Under the Electric Sky was made by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, who also brought you recent big-screen docs about Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. After involvement with two of the worlds biggest pop stars, its natural that their eyes should come to rest on whats known over there as the EDM scene (for Electronic Dance Music no Acoustic Dance Music for Americans, oh no).
The sound characterised by a thudding house beat, cavernous synthesized riffs and a naggingly catchy, turn-that-frown-upside-down chorus now dominates the charts through euphoric singles released by multi-millionaire DJs such as Avicii, David Guetta and Afrojack.
Now that America gets it, Vegas is the new Ibiza and its culture of excess means that DJs command fees that dwarf the Nineties era of the UK superclubs such as Ministry of Sound and Cream. The business magazine Forbes now publishes a Rich List for DJs. Scotsman Calvin Harris was at the top in 2013, pulling in $46million (27million) for more than 100 shows, as well as the songs he has written for himself and others, including Rihanna.
Looking at what this is today and what it was when it started blows me away, says Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) promoter Pasquale Rotella in the film. He put on the first EDC on a much smaller scale as far back as 1997 in Los Angeles and speaks fondly of an American warehouse party scene at the start of the Nineties, suggesting that his countrymen arent quite as green as we old-hand Brit ravers might sneeringly imply.
In fact, they invented the form, even if the masses never really took it to heart, at the Eighties Chicago parties of DJ Frankie Knuckles, who died last month. But Rotella is correct to say that whats happening now is on another level entirely.
EDC is currently the biggest dance festival in the world, with spin-off events in Mexico, New York, Orlando and now the UK: an inaugural event took place at the Olympic Park last summer and this year 50,000 clubbers will taste the experience at the Milton Keynes Bowl.
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Whats changed? Many point to Daft Punks live appearance at Californias Coachella festival in 2006, at which the French robots performed on top of a giant illuminated pyramid and made all the rock bands on the line-up look pretty limp.
At EDC in 2013, each DJ was revealed by the unfurling wings of a giant animatronic owl, and the overwhelming light show made 3am look like midday. There are no LEDs left in North America. Theyre all here, said one stage-hand.
Theres also something wholesome about EDC that has meant little resistance to its arrival in the mainstream. Theyre careful to call it a festival, not a rave. There are no police battles here, and the film-makers, while acknowledging the presence of drugs, try to play it down.
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Electric Daisy Carnival festival and film