Insomniac Delivers Hotel EDC And EDSea Festival Cruise For Its 30-Year Anniversary

Insomniac is one of the top movers and shakers within the dance music industry. The music festival and live events experience creator has developed world-renowned festivals such as Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas (EDC)—the world’s largest dance music festival—Nocturnal Wonderland, HARD Summer, Escape Wonderland and Dreamstate. These experiences help foster the community’s ethos of peace, love, unity and respect. This year, Insomniac celebrates its 30-year anniversary with impressive new experiences: Hotel EDC and EDSea.

Hotel EDC, taking place during the EDC Las Vegas weekend of May 19-21, allows for festival goes, who are referred to as headliners by Insomniac, to immerse themselves into the world of EDC. The hotel offers EDC-themed rooms, afterparties, lounges, exclusive merchandise, happy hours, gift bags, art installations, health and wellness activities, yoga, sound baths and an EDC robe. Attendees will be greeted by performers, further expending the magic that is EDC. In addition, Hotel EDC is located at Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip, allowing easy access to the Kaskade, DJ Snake and Tiësto pool parties happening at surrounding clubs.

“We [are creating EDC Hotel] as if we’re attending for our first time,” Pasquale Rotella, the CEO of Insomniac, says. “What would we like to see? What wouldn’t we expect? If we can, we absolutely have to meet people’s expectations, but our goal is really to exceed people’s expectations.”

EDSea festival cruise extends this concept of offering the full experience of Insomniac’s impressive music festivals. The Caribbean cruise, slated to take place November 4-8 on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Joy, begins in Miami and docks in the Bahamas, with stops at the islands of Great Stirrup Cay and Nassau. The four-night cruise goes beyond music as it boasts go-carts, spas, lounges, laser tag, comedy shows, late-night speakeasies, 15 decks with specialty dining, bars and lounges and more. While the lineup hasn’t been released yet, Rotella says it will feature multiple genres including house, trance, disco and bass music. Eight aquatic-themed stages will make their way to the boat, one of which will be inspired by EDC Las Vegas’s kineticFIELD stage. This will create a recognizable yet traditionally transformed experience. Insomniac began in October 1993, so EDSea will set sail directly following the company’s 30th anniversary.

Anniversary Lane will be shown at this year’s EDC Las Vegas, which launched in 1997 at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles. Anniversary Lane debuted at Beyond Wonderland, and the feature is crafted by two 80-foot walls, making a hallway that showcases videos from past events. Rotella adds that offerings such as this are going to “wow people.” Indeed, Insomniac proves to be building spectacular experiences to celebrate its anniversary.

“It’s a celebration of still being here, and it’s a celebration of all the people [who] have been in the scene, whether they’ve been on the dancefloor or they’ve worked in the scene,” Rotella says. “It’s a celebration of the culture and the community. It’s letting people know that we’re not going anywhere and we are excited about the next 30 years and beyond. It’s a milestone for us, the scene, the music and the culture.”

Rotella’s love for dance music began at the age of 17, and he hosted his first event in Los Angeles called Unity Groove, with the party featuring performances by DJs Steve Loria and Sean Perry. According to the CEO, there haven’t been many changes within the industry since his first event.

“The core values of the scene, the original feeling that I had when I walked into my first underground event, is what keeps me going,” he says. “I love the scene and the music as much as I did when I first discovered it.”

Rotella began his raving days at underground events, which typically take place at warehouses as opposed to venues and were illegal at times. He says that the feeling of the underground is both “a vibe,” “an attitude” and “an energy.” He notes that staying true to his underground party days still translates to Insomiac’s events, even if they take place in a big, open field in the middle of the desert or an arena in the middle of a city.

“The interaction of people on the dance floor, the communication through movement, the music being amazing—that’s so important,” he adds as to why his events stay true to his beginnings. “It all comes from the first experiences I had at underground parties before I was even a promoter. It’s about the music, it’s about the people, the mindset of the people that are gathering together. It’s about the art. It’s not just a concert—it’s a full 360 auto audio-visual experience. Our goal is to create that at the highest level.”

While Rotella was born to create stellar, immersive festivals, his other career path would be opening donut and candy shops that boast distinguished flavors and toppings as well as artistic aspects. He adds that he is obsessed with baking shows, further proving his love for sweet treats. Another option would have been to open a theme park, similar to the vibe of EDC Las Vegas since it features carnival rides.

As for challenges Rotella has faced throughout his career, some of these hurdles include losing a venue after tickets have been sold, restrictions put on a show by local government officials that have the potential to be detrimental to the show’s experience, media coverage misinterpreting the culture, weather, losing millions of dollars that cause worry about Insomniac ability to survive, safety concerns and taking risks, such as moving EDC from Los Angels to Las Vegas—where there was no music scene at the time and there was uncertainty about how it would turn out. Rotella says he would tell his younger self that he would get through these hard times, all would come together and everything would work out.

“There were many, many times where I thought I wasn’t going to get through it,” he says. “If you are passionate and you are doing the right thing, I believe that you will get through it. Just because you get curve balls doesn’t mean that you’re going to drop dead right then and there. I felt that at times, my life was on the line. Now when things come up that are challenging, I breathe, power through them and don’t let the emotions take over. I just tell myself that as with other challenges, I will get through it.”

In terms of how Insomniac has made it to this milestone, he says: “The reason why I think we made it to 30 years is really the love for the music and the passion to make people happy. That is something that I get a lot of gratification out of it. It brings me a lot of purpose to create experiences that help people [since] everyone needs an outlet to let loose and dance. It’s good for the mind, body and soul…We will continue doing this forever until we’re gone. Our goal is to still exist beyond our lives. We’re excited about the next 30 years in front of us.”