“Being an adult sucks,” opines one Tressa Barwood, a go-go dancer for the Electric Daisy Carnival Experience, who appears as if she legally has been an adult herself for a matter of years. And that’s about as deep as the philosophical insight in Kevin Kerslake’s documentary of the 2010 festival gets.
The music, dancefloor-filling fare spun and played by the likes of Kaskade, Steve Aoki, Moby, Swedish House Mafia, Travis Barker(!), and others, is kickin’. And the dayglo, neon, often pyrotechnics-enhanced crowd and performance shots are infectious, to a point. After a while, the shots of pretty people dancing their butts off and DJs jumping up and down and gesturing at the audience become repetitive. Aren’t those DJs supposed to be, like, cuing records or something?!?
The interviews with various DJs, producers and promoters are generally pat, though at least the troupe named the Dorks have a sense of humor about it all. Probably in spite of all involved, Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am comes across as the most insightful and interesting.
Yes, electronic dance music has come a long way. And make no mistake, the annual Electric Daisy Carnival Experience looks like one hell of a good time. But, ultimately, a good time you had to be there for.