The Best of EDC Mexico 2019

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a palpable energy flowing south of the border that happens once a year in the heart of Mexico City. EDC has been growing out of control in the few short years since it set up shop at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, a large lush playground where eager-eyed festival-goers gather for one of the most massive dance music gatherings in the country.

This year marked the sixth edition of EDC Mexico, and the weekend topped the previous iterations in every way imaginable. It seems the festival is only going to get bigger and better with each passing year, but these are a few of the reasons why 2019 couldn’t have played out any better than it did.

Spreading kineticLOVE to Mexico City

If there were any theme worth spreading to the furthest reaches of the world, love would be the one. And that’s the message we intended to put on blast with the stage design of kineticFIELD this year, a massive symbol for the collective care we share on the dancefloor at every stop of EDC. The kineticLOVE stage was boxed up, shipped out, and erected in all of its heart-fluttering glory for two days worth of the most passionate partying that Mexico has ever seen. With its larger-than-life production and a swoon-inducing centerpiece, the stage stuffed so many loving feels into a weekend the crowd won’t soon forget.

Crazy Crowd Participation

Ask any foreigner about what makes EDC Mexico so decidedly unique, and I guarantee their answer would be how zealous the crowd can be. The commitment they have to the dancefloor is unparalleled, and the crowd participation alone is something to be marveled. Whenever a DJ instructs them to put their hands in the air and to jump, not a single seat in the house is reluctant to play along. Everyone seems to be on the same page—and when the music is booming and everyone is jumping in unison, there are literal tremors that presumably could be felt in the surrounding neighborhood.

sonicBLOOM Takes Root

The newest addition to this year’s footprint was an added stage that debuted at EDC Vegas with the help of the Insomniac Records crew. So it seemed only fitting the label would venture out with stereoBLOOM once again for another showcase that saw them mobbing out alongside the heavy-hitters on their roster. Redlight, Chris Lorenzo, OMNOM, Will Clarke and a gang of other familiar faces each took turns showing Mexico City why the imprint has become a hotbed for the hottest flavors in dance music. On day two, the temperament shifted into a full-on trance takeover with a handful of the VII artists pumping out up-tempo, progressive psy-slanted selections that tend to speak directly to the trance family in that region.

Decks on Decks

Being in the thick of the crowd is a feeling most people cant never get over, but there’s still something special about climbing on top of a deck and getting a vantage point that let you scope out of size of the crowd from almost every angle. At kineticFIELD alone, there were multiple decks dotted around the perimeter of the dancefloor, allowing those who shelled out a few extra pesos to hop up and score some solid selfies with the sea of Headliners as their backdrop.

Locally Brewed Talent on Tap

One of the best parts about heading into another country is being able to tap all of the different flavors found in that region. Mexico has more than its fair share of locally brewed talent, and they were called upon to get into the flow for two days on the Dos Equis stage, an easy-to-spot arena marked by the iconic red double XXs. From reggaeton to moombah to dubstep, the stage was popping off with sets from all manner of Spanish-leaning acts that pulled crazy-sized crowds from warm sun-covered day the into the heat of the night.

Riding the Rails With Excision

Head-bangers and rail-riders are in abundance in Mexico City, and they can snap necks and shake bike racks with the best of them. They showed up in astonishing numbers to pay their respects to the don of dubstep, as Excision fully brought the heavy and teeth-grinding drops that he is known to do. His set was easily one of the most hyped of the weekend, and the Xs were being thrown up proudly while he ran through the hits.

A Trip Through the Jungle

The Riviera Maya is one of the most breathtaking environments in the area, and that magic was transported into the space where the Mayan Warrior crew set up shop for the weekend. The art car was enclosed in a massive blacktop tent and fully draped with dense vines and the greenest foliage to create an immersive jungle playground where the deep house and shaman tech artists took turns going into straight-up exotic sets.

Rolling Up to Art Car

The jungle was not the only side stage action jumping off. The boombox and Wide Wake Art Car were also parked in between stages, and were tucked in between the stages. Whether you were bouncing from set to set or wanted to hit up some locally sourced DJs, these were the spots that sucked you in and didn’t let you walk away until you burned a few extra calories on top of the steps you put in.

Recharging at Food Truck City

It’s easy to build up an appetite when you’re going hard for 12 hours straight each day, and the food options on site made it both easy and challenging because of how many dope spots there were to get your fill. There were three separate areas covered with food trucks, as well as a cool village where you could pick up philly cheese steaks, personal sized pizzas, movie theater sized popcorn. But the real winner was a sweet and savory combination, a sweet bread delicacy stuffed with blacked beans, cheese and a mouth-watering pork that hit the spot in more ways than one.

Mid-Air Magic

If you caught any of the Instagram stories from the festival, you probably saw a few that really jumped out from the rest. The balloon-suspended aerialist was flown out for the first time down South, and she was having a ball as she hovered above the crowd doing flips and tricks while hovering overheard and getting all kinds of photos taken. It was a huge hit, no doubt, and probably just as fun for the performer who was hanging upside-down reaching for the Headliners who couldn’t believe their eyes.