It has been a long three days for these weary legs, but another year at Electric Zoo is in the bag. The 2016 edition featured the likes of Tiësto, Hardwell, Bassnectar, The Chainsmokers, Joris Voorn, Lane 8, Lil Dicky, Juicy J and more. A sold out day 3 just wrapped up on Randall's Island and we were there to capture all of the madness. Follow the play-by-play with artists like Hardwell, Lil Dicky, Jason Ross, Ilan Bluestone and The Chainsmokers.
3:40 - Valentino Khan lives up to the billing with his frenetic and energetic mixing and song selection. Some songs hit better than others, so it is good that he keeps it moving with about one track or mashup per minute, but it is incredibly lively in the Hilltop Tent for the Buygore Stage. The mix of dubstep, trap, moombahton, hip-hop and trap appeals to one of the most diverse audiences of the entire weekend.
4:00 - Jason Ross is representing Anjunabeats hard at Riverside. He is the first of three artists to perform from Above & Beyond's label on the stage on Sunday. He mixes in some of his own 138-132 bpm synth-heavy trance with those of others like the label don and the crowd is all about it.
4:45 - Pierce Fulton is the break in between Ilan Bluestone and Jason Ross. That could get a little repetitive with those two back-to-back. He is trying to get weird with the crowd and he does just that with some electro, progressive and house.
4:55 - The Sunday School Stage has been taken over by Ants, the party by Ushuaia Ibiza. They change the decorations once again, adding a large net to the underside of the roof and hanging a clear ball to the middle. Agoria at this point is finishing off his set with hypnotic melodies that assist thudding four-on-the-floor bass lines. Dancers in tight black leather and black visors in the front make for some great selfies.
5:15 - Lil Dicky finds himself as one of two rappers at the festival and he is quite popular. He was a little late, but the charisma and dance moves made up for it. At this moment he led the crowd in the national anthem because nobody else had.
5:20 - Lil Dicky asks the DJ to play some EDM, which he says he hates and then throws out some of those amazing dance moves.
5:55 - The jokes keep on coming throughout the set in between tracks like "Save Dat Money," "Pillow Talking" and "Professional Rapper." The shtick where he brings a girl on stage to give her a lap dance is about to begin and she is ready for it. She has been begging for him all set and she gets all of it as he gets down to his boxers for the second hook of "Lemme Freak."
6:20 - Andrew Bayer and Jason Ross join Ilan Bluestone on stage for a little Anjunabeats family moment, similar to what they had over the winter on the label tour across the United States. The trance DJ keeps up the label's sound on Sunday with his own tracks like the strong "Bigger Than Love" and some new ones of his own.
7:30 - Juicy J is getting the Hilltop Tent ratchet once again. He asks the crowd if they want a Three 6 Mafia reunion as if that is even a question. Of course they do, but can you deliver Juicy J? The set delivers on tunes new and old from his Three 6 Mafia days and then classics like "Bandz a make her Dance" and "Slob on my Knob." He seemed to be snapping half the show.
8:30 - The Chainsmokers are going a bit harder then one might expect. "Roses" is a lovely sing-a-long moment, but there is a lot of dubstep being thrown out there.
9:00 - They have gone through a few of their originals like "Inside Out" and "Kanye," while also hitting a few classic remixes, but this is primarily dubstep, big room, trap and hip-hop.
9:10 - Drew gets on stage to tell about how they got drunk one night on tour in "cities worse than New York" and wrote "Closer" after listening to some emo music. He sounded better than the VMAs.
9:15 - "Don't Let Me Down" is the closer. Good call.
9:45 - Hardwell is on to close out the whole thing and boy is there a lot of big room. He was built for this stage.
10:25 - Joris Voorn is unleashing a relentless onslaught of techno and house on the Sunday School tent. It is harder than his own moody productions, but what he brings out to shorter festival sets like this.
10:55 - Back with Hardwell at the main stage, he ends with an interesting mix of music. He goes from trance to trap and then to hardstyle. The grand finale is a mashup of "New York, New York," "Empire State of Mind" and his own "Spaceman." Spaceman comes to its conclusion as the minute of fireworks goes off above the DJ - whose silhouette looks tine compared to the giant snake that is stage.
