The EDM community has proven, time and time again, that truth doesn’t just rival fiction—it remixes it into something much wilder.
Redefining weird in the best possible way, we danced our way through a year of improbable moments that seemed too outlandish to be true—but somehow were. Though at times tough to believe, they remind us that the line between performance art and unintentional comedy in the EDM world remains delightfully blurry.
From robot sex music videos to mosh pit diapers to Rebecca Black’s Boiler Room DJ set, the scene once again proved it thrives on the unexpected. As we turn the page on another year, read on to discover 24 of the most absurd stories that actually happened in 2024.
A Swedish festival built an “IVF stage” to play headliners’ music for unfertilized embryos
Prospective attendees of August’s Way Out West Festival, in the form of sperm and eggs, were incubated to the sounds of the event’s headliners, including Fred again.. and Peggy Gou. In collaboration with the renowned designer Love Hultén, the festival developed a miniature “Future Fan Stage” at an IVF clinic in Stