Outside the city proper and into the desert of Las Vegas lies a racetrack that’s home to an annual concert in which illegal substances are not permitted, but from what I could tell, nothing of actual substance, illegal or otherwise, is permitted. The Electric Daisy Carnival is a three-day focus on the very best in electronic music and takes place every year in June. If that seems a lousy time of year to spend three days in a desert, it’s only because it is.
Under the Electric Sky is the story of three days of concert footage focused on several sets of white Americans. The concert itself appeals to a wide diversity of 18 to 30 year-olds of all American Caucasian races and creeds. I don’t say this gathering can’t appeal to those outside the demographic; it just doesn’t. The Carnival itself is essentially a collection of mixologists doing their thing to thousands of screaming Halloween guests. It’s like a huge alcohol-free dance club in the middle of a parking lot with an obscene cover price and no bouncer.
So you get the idea that this is like a band documentary, except for the fact that there is no band, only a venue. In lieu of an empty story of how the band members met, we have empty stories of how the EDC has changed lives. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t drop any names here. The object of this carnival is to assemble as many uniquely dressed humans as is physically possible and have them all behave exactly the same way. Let’s meet our tackling dummies up close:
• First there’s the fresh out of college couple who h
ave the appearance of bible-thumping twelve year-olds. It’s hard to tell exactly, but I’m pretty sure they’re sublimating some collective sexual urges by dressing up for mardi gras and dancing the night away.
• Then there’s the group of clearly closeted boys from Cape Cod. They’ve gone to the EDC to promote Ferris, a comrade lost to a drug overdose.
• A couple who met at the first EDC are returning to get married on Day Three of this, their fifteenth anniversary of the meet. Nothing says sanctity quite like matching white hot pants and pacing the aisle to hockey warm-up music.
• Ah, but the fogies aren’t alone in matrimony. A collection of eight hedonistic friends have come to Vegas for communal showers (water, not figurative) and a marriage of everybody to everybody. At this point, I felt a little sad. So many Vegas marriages end in divorce and if eight people break up, who gets custody of the boa, the leather chaps and the pink tutu?
• Showing that diversity is not limited to the cast of “Dawson’s Creek,” the EDC welcomes a paraplegic kid, who has come to dance the night away and do a few wheelies. I honestly felt really good for the kid – this is an opportunity he couldn’t get at a normal dance club and while his story wasn’t explored to the point where we know if he cares about anything other than dance music, I wanted to see him get out of that chair and live it up.
• Finally, a single girl becomes a blingle girl with the addition of, roughly, 4.2 million beads. She lives out her life’s dream by, quite literally, pressing a button (on stage). Luckily for us, this button has groove vibe, not a destruction vibe.
I suppose that evaluation was a tad cruel. With the exception of the gang marriage, all of these people seemed genuine, just shallow. It’s not their fault Under the Electric Sky is an infomercial promoting the EDC; it means something to them. And for that, I can neither chide their integrity, nor their candor. But it doesn’t make their stories compelling. In fact, this wall-to-wall dance explosion has the unique quality in that you could miss any segment of this film, anywhere in the film to use the restroom, go to the concessions, grab a coke, do your taxes, whatever, and not miss a single thing.
♪Well the midnight spotlight find you in mosh plight
Crowd surf up ahead slow it down is meaningless
Gotta keep ignoring
Those DJ vipers push buttoning a tempo
Keeping perfect rhythm with the song, tell me has it changed?
Pretend this isn’t boring
Oooh, I’m dancing my life away
Go get on your knees and pray
For me.
Oooh, I’m dancing my life away
Until I’m old and gray,
Like 33♫
Rated PG-13, 85 Minutes
D: Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz
W: Erato ;)
Genre: Band movie sans band
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: EDC Groupies
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: “You kids get off my lawn”
♪ Parody inspired by “Drivin’ My Life Away”
