Recently we had a chance to sit down and talk with the founder of Insomniac Events, Pasquale Rotella. Insomniac is known as one of the leading promotion companies in the world due to its massive productions across the globe. The most famously known, of course, is Electric Daisy Carnival, better known as EDC. In the past years Insomniac has begun to export the famous daisy to different locations in the United States, as well as other countries.
With EDC Orlando kicking off this weekend we asked Pasquale, what makes EDC Orlando unique attraction? This is what he had to say:
Well, it’s down in Florida; I don’t ever look at the event itself as the only thing that is attached with the festival. Some people are making EDC Orlando a destination for themselves. The fact that Disney World is there and it’s like, you’re in Orlando and there’s a change of atmosphere and your whole vacation is part of the adventure. For myself and my family, when we go out there, we make a whole thing out of it. The venue is different than other venues, it’s the Citrus Bowl and we’re gonna actually setting up the stages differently than we ever have, not only at any EDC but at EDC Orlando. We’re gonna do something and we’re gonna cover the stages so no matter what… The weather can go south pretty easily in Florida during that time, rain will start coming down so we’re not gonna be doing the scenic and we’re not gonna be doing open air. We’re gonna be doing covered stages on all the major stages, meaning the stages themselves are covered. Only one of the stages will have the audience covered as well but the stages itself will be able to run through weather. The On The Road To Vegas shows, is what all the EDCs are now, we have yet to build an EDC that is on the level of EDC Vegas. Our goal is to build certain markets up to that, but it’s different, the vibe is different, the venue is different, the lineup is different than the other EDCs and the stages will be different. So what will be any drastic difference is definitely the city that you’re going to or the city that you’re in, you either don’t have to travel to Vegas and we’re bringing a show to you or you’re going to a destination that has other, you know. See that’s the thing about it, whether it be the crowd or something that you can add to your trip, you know. So I’m excited about it I love EDC being my work stops
Recent figures estimate that EDC Chicago had generated around 26 million dollars for the local community. We wondered if this was intentional or if it was a byproduct.
It’s a byproduct of the event. We encourage people to stay at certain places and stuff like that. The one thing that we do do is something specifically that we contribute is from the tickets and we give back to each city you know, whether it be a charity or an organization that’s doing something good but usually EDC is near a big city and some you can camp out, like outside of Chicago, we did that, but being that a lot of our shows are areas near big cities or our shows that are in southern California that understand that there are no cities nearby and they really do see an impact when the shows come to town. People are staying in hotels and eating at the restaurants and filling up at the gas stations and all that, so its definitely people and they’re the ones that are spending the money that is coming in. And then also included in that are the local hires that we have and the money we spend as a company to help. That is something that we consider. We use local vendors and uh you know, choose to give back, giving that extra dollar to local and that also helps out. It’s a combination.
As well as the economic boom Insomniac has brought to local economies via its festivals, Pasquale has envisioned a a service to support festival-goers who choose to remain sober at his events. This service, known as the Insomniac Consciousness Group, made its debut at Escape from Wonderland. We asked Pasquale how successful the support group’s debut was and how well this unconventional idea was received.
The turnout was great, we had about 1,000 people check out the tent. And this was something I had talked about people before doing. I know plenty of people in programs that thought it was a great idea. And to have people who want to be at a festival and want to stay sober, this is a great opportunity.
With all the expansion that Insomniac has been undertaking, we wondered if E.D.SEA, the projected ‘boat-based’ version of EDC was an active Insomniac priority. Pasquale gave us some exclusive information in regards to that, saying:
That wasn’t something that we announced. Another website that’s out there somehow stumbled upon us registering the name. E D SEA and they put it together. It’s not something that we’re actively working on, its something that I thought of and I wanted to make sure if we ever did do it, we’d own the domain name. It’s something we’d like to explore but not something that we have been planning yet.
In relation to further Insomniac expansion, we are happy to bring you an announcement from the man himself. The upcoming EDC London will be extended to 2 days instead of the previous single day run.
One thing is absolutely for sure, Insomniac is still growing explosively. Pasquale has made it clear though, that with increased size comes increased locations, money for local economies, and continuing innovation. Whether you want to take the high seas with EDC or are in need of support enjoying the festival environment with safety and a sober mind, Insomniac has got you covered. Hell, they even run the industry’s premiere business conference, which we had the pleasure of attending this past June.
We’ve seen absolutely massive things from Pasquale and Insomniac in the past, and it’s very clear that this entertainment mogul is still trying to push the envelope to the limit. We want to extend our gratitude to the Insomniac team and Pasquale Rotella for their time and consideration!
