On The Scene: Electric Zoo Day One

This year, this amazing little island located right in between upper Manhattan and Queens welcomed around 83,000 thousand attendees, topping last year’s numbers by 3,000 people and marking the highest attendance since 2013. It was my first time attending a festival of such grandness. I really did not know what to expect, but I was certainly more than pleased with what I saw as soon as I stepped into the festival. This year’s festival was themed “Wild Island” and had five different stages, each with very unique and amazing set ups. I have seen many great sets in decently sized venues, from clubs to Madison Square Garden but never had I seen anything with the magnitude of these stages. The Treehouse along with Sunday School Groove were more private and less spacious than the Main Stage, the Hilltop Arena and the Riverside stage.

The Treehouse stage was definitely the most futuristic treehouse inspired stage I have seen. It was an all white diamond shaped stage with a small triangular opening where the DJs played. The surroundings were cool since it was located by some trees and there were also little stations made out of painted car wheels where people could sit and relax while still enjoying the music. It welcomed DJs Skahrely who opened at 3 p.m., followed by Kiss The Sky at 4 p.m., Logan Bohbot at 5 p.m., Matt Medved at 6 p.m., Alex English B2B Dali at 7 p.m., and closed with Julio at 8:00 p.m.

The Sunday School stage was located on a little bump of the park and curated by Anjunadeep on Friday. There was a grass covered school bus next to the stage where people could climb and sit as they overlooked either the stage or the the rest of the open air festival. The stage was covered by an undulated ceiling and had jungle like decorations. Lauren Ritter started out on this stage at 3 p.m. with HVOB taking over at 4 p.m., Cubicolor at 5 p.m., Yotto at 6 p.m., Moon Boots at 7:00 p.m., Way Out West at 7 p.m., Lane 8 at 9 p.m. and AME closed by playing live at 10 p.m. The stage was not completely covered and had some open spaces on the roof as well as the sides. Since open grass surrounded the stage, many sat down by the sides and bumped their heads to the music and watched the sets as they either recovered a little energy to keep dancing or just enjoyed some relaxation with their friends. Here and there air would blow out that, with the warm and humid weather felt incredible. At 5 p.m., during Cubicolor’s set, a shuffling reunion took place where many pro and beginner shufflers gathered and showed off their awesome moves.

The Riverside stage was completely open air and maybe about twice in size of the previously mentioned stages. The set up was incredible, it seemed as though the stage was being swallowed by a zebra patterned octopus whose huge tentacles were spread out in every direction. The talent featured on this stage was incredible. Lestat opened up at 3 p.m., followed by Unlike Pluto at 4 p.m., Shaun Frank followed at 5 p.m., Felix Jaehn at 6 p.m., Anna Lunoe at 7 p.m. and Claptone closed the night with his genius set at 8:15 p.m. The Knockturnal had the chance to sit down and chat with lovely Felix Jaehn, most known for his remix of Omi’s “Cheerleader.” His set was nothing less than amazing, and brought the masses to have an incredible time. He played some Chainsmokers’ hits, as well as some classics such as “Rhythm of the Night” by DeBarge. The audience enjoyed his set. They were all raving and shouting as he dropped his sick mixes. The transitions were really good and he knew how to read the audience extremely well. The 22 year old German artist exudes so much talent.

 

The Hilltop Stage was also incredible, inspired by an ice tundra. It was the stage that leaned more into dubstep and trap. Once you saw the stage, which was covered by a white tent, you were transported into what felt like an ice cave (minus the weather). It was located in between the Main Stage and Riverside. This stage also brought incredible names to its ground, it started off with Illenium at 3 p.m., G Jones took over the stage at 4 p.m. and Spor followed right after at 5 p.m., Cookie Monster had a BTB set with Funtcase at 6 p.m., then Zomboy at 7 p.m., with Datsik as the closing act that started at 8 p.m. The laser game was strong and since it was covered by the tent, we were able to appreciate it during the day as well as at night.

 

Last but not least, was the Main Stage. Its set up and its line up were jaw dropping. You could see the stage from very far away since it has to cater to the masses. This year’s Main Stage mascot was a beautiful giant cobra. There were lasers and lights by all of the extremities making the cobra beautifully light up as well as the audience. Tigerlily premiered the stage at 3 p.m. and was followed by David Solano at 4 p.m. Sam  Feldt had an amazing set at 5 p.m., then Ummet Ozcan took over at 6 p.m. Flux Pavillon showed off his talent at 7 p.m., which transitioned into Carnage at 8 p.m. and the one and only Bassnectar went on at 9:25 p.m. giving an incredible performance and close to this incredible day.