ELECTRIC DAISY CARNIVAL IS SOMETHING TO EXPERIENCE

They might as well call it Neon Man. Each summer, as many as 400,000 people flock to the Nevada desert for the Electric Daisy Carnival — billed as the world’s single biggest electronic music event. This year’s festival unfolds June 16 through 18 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the northern edge of the city, where the event has been staged since relocating from Los Angeles in 2011.

Among this year’s headliners are Diplo, Kygo, Porter Robinson, Zedd, Major Lazer, Dillon Francis, Tiesto and Flosstradamus. Tickets cost anywhere from $335 for a three-day general admission pass to $699 for a three-day VIP pass.

But the Electric Daisy Carnival is heaps more than music. EDC is a chance to role play, let your hair down and dress up like anything you want as you mingle among the masses and the acrobats, stilt walkers, dancers and circus performers who wander the carnival grounds like some kind of funked-out version of Disneyland characters.

There are dozens of food and beverage stalls, merchandise booths, bean-bag lounge area, carnival games and rides, interactive art installations, glowin-the-dark environments and — taking a page from Burning Man — giant three-dimensional structures.

In the past few years the action has spilled over into other parts of Las Vegas and now stretches across an entire week leading up to EDC. Many of the city’s leading night and beach clubs — joints like Drai’s, Encore, Daylight, Hakkasan, Tao, Marquee and Wet Republic — throw pre-carnival events that feature many of the headliners.

In an effort to make the festival-going experience as seamless as possible, the organizers have partnered with a dozen local hotels to offer rooms that can be booked through the EDC website. There’s also an official EDC Shuttle between those hotels and the festival grounds, as well as helicopter service for those who don’t have to ask the price.