Ever since the fiasco of Electric Zoo in 2023, there has been a gaping hole in New York City’s EDM festival scene. This summer, I’ve been working to find alternatives, and while there’s nothing on the same scale, I did hear about We Belong Here in Brooklyn (through likely targeted ads if I’m being honest), and decided to attend.
The Fall of Electric Zoo: Background
Before I go into talking about We Belong Here, I want to address what happened with Electric Zoo. In 2022, Avant Gardner, one of NYC’s biggest primarily EDM venues, bought the company Made Event, which included the rights to Electric Zoo. In 2022, things appeared to go mostly well for the festival, but in 2023, they went so badly, the festival has not returned since.
The first day of the 2023 festival was cancelled at more or less the last minute (a couple hours before it was supposed to start), with social media pages claiming they were unable to get everything set up in time, including the construction of the main stage, which they blamed on global supply chain disruptions. On Saturday, the festival opened two hours later than planned, with the main stage still not being fully completed, and considering many Friday ticket holders switched to purchasing Saturday or Sunday tickets, people waited for hours in will call lines to get their wristbands. On Sunday, the event reached capacity around 6:30pm, and turned out to be oversold by 7,000 tickets, leading many who stayed in line until then and who had already paid to get in to gate crash.
Electric Zoo is no stranger to problems in the past and has had to cancel days due to issues like inclement weather conditions and drug overdoses, but never faced disaster on this level before. Things never got so bad that the festival showed no signs of ever returning, as is the apparent case right now. Lawsuits ensued, and refunds that were promised for Friday and Sunday ticketholders who ended up unable to attend weren’t offered until June of the following year. In August of 2025, Avant Gardner was finally forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They had been facing additional issues for years, including overselling at their main venue, complaints about security, and nearby disappearances that turned into deaths. While foul play was never confirmed, rumors swarmed social media of a serial killer in the area, weakening the company’s already falling reputation even further, as two of the cases involved people whose last seen moments were leaving the venue.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that the location was purchased by Pacha, who originally held one of New York City’s most popular clubs in Hell’s Kitchen from 2005-2016. The venue has been rebranded as Pacha NYC, and has a full lineup of events from this summer into the fall. I have yet to attend myself as I want to hold off until an artist I’m especially excited about will be playing; most likely that will mean Madeon in November, unless new last minute announcements are made before then. Initial thoughts from people who have gone seem positive, so I look forward to reporting back once I have my own experience to talk from.
We Belong Here
Anyways, on to the main subject matter: We Belong Here. The festival went for three days, but since there weren’t any acts I felt I had to see on day 2, I only attended day 1 and 3. Conveniently, the festival had the option of buying one ticket that covered day 1 and 3 (which I thought they might not since they were nonconsecutive), and the pricing seemed fair at about $190 including fees.
Day 1
I was especially excited about this day because the headliner was Kx5, the collaborative project between two of the scene’s biggest producers, Kaskade and deadmau5, that began a few years ago. Their NYC debut was supposed to be day one of Electric Zoo in 2023, but as we know what happened then and the DJs decided not to play a pop-up in the city as some others who were supposed to play EZOO that day did, this return marked their first New York City performance. The other acts playing that day included Dennis Free, Kevin Aviance, Zainab, and Aqutie at the Takeover Stage, with Luke Alexander, Shermanology, and Wax Motif at the 360 Stage (and Kx5 closing the 360 Stage).
I arrived a little after 5pm, when Shermanology had recently taken the stage. I wasn’t really familiar with any of the artists playing the Takeover Stage the whole weekend, so I just briefly passed it by to check it out, opting to spend the rest of my time at the 360 Stage. I have a few songs in my library featuring Shermanology and Wax Motif, but most of them were from more than a few years ago, so I wasn’t surprised when they weren’t played by either artist.
One of my favorite elements of the stage production effects was the combination of smoke machines and bubble machines that produced bubbles filled with smoke, which were fun to pop and see the smoke that was contained come out.
Around 7pm, I decided to check out the food vendor options and get something to eat. I later learned that the festival was doing a collaboration with Smorgasburg, a seasonal outdoor food market that started in Williamsburg in 2011 with dozens of vendors. I settled on Lupita’s, which had Doritos Locos Walking Nachos as a menu option that sounded good to me (I’m a big fan of Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos tacos).
They felt on the expensive side at around $20, but that’s honestly pretty normal for festival food. The real problem I faced was the line, which didn’t seem excessively long but I waited for close to 45 minutes. I did have a nice run in there with a group who were featuring their new tequila brand, Maxwell Park Tequila, at the festival. I told them I was 5 years sober, and they congratulated me on that and still gave me a rubber bracelet advertising the brand.
The nachos themselves, which I got with chicken, were excellent quality, particularly the chicken, and though I usually don’t have a big appetite at festivals or other live music events I ended up finishing them.
