Where the wild things are!

Go ape and swing into action! Electric Zoo, a two-day outdoor dance music extravaganza at New York City’s Randall’s Island Park, takes place on 5th and 6th September for the first time this year and aims to restore the city’s reputation as one of the world’s centres of dance music excellence. The event will transform the park into an open-air music festival with an unprecedented line-up of over 50 artists across four stages.

A hugely diverse coterie of DJs and live acts from across the full spectrum of electronic grooves are destined to perform, from the most underground house cats and punk disco arsonists to the titans of trance, acknowledging the past glories of Strictly Rhythm and the Paradise Garage while looking to the city’s musical future with such inheritors of the NYC legacy as the DFA crew.

Richie Hawtin, Luciano, Frankie Knuckles, Prins Thomas, Armin Van Buuren, Steve Bug, Deadmau5, Mehdi, Francois K, Danny Tenaglia, Roger Sanchez, Andy Butler of Hercules & Love Affair and Hot Chip are just some of the big names slated to appear at Electric Zoo; according to New York resident Butler, a quality dance music festival is exactly what the doctor ordered to bolster the city’s resurgent scene.

“It’s great that this type of festival is coming to New York,” Butler reckoned.  “The scene here is definitely starting to make a resurgence. It’s going to be exciting to see the mix of both old and new come together.

“You’ve got Steve Aoki and some of the young guys playing alongside the legends like Danny Tenaglia,” he added.  “The mixing of the different styles of music is going to bring the scene together and the crowd should be great.”

Single day tickets are $55 (£33 at time of writing) and a two-day pass is $100 (£60). Tickets are available at electriczoofestival.com.