Electric Daisy Carnival returning to Las Vegas in 2012

The crowds were as outsize as the beats when North America's largest dance music festival hit Vegas this summer in a senses-numbing blitz of light and sound.

Now, after drawing more than 230,000 fans to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway over three days in June, the Electric Daisy Carnival has announced its return to town.

Set to take place at the same venue on June 8-10, roughly three weeks earlier than in 2011, EDC's next installment means another deluge of top name DJs and out-of-town revelers.

The scene at EDC 2010 was a larger-than-life carnival of friendly chaos: Luminous Ferris wheels, fire-spitting art installation pieces and a heavily costumed crowd, many of whom looked like anime characters come to life, enlivened the massive speedway complex as superstar acts such as Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta and Tiesto made the ground shake like it was positioned above an awakened fault line.

The EDC, which debuted in 1997, relocated to Las Vegas from Los Angeles, where it had taken place on several occasions previously, but whose 2009 edition was marred by crowd control issues and the death of a teen girl from a drug overdose.

As such, there were some initial safety concerns about the event coming to Vegas, though it ended up taking place without any serious incidents.

Police reported 29 felony arrests, the majority for narcotics, and 31 misdemeanor arrests during the festival in June.

In addition, more than 300 fans were treated for dehydration, and there were traffic issues on the Monday morning following EDC's final day, as thousands of departing fans clogged the southbound lane of a heavily congested Interstate 15.

Nevertheless, the EDC was honored as the "International Festival of the Year" at the 2011 DJ Awards, which took place in Ibiza, Spain, last month.

Tickets for the Electric Daisy Carnival 2012 will go on sale Nov. 1. Three-day tickets will start at $215, with three-day VIP passes beginning at $500. They can be bought at www.electricdaisycarnival.com.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.