September 2-4 – Randall's Island – New York City, NY
3rd year – Overall attendance: 85,000 (Friday: 25,000, Satruday: 30,000, Sunday: 30,000)
2011 Lineup: Tiësto, David Guetta, Armin Van Buuren, Moby (DJ set), Benny Benassi, Rusko, Tiga, Above and Beyond, Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77, John Digweed, Sander Van Doorn, Afrojack, Chromeo, DJ Snoopadelic, Calvin Harris, Plastikman (Live), MSTRKRFT, Ferry Corsten, ATB, Boys Noize, Diplo, Carl Cox, Loco Dice, Luciana, Danny Tenaglia, Richie Hawtin, Dubfire, Crookers, Martin Solveig, Skrillex, Super Mash Bros., Infected Mushroom, Gabriel and Dresden, AN21 and Max Vangeli, BT Laptop Symphony (Live), Daedelus, Sub Focus, John Dahlbäck, TOKiMONSTA, Felguk, Gareth Emery, Markus Schulz, Robbie Rivera, Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano, Andy Moor, Dirty South, Joachim Garraud - INVASION, Mat Zo, Sean Tyas and Simon Patterson B2B, Sidney Samson, Big Gigantic, Carte Blanche, Excision and Datsik, Fake Blood, Jack Beats, MiM0SA, Joris Voorn and Nic Fanciulli B2B, Josh Wink, Nicole Moudaber, The Martinez Brothers, Victor Calderone, Carl Craig, James Holden, Reboot (Live), Steve Bug, Chris Liebing, Gui Boratto, Guy Gerber, Ida Engberg, Nicolas Jaar (Live), Bart B More, Busy P, Egyptrixx, Feed Me, High Contrast, SebastiAn (Live), 12th Planet, Beardyman, Kid Sister, Porter Robinson, SBTRKT, Tommy Lee and DJ Aero, Arty, EDX, Hardwell, Jaytech, Kyau and Albert, Michael Woods
Festival Website: http://www.madeevent.com/ElectricZoo/
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Five Highlights
Beardyman. Easily my highlight of the event. All the sounds of his performance are created by his voice and then sampled and modulated. Each track is made up right on the spot. Creative and fresh to say the least.
Michael Woods. The crowd overflowed out of the tent for this stellar performance. Chances are you'll be seeing him on one of the bigger stages next year.
David Guetta. Went to his set expecting it to be pop-y and was pleasantly surprised at his track selections.
Carl Cox. His takeover of Sunday School was (as always) an amazing show.
Afrojack. Big beats and an even bigger crowd.
No more times, please. Too many DJs played the same songs. I (sort of) understand why they play some of their newer songs more often because hearing Daft Punk’s “One More Time” at least four different times in one day is a bit much.
Three Surprises
Trance is alive and well. A festival like this reminds you why it's still the most popular genre of EDM.
Patriotism. Beardyman did a live remix of the Star Spangled Banner.
Snoop Doggy DJ. Snoop Dogg is a DJ? Wait, what?
Atmosphere
Part rave, part club, part festival - Electric Zoo is an electronic Frankenstein but in a good way of course. The stage and sound design was amazing. You'd think four stages in such a close area would mean the sound is muddled and unclear, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
The Hilltop Stage's LED wall structure was mammoth. Most of the crowd was very young and there was a clear age distribution between the various stages.
Best Pictures
More pictures . . .
(Click to enlarge)
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Check out our coverage of all your favorite summer festivals in our 2011 Festival Guide.
What did you think of Electric Zoo 2011? Highlights, lowlights and surprises. Let us know in the comments below.
