Electric Daisy Carnival Isn’t Hosting Its 2021 Festival In May After All

Earlier this month, Pasquale Rotella — the founder and CEO of Insomniac Events, the company behind Electric Daisy Carnival — made the surprising announcement that EDC would host its 2021 festival soon, from May 21 to 23. Now, this year’s event will not be able to go forward as initially intended, as Rotella has revealed that the Las Vegas festival has been pushed back to between October 22 and 24, 2021.

Rotella shared the news on Instagram and in his message, Rotella indicated he expected Nevada’s social distancing guidelines to be lifted by the time the festival was going on, but plans changed:

“As we expected and were assured prior to announcing the festival for May, Nevada state officials announced they would lift social distancing requirements as of May 1, creating a path for EDC to happen with strict safety guidelines in place. We just had a meeting in Las Vegas this past Friday with police, fire, medical, and other agencies involved with EDC to plan out details surrounding the event.

However, today, Clark County (home of EDC & the Las Vegas Motor Speedway) passed a reopening plan that requires 60% of their residents to be vaccinated before restrictions over large scale gatherings such as EDC can be lifted. Unfortunately, the rate at which people get vaccinated before EDC is out of our control. It might happen in time, it might not. Either way, we can’t take that risk.”

He concluded his message, “I continue to believe it’s important we get back out on the dancefloor as soon as possible, and I won’t give up on trying to make that happen. I will be announcing an AMA on Reddit in the near future to address any questions.”

Check out Rotella’s full statement below.

“I am sorry to say that EDC Las Vegas needs to move to October. I want to thank everyone who has put their heart and soul into this show–the Insomniac team, artists, agents, managers, production crews, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway staff, the government officials who supported us, and most importantly, you, the Headliners.

As we expected and were assured prior to announcing the festival for May, Nevada state officials announced they would lift social distancing requirements as of May 1, creating a path for EDC to happen with strict safety guidelines in place. We just had a meeting in Las Vegas this past Friday with police, fire, medical, and other agencies involved with EDC to plan out details surrounding the event.

However, today, Clark County (home of EDC & the Las Vegas Motor Speedway) passed a reopening plan that requires 60% of their residents to be vaccinated before restrictions over large scale gatherings such as EDC can be lifted. Unfortunately, the rate at which people get vaccinated before EDC is out of our control. It might happen in time, it might not. Either way, we can’t take that risk.

Our team has been working around the clock to organize this event. We currently have over 40 trucks en route to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway from all over the country. The lineup is fully booked and was going to be announced tomorrow at 12pm PT. The team and I are heartbroken, as I know many of you are as well. For those who have stayed with us on this journey, I thank you. Your trust & loyalty is what gives us strength to keep moving forward.

The good news is that EDC Las Vegas will still take place on the new dates of October 22-24, 2021. Your ticket will automatically be transferred to the new dates, or you may elect to receive a refund by clicking the link in my bio. If you have already transferred your ticket to 2022, your ticket will also be transferred to the new dates unless you choose to receive a refund.

I continue to believe it’s important we get back out on the dancefloor as soon as possible, and I won’t give up on trying to make that happen. I will be announcing an AMA on Reddit in the near future to address any questions.

Love & Light,
Pasquale”