welcome to my notes app

$598.99. The price of a car payment in the post 2020 used car market. Or, perhaps, a new Dyson Airwrap with all the attachments (which unfortunately I do worship and revere for mending my ever-contentious relationship with my curl pattern). EDC Las Vegas has earned its place in the awareness of ravers, casual listeners, and anyone adjacent to a millennial. And at a cash point rivaling with the monthly payment on a SUV (with LEATHER TRIM) for the privilege of paying to be hydrated and BYOTP, EDC Las Vegas’ nearly $600 experience has landed squarely in my “VIP/ Only When I Can Pay to Sit and Shit Comfortably” list.

But at less than half the price and conveniently coinciding with an even stronger desire than usual to experience a reality outside of the somatic spin cycle that is the US, EDC Mexico came at the perfect time this year and has officially earned its spot as an annual commitment in my PTO planner.

The Down Low

1. The most savings will come from buying your tickets early. If you’re more than 60% sure you’re going, buy tickets when they go on sale. Pre-sale’s even better. Tier 1/first released tickets are usually under $200, making it 2/3 savings on the US edition. Prices DO go up though which I learned the hard way this time around. By waiting until every detail of my trip was finalized, I was stuck with tickets on StubHub that, with fees, came to a little under $300. Still a massive steal compared to the gauge that is Vegas but I’ll definitely buy on release day in 2026.
2. This is one of the only festivals where I would say that proximity to the venue should not be consideration for accommodation. Stay in the neighboorhood that calls to you in Mexico City and hop in an Uber. Prices and travel time averaged about $25-30 and 35-45 minutes on the way there ; $15-25 and 30ish minutes to get back to the Roma Norte Area.
3. EDC Mexico processes internal purchases using a chip/wristband situation. When you enter there are bank tents nearby and around the grounds where you can load cash credit onto your wristband using a debit card or credit card.
   • NOTE: What I did NOT know the first time I went is that the wristband is also what you’ll use for festival merch even though the merch tent is so far from the entrance it feels like it’s outside.
4. This festival does not fuck around with illegal things. Cops reguarly walk through the crowds of sets all three days. Also note – nicotine vapes are also illegal in the city and you can and will get shaken down by police if they see. Micro compartments of bags and pockets are searched thoroughly. Mexican jail is not where you want to have a 3-day weekend pass to.

Anything We Can Do Mexico Can Do Better (and Cheaper)

Prepare to redefine your relationship with festival financial planning.

You know when you approach a situation and it becomes violently clear that you’ve brought your assumptions into something where they don’t actually apply. Yeah US festival pricing (see $600 entrance to asphalt)(see $22 cans of White Claw)(see:$9 water but it’s only Liquid Death and it can only be open and entirely unstransportable) had me all the way fucked up in my sense of how much money I would reasonably spend over 3 days.

When loading my wristband, I calculated for the following for two days:

• Sweatpants and/or shirt festival merch
• 2x dinner
• 6ish water, soda, etc.
• Consistent and ongoing snacks and sweet treats

OK SO do the math whatever you’d guess for each. Because $150 felt like a reasonable and even slightly under bid. I knew I’d miscalculated though when the TWO cashiers repeated in both English and Spanish an affirmation of just how many pesos I had requested, a la “Chase Bank has noticed a suspicious charge this really you??”. But to the concern and confusion of the Citibanco employees, I loaded the exorbitant funds and set off for the 2 days.

After Saturday and Sunday 10 hour days, my grand total was less than dinner with tax and tip at the new place in uptown that charges an extra $2 for each individual topping beyond the burger patty and/or remaginnes chicken and waffles in a quirky way that makes it undeniably worse.

$75 was what it came down to for all of the above, minus the sweatpants because unfortunately they were boring to me to look at.

Never choose between your set or your stomach – the food comes to you.

Yes you read that right. Hands down one of the best parts of this festival is that there are vendors literally weaving through the crowds of each set making sure no cerveza goes unoffered and that precious crowd spots aren’t at the cost of getting your snack on at the same time.

Don’t miss the real final headliner right outside the festival gates.

The act that never ceases to blow me away is the street food artists that wrap it all up with the best set you’ll see all night. A Place to Sit Down ft. tacos so fire that one place we went to only allowed them to be purchased in sets of 5 because they know you better than you know yourself.

This collective post-festival bread breaking is something that feels incredibly unique to this experience in this place. and the at least in some ways, there’s an current of symbiosis between this temporary pipeline of depleted rave warriors and the hyperlocal fried meat economy.

NOS VEMOS EN EL 2026!