A lot of bass, a little face licking: EDC makes a raucous return — PHOTOS

Spirits are high; the inflatable cow higher still.

The latter is being pistoned in the air to a seismic beat that makes our toes vibrate like tuning forks, creating the not-unpleasant sensation of getting a bass foot massage.

The woman holding the blow-up animal aloft stands by a reveler wielding a totem depicting a shirtless Nic Cage tucked into a half-peeled banana like he was using the thing as a sleeping bag.

If none of this makes any sense, it’s not supposed to: Suspend your sense of disbelief, your need for sleep and/or your pants, Electric Daisy Carnival is back in all its ecstatic, fantastical, what-did-I-just-see? glory.

It’s a bit past 6 p.m. Friday at the BionicJungle stage on the infield of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and while EDC isn’t fully open yet, tens of thousands of early birds have already packed the place as the largest electronic dance music festival in the country will soon get started in earnest.

Here’s how opening night went down, nine-plus hours of partying — or, more precisely, scribbling notes while 185,000 others did the partying.

7 p.m. Purple smoke pours from canisters held aloft by EDC performers standing atop the stairways leading to the festival grounds. The crowd roars as they surge to toward the stairs like kids loosed on an Easter egg hunt, their pastel and Day-Glo wardrobes just as brightly colored as said eggs. EDC is officially on.

7:17 p.m. “Hydrate or die-drate,” instructs a dude’s purple, skull-adorned tank top. Pretty much.

7:45 p.m. Popster-turned-EDMer Mike Posner makes a surprise appearance late in Daniel Allen’s set at the CosmicMeadow, singing on a techno remix of his breakout hit “Cooler Than Me.”

Know who’s cooler than Posner and all the rest of us here? The coed squad of six we spotted earlier who all came dressed like Guy Fieri, complete with matching flaming shirts, silver shades and visors topped with spiked, peroxide blonde ’dos.

Yes, of course one of them was wielding a “Welcome to Flavor Town” flag.

9:50 p.m. Eli Fola is going hard at the new afro house Ubuntu stage in the Nomadlands area, whose archway is a full-sized, graffitied semitruck.

The Nigerian-American DJ/multi-instrumentalist performs in a setting designed to look like a South African township, the racially segregated areas usually located on the outskirts of a city, complete with half-dozen two-story shacks made of wood and metal siding.

Illuminated plastic milk jugs hang above us.

Fola rips saxophone solos and plays steel drums amid a bright, melodic techno backdrop.

Great addition to the fest.

10:25 p.m. One of the most powerful combinations of music and film this year can be seen in “Warfare,” which follows a squad of infantrymen during our most recent conflict with Iraq.

The movie opens with the soldiers vibing hard to Eric Prydz’s smash “Call on Me,” enjoying a moment of release before heading out on patrol.

House lifer Armand Van Helden demonstrated the enduring appeal of the dance floor classic at the CircuitGrounds, garnering a rapturous response to the EDM staple.

He also delved into plenty of his own hits, including “Bonkers,” his chart-topping collaboration with British rapper Dizzee Rascal.

“Some people think I’m bonkers,” Rascal observes on the song’s chorus. “But I just think I’m free.”

That’s a sentiment plenty can relate to here.

10:48 p.m. We cram into the YeeDC country saloon in Downtown EDC to hear Taylor Swift remixes amid portraits of horses in cowboys hats. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

11:20 p.m. “Can’t stop, won’t stop,” a singer intones early in Skepta’s set at the NeonGarden, serving as some truth in advertising as the British grime great put down the mic in favor of a DJ set of propulsive techno that was equally exultant and concussive.

Speaking of propulsive techno, we venture to the KineticField, where Sara Landry works the crowd the way a boxer does a heavy bag.

Whether it was outfitting Lady Gaga’s “Perfect Celebrity” with fangs or turning in a warp-speed version of Technotronic’s seminal “Pump Up the Jam,” Landry’s set was positively breathless, the musical equivalent of running wind sprints until your lungs burn.

11:40 p.m. “This is going to be a hard surge,” a woman in the crowd tells her friend as we join the massive swarm of humanity pressing toward the CosmicMeadow as RL Grime makes his first EDC appearance since 2019.

She wasn’t lying: Grime drew one of the largest audiences of the evening with his trap-leaning electronic bass music that felt like taking up temporary residence in a giant subwoofer.

1:40 a.m. During Tiesto’s set at the CircuitGrounds, we observe an amorous couple licking each other’s faces. The superstar Dutchman is pulling double duty this weekend, performing again on Sunday at the KineticField. Know what that means? More licking.

2:40 a.m. Pro tip: If energy levels ever start to wane later in the night, just make a quick trip to the Wasteland stage, where the hyper-hardcore sounds are like one prolonged knee to the groin of subtlety.

Facing a long commute home, we seek an adrenaline boost in Basswell’s downright bullying set, which hammered eardrums like a blacksmith’s anvil.

Maybe wear a cup next time, subtlety.

3:10 a.m. As we exit the venue, hordes of limo and SUV drivers warn of a two-hour Uber wait in order to drum up interest in their services.

Two hours?

Please.

The walk to our car only takes half that.

Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @jasonbracelin76 on Instagram.