I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I’m an authority on EDM, because I’d be lying. However, I think that puts me in the best position to be able to judge Size in the Park from an unbiased perspective. This is the first show of this kind that I’ve ever attended and I really had no expectations. I’ve never attended Electric Zoo and apart from seeing DJ Chuckie at Revel HQ earlier this month, my experience to these sort of events have been limited. With that said, I have to admit that I was really quite surprised.

Knowing that nothing great happens at the beginning of any event, I arrived at Central Park at a little after 6 pm and proceeded to find my way in. When I finally made it inside I was pleasantly surprised that the crowd was a bit older than I anticipated, which was nice. We arrived in the middle of the Sunnery and Ryan Marciano set, which I’ll admit I didn’t really get a chance to listen to because I was exploring the venue.  AN21 and Max Vangeli took the stage next and at this point I started to pay closer attention. Everyone seemed really into it but people were still quite dispersed and the crowd in front of the stage seemed to be the only one really into the music.

When Steve Angello finally took the stage, you could literally feel the excitement in the crowd. The lines for beer and ice cream were non-existent and everyone was crowding together by the stage. All of a sudden the entire area went dark with only green lasers surrounding Steve’s area, which slowly began to fill up with smoke. This led to a very loud and bright opening that I was able to videotape. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed his entire set. He played for about 2 hours and the crowd was into it the entire time. He played hits like Miami to Ibiza, Greyhound, In My Mind and Save the World. Whether or not this constitutes mainstream EDM or not people seemed to be enjoying it none-the-less.

One thing I will say about EDM fans is their sheer appreciation for the music; I’ve never seen anything like it.

With no words in may of the songs, people could just focus on the sounds and the emotions coming out of the speakers and not anything that anyone was saying. Having never been apart of something like this, it was an awesome feeling to be in the thick of things and feel completely accepted by the crowd. Everyone was dancing together, everyone was having agood time, and everyone was pretty united. At one point it started to drizzle which quickly turned into a full-blown downpour. Steven summed it up perfectly when he announced he had ordered the rain to see who was there for the music and who was there for the party. From the looks of it, everyone was there for the music because no one left. The combination of rain and lasers made for quite an unforgettable experience, as it looked like little shards of lightwere falling to the ground.

I left a bit before 10 pm to try to find a cab before the mass exodus of people hit 5th avenue and I nonetheless feel like I got a very complete experience. Between the people, the music, and the energy, I have to say this was one of the best shows I have ever been to. It was executed masterfully and took advantage of New York Cities unique landscape. If you’ve never been to one of these shows and think you don’t like this music, I urge you to get a ticket to the next one and see first hand what everyone is raving about. They made a believer out of me.

All photo credits go to Andrew Rauner (AJRphotography).  Find more of his work on Facebook