Doug Elfman

'Costume generation' wears revealing outfits with pride

You might keep asking yourself, "Why are all these kids at the Electric Daisy Carnival wearing elaborate costumes with furry animal heads and stuff?"

It's because this is the costume generation. People in young age ranges keep inviting me to costume and theme parties. Then they tell me my costumes suck.

My generation is not a costume generation. We put in Dracula teeth, and we're done.

Then there were the many EDC girls wearing three standard outfits: A) Fuzzy boots, knickers (undies) and a bra. B) Sneakers, tutu and a bra. C) Or fuzzy boots, bikini bottom and toplessness, plus gooey, artsy pasties.

At least half of these kids looked 18 to 22. It was The World's Biggest Teen Dance Party at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

People kept asking me if they were all on Ecstasy. I'd bet 10 to 20 percent, tops, were on something. But that "something" could have been alcohol, pot, acid, Ecstasy, or especially the legal ADHD drug Adderall, which is used like prescription cocaine when taken by those who don't have ADHD.

So at least 80 percent appeared to be sober, ordinary concert-goers.

Security guards ran rudimentary pocket checks and pat downs, sending girls back to their cars if they showed up carrying apparently nefarious teddy bears.

Comically, the event's no-no list disallowed "massagers." This means event organizers may have previously witnessed and frowned upon kids arriving at parties in other cities equipped with sex toys.

I don't think the George Strait Country Music Festival had the same problem.

Pot was, of course, verboten, but it was the most smuggled in import. At one DJ stage, I spotted three guys in a 5-square-foot area smoking their own joints and not sharing, which would never fly at a rock concert.

To be honest, EDC seemed like just another concert, although younger and bigger. Before I went, I looked at the list of DJs and thought, "I see a lot of these DJs at clubs on the Strip. So how is EDC going to surprise me?"

But while listening to an incredible set by DJ Zedd (who I haven't seen on the Strip), I remembered how much better it is to listen to electronic thump-thump in a huge open-air venue.

As excellent as sound systems are at Marquee nightclub and Encore Beach Club, they sound like car speakers compared to the incredible, undistorted aural blast of EDC.

Arrests and hospitalizations happened, as news readers know. However, EDC seemed like the least intimidating concert crowd outside of Coachella in the Palm Springs area.

How could anyone have felt threatened by skinny shirtless nerds wearing suspenders and eyeglass frames without lenses?

But every event has a few jackasses. When I first started walking through the crowd on Saturday, I was suddenly faced with one fella chasing another fella, as they were sprinting directly at me.

I moved out of the way just in time for the first guy (the chasee) to pass. I shoulder-bumped the second guy (the chaser). The chaser went to the ground. Security quickly apprehended him.

That made me feel like Batman -- out of costume.

Doug Elfman spent the weekend with other Review-Journal staffers, checking out the scene at the Electric Daisy Carnival. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Contact him at delfman@reviewjournal .com. He also blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman, and you can find his tweets @VegasAnonymous.

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Comments

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1. martinis00 Jun. 27, 2011 | 2:11 p.m. Report Abuse

   I worked the EDC as a shuttle bus Driver on Friday and Saturday nights.
   
   I drove numerous trips between the Strip and LVMS with groups of 50+ both to the event and the return trips back. In all, I transported over 1600 visitors.
   
   I found that these young people were in town to have a good time, and were not looking for trouble or a chance to destroy things.
   
   They were very polite, and respectful of both the buses and Drivers. There was ZERO damage to my bus (I can't say the same thing for the NBA All-Star crowd) and they put their trash in the garbage bags by the coach door as they deboarded.
   
   Almost without exception, I was thanked for the ride there, and thanked again when they arrived back at the hotel.
   
   Yeah, the "costumes" were a bit out of my league, but my parents didn't the the "Elvis" look or the "Beatles hair" either.
   
   I found this event to be very well coordinated by the promoters, and I for one would welcome this group back ANYTIME.
   
   As for those people who are bashing this event, WITHOUT being anywhere near it, you don't know what you are talking about.
   
   I'll bet your Dad hated his kid being a "Bobby-Soxer" swooning to Frankie Sinatra too.

2. Tina B Jun. 27, 2011 | 1:55 p.m. Report Abuse

   Ladies should not show their muffins in public, no matter how young or old they are.

3. AmLowLife Jun. 27, 2011 | 1:48 p.m. Report Abuse

   A couple more notes: We thought that the 18-22 crowd comprised closer to 70% and that well over 50% were on something (a Saturday night sampling). Elfman is right about the pot wafting through the crowd--it was there in abundance--which surprised us. We thought we were at a rock concert!
   And he's also right about them not passing the stuff around, too, although with us being older I suppose they could have thought we were narcs (do they still call 'em that?). All in all, a very mellow and friendly crowd with quite a bit of eye candy.
   The sound systems were, indeed, excellent, the event extremely well organized, the lights and added entertainment (dancers, costumes, fireworks, etc.) were nice touches. We also thought LVMS worked well for the event (other than all the dirt & gravel we had to walk through). EDC is a keeper, in our opinion.

4. mygib Jun. 27, 2011 | 1:30 p.m. Report Abuse

   Um, it isn't just the young ladies dressing like that. So many time I've seen women in the 40's and up showing off all their goodies.

5. AmLowLife Jun. 27, 2011 | 12:53 p.m. Report Abuse

   I don't think the skimpy costumes are necessarily a generational thing. I think it has more to so with a sexual freedom thing.
   Yes, there were thousands of barely-there costumes at EDC but there were many similar examples at the various Gay Pride parades around the world and, if you've ever been to a swingers theme party (there was a large 4-day event at the Stratosphere this past weekend) you would see people of all ages (mostly 30's & 40's) in some of the sexiest and craziest itsy-bitsy costumes around.
   The Black & White party (now annually at the Hard Rock) used to be like that until the vanillas invaded it and lowered the sexiness quotient.

6. Jack.Sprat Jun. 27, 2011 | 12:20 p.m. Report Abuse

   If you can't understand it, you are definately too old.

7. vegasavon Jun. 27, 2011 | 10:40 a.m. Report Abuse

   Many young ladies today have no respect for themselves. Run around half naked, showing the boys everything. Leaving very little for the imagination. Pretty sad. I have had a few young girls, in their late teens even say that they are embarrassed by the young people of their generation. Have to wonder about their upbringing. What did their parents allow in their earlier years. A country in disarray.

8. Photograshopist Jun. 27, 2011 | 10:05 a.m. Report Abuse

   I say Yeah for revealing outfits.

9. Tina B Jun. 27, 2011 | 9:57 a.m. Report Abuse

   Costume Generation?? Try the Brainless Generation!

10. EngineerChris Jun. 27, 2011 | 8:33 a.m. Report Abuse

    On second thought....after looking at photos on the LV Sun's page, thank you for only showing the one photo.

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