Headliners to evacuate the venue. All Headliners who were asked to evacuate will be allowed to re-enter the venue.
— EDC (@EDC_LasVegas) May 19, 2019
“We’re not evacuating the venue” you literally told us that you were!!! pic.twitter.com/BhoJvyuWdU
— Donoxan (@basedonnydarkoo) May 19, 2019
Yeah… already back at the shuttle stop because you literally said to evacuate the whole venue.
— Nick DeCinque (@nickdecinque) May 19, 2019
The wording in the Kinetic Field stage said VENUE was being evacuated, not stage. So we hopped on our premier shuttle and am back at the hotel already. Lost half the night.
— Rowena (@rowiecun) May 19, 2019
Kaskade eventually made it back to the camp grounds for a surprise sunrise set, but many who wished to see him and others on the main stage unfortunately were not as lucky.
Day 3 of EDC Las Vegas begins today at 7pm. A wind advisory is in effect until 8pm with reports of winds at 25 to 35 mph with gusts of 40 to 50 mph. How that will affect tonight’s festivities remains to be determined.
Photo by aLIVE Coverage for Insomniac