Celebrating Five Years of Electric Love Festival in Austria

2017 marked the 5th annual Electric Love Festival. Though this hidden gem isn't globaly known like Tomorrowland or EDC, people from all over Europe joined together and created memories in the beautiful landscape of the Salzburgring. 

With over 180,000 attendees, and big-name headliners like Armin van Buuren, Hardwell, Brennen Heart, and Flux Pavilion taking the stage this year, ELF is setting the pace to be at the top of the charts along with the rest of the heavy hitter festivals. 

For those that don't know, Austrians love to party, and this is very much an Austrian festival. Though there is a diverse array of nationalities in attendance, there is a staggering presence of Austrian people that call Electric Love their home.

As you walk into the campgrounds you'll find a beer bong at nearly every campsite, beer pong, water guns, the whole nine. And just like the ever so famous "CARL" you hear at American festivals, shouts of the name "HELGA" are heard from every corner. 

So look, I'm an American writer, and I had just spent the last 6 weeks backpacking Europe (with 6 more to go). The minute I walked into these campgrounds, I was home. 

After a day full of meeting new people and running around the campgrounds, it was time to go inside and dance. The main stage hosted an abundance of artists throughout the weekend like Showtek, Yellow Claw, Tchami, Dash Berlin, Krewella, Zedd, Marshmello, Hardwell, Armin van Buuren, and DJ Snake, but after talking to a couple of Austrians, I realized the party isn't at the main stage.  

Europeans love their hardstyle. So much, that you can catch a unique hardstyle set from non-hardstyle artists at festivals like Electric Love. 

If you read my Krewella Interview, you already know this. Yasmine states, "When we’re in Europe, we feel like we can play a different kind of music. We can go harder with the hardstyle, hard techno, UK hardcore, and drum and bass." And that's exactly what they did that night. It was unlike any Krewella set I've ever seen.

Fortunately for the hardstyle junkies, the Q-Dance Stage was the place to be for countless hardstyle artists like Noisecontrollers, Psyko Punkz, Wildstylez, and Brennen Heart. I thought the crowd at the main stage had a lot of people (it did), but I that Q-Dance stage was PACKED full of people jumping, shuffling, and fist pumping to their favorite sound in the world.

Marco, an 18 year old who loves beer bongs and hardstyle says, "I really like the kind of people at Q-Dance because they are all a little bit crazy. The music is awesome, and the design of the stage is very nice."

All in all, Electric Love has something for everyone. They open their doors to anyone around the globe with any musical preference, and your fellow festival attendees are nothing but nice and welcoming. There is no way I'm going to Austria again without plans to be at Electric Love Festival. They're already counting down the days until #ELF2018 on the Electric Love Website, you should be too! 

Stay tuned with more news and updates on Music Festivals HERE and Artist Interviews HERE all over the world. Gear up for your next festival with the iEDM Festival Collection HERE.