The DMNW EDC Awards: The Good, the Great, and the WTF

The Great

Best Avicii Tribute: Tiesto (special guest Aloe Blacc)

In the midst of the sad passing of Avicii, many artists wanted to pay their respects and play a tribute of sorts during their sets. While many artists just played a snippet or a song, undeniably one of the best tributes goes out to our OG Tiesto. For upwards of 12 minutes we were wowed by a perfect mix of Avicii songs with surprise guest Aloe Blacc joining for the closing portion of “Wake Me Up.”

DMNW’s Favorite Sets: Illenium, Eric Prydz, Seven Lions, Marshmello, Jauz

Who could pick just one!? Not going to lie, just about every set we saw was utterly fantastic but these artists really stood out. Luckily we were able to find some of the recorded sets, so even if you didn’t attend you can still re-live the magic and jam out!

Best Surprise Set: Kaskade Strobelite Seduction

Every year at EDC there’s a handful of “surprise” artists that will take the stage during various parts of the weekend. If you’re lucky enough you’ll run into one! While information about this set leaked early by Kaskade himself, it made us do a double-take to ensure what we were seeing was actually true! A rare Strobelite Seduction set to mark its anniversary kept us dancing into the wee hours of the morning. 

Best New Stage: Quantum Valley

With the addition of the Quantum Valley stage in 2017, sadly it did not live up to its hype. A tented stage and temperatures over 100 degrees created a sweltering and overcrowded environment. This year, Insomniac took those issues and completely re-did the stage structure…can we say, amazing! Open-air, multiple LEDs, and a cool industrial look gave this stage just what it needed to make trance fans’ jaws drop.

Now that we’ve seen the good and the great…what about those WTF moments?