I was slightly disappointed by the lack of drink options at the bars. There was a decent cocktail selection and of course overpriced Beatboxes (I believe they were going for $18), but in terms of non-alcoholic drinks, all that was available other than water was sparkling water and zero sugar Vitamin Water. Since I’m not big on sparkling water or zero sugar drinks, I stuck to water, which went for the fairly normal festival price of $5. There was a small water refill station near the festival entrance, and although the water wasn’t really cold, I was grateful to be able to refill the bottle.
In a moment I had been waiting for since its cancellation at EZOO almost three years ago, Kx5 went on at 8pm. The set was overall incredible, with the artists playing songs from their self-titled debut album as well as hits from each of their own catalogs, like “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff” by deadmau5 and “Disarm You” by Kaskade. As the Knicks’ win was still fresh in the city’s mind that weekend, deadmau5 made a point of shouting out “Knicks in five!” leading to a big cheer from the crowd. The duo closed with their two original collaborations from 2008, “I Remember” and “Move For Me,” which I felt was the logical choice for ending their set.
I made a bathroom run before leaving; there were rows of porta potties but also actual trailer-style bathrooms, which I had been using most of the day. However, when I went this time, the bathroom turned out to be completely flooded; as in, the whole floor was covered in water and it was leaking out of the trailer. The guy who came in after me even joked that “it’s like the Titanic in here.” I mentioned it to a security guard, but he brushed it off; most likely he was just grateful it wasn’t specifically his problem.
Day 2
As I mentioned, there weren’t any major artists I was interested in seeing playing on day 2 of the festival itself, so day 2 for me was the 3rd and final day of the festival. The headliners that day were Above & Beyond and Oliver Heldens, both of whom I have listened to for over a decade but had yet to see live. Other artists at the 360 Stage included Eli & Fur and Emmy Adelle, while the Takeover Stage consisted of Mike Nervous & Benny Soto, Boris, and Oscar G.
I got there a bit past 4pm, in time for Eli & Fur, a female British duo I hadn’t known before but whose set I found myself enjoying. I immediately noticed that the crowd felt significantly smaller than day 1, and although I at first attributed that to me being there earlier in the day than most attendees, throughout the night there was definitely more space to dance and move.
At one point, someone handed me a tiny mushroom that looked like it was made of ceramic or something similar; I was able to hold onto it and still have it. I still have absolutely no idea why he gave it to me, but somehow it became one of the memorable moments of the weekend.
I headed for food a little earlier, this time around 6:45, fully expecting to wait close to 45 minutes again. This time, I picked Mao’s Bao, which had Chinese popcorn chicken, a dish that seemed like a perfect size and a fair price ($12.99). I was even more right than I had thought about the smaller crowd size, as I was in line less than 10 minutes before getting my food.
Because of the shorter wait, I was able to rejoin the main crowd for most of Oliver Heldens’s set, which was of course primarily house music. While I don’t have too many of his songs in my library, I highly respect his significance in the house music scene, especially when the subgenre future house started growing in popularity in the mid 2010s.
Above & Beyond took the 360 Stage at 8pm, and as all previous artists had been playing mainly house music, I was looking forward to a change of pace with Above & Beyond being primarily trance producers, and are in fact one of the biggest and most influential artists in the genre. Trance music is nowhere near as popular as it once was; there was a time when it was almost as big as house music, but today the scene is much more niche.
Sometimes nowadays, artists who are most well known for making trance don’t play as much of it during their sets at major festivals. For example, a few years ago at Electric Zoo, I saw arguably the biggest producer in trance music for the first time, Armin Van Buuren, and most of what he played was house. I was a bit worried this might happen with Above & Beyond, but I was very pleased they played mostly original trance music, ending with one of my favorite songs they’ve done, “Thing Called Love.” Don’t get me wrong, I love house music, but it seems to be the vast majority of what has been played at clubs and festivals for the past several years.
The subway in New York City gets notoriously screwed up on weekends and late at night, and considering it was both, I was prepared for a long journey home. I ultimately ended up walking half the way, as the transfers I’d have to wait for would’ve probably taken longer and I like walking.
Final Take
Although We Belong Here isn’t trying to replace Electric Zoo, it doesn’t need to. The festival has carved out its own identity with a smaller footprint, effective production, and a strong lineup. After everything that happened with Electric Zoo in 2023, it was refreshing to attend a festival that ran smoothly and delivered on what it promised. If this year’s event is any indication, I’d gladly return next summer, although I might not even have to wait that long; We Belong Here is actually a multi-city festival. It not only has dates in New Orleans and Miami later this year, but will return to New York City at Wollman Rink in Central Park in November. Ultimately, the lineup will most likely be the determining factor in my decision to attend once it’s released.
The next notable EDM festival in New York City this summer will be Zedd In The Park, which has a very strong lineup with some of my personal favorite artists (particularly Madeon and Porter Robinson). This one is a two-day event that will take place on Randall’s Island, the same grounds as Electric Zoo. The face value prices for two-day and one-day tickets might’ve been a little too reasonable at $90 for one day and $160 for two, as they sold out incredibly quickly during the presale, and are now going for double or more on resale sites. I decided the experience would still be worth it, so be on the lookout for my review after the festival takes place on August 14th and 15th.
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