When I got the opportunity to attend Wet Electric on Saturday for free (a friend won free tickets and gave me one) I was beyond excited to go to what's known as "North America's Biggest Pool Party." The event was held at Big Surf Waterpark in Tempe, AZ on April 25-26, 2015.
Saturday at Wet Electric
We got there around 1 pm. The event ran from 11 am to 9 pm and had an assortment of DJs playing at the wave pool all day, and around 7 pm the headliner Tiësto came on stage. The floating stage was at the far end of the wave pool.
First we stored our stuff in a locker ($10/day) before exploring the event space at the park. We saw there was also a headphone disco ("silent disco") where you could trade your ID temporarily for a set of headphones. We returned to try that out a little later but didn't stay very long.
Food & Drinks
There was a makeshift "bar" set up near the wave pool where you could buy an assortment of drinks, including: $10 mixed drinks, $12 vodka + Monster, $8 Jell-o shots (which came in a plastic syringe - like a "shot"), and some canned beers. There was a decent assortment of drinks/alcohol to choose from, but it wasn't a "full bar" considering it was a makeshift table set up area.
After a few hours of listening to the DJs in the wave pool, we made our way to a food stand and shared a $9 plate of chicken strips and fries. The chicken wasn't very good, but that is to be expected from a water park. No outside food or drinks were allowed into the park (understandable) so we knew there was going to be limited healthy/quality food and it would be inevitable to eat it since we were there for so long.
Tiësto at Wet Electric
Tiësto came on at the end of the night and his set was my favorite from the day. The wave pool was filled with the crowd and every time the beat dropped everyone would start splashing. We were drenched! It's safe to say that you shouldn't worry about doing your hair (or curling it beforehand like I did - ha!). This was definitely a different experience than when I saw Calvin Harris and Alesso at Super Fan Fest earlier this year.
Overall
Looking back on the day, the event was underwhelming and I think I had built it up in my head to be more fun than it actually was. We were waiting to experience the Saturday event to decide if we wanted to purchase tickets for Sunday because we wanted to see Dillon Francis and the other DJs, but decided it was not worth it, despite having a decent ticket price compared to some other concerts.
It would have been worth it to maybe just have come an hour or so before Tiësto - not because the other DJs weren't good, but because the event seemed to drag on.
Also, the bathrooms increasingly became dirtier as the night went on, which is to be expected (and has nothing to do with the event company since it's the location), but I'd rather not experience using those restrooms again. However, I will say that they were well-stocked and never ran out of toilet paper, soap, or paper towels.
Lastly, since it was at a water park there weren't chairs/lounge chairs like you'd have at a typical hotel pool/beach club. There were cabanas you could purchase beforehand as an optional upgrade, however, they didn't seem worth the price and looked kind of cheap. The picnic tables we sat at to eat our food were dirty with trash from the people at the event.
I had expected the event to be more in the likes of a Las Vegas-style beach club, but it was not the case in my opinion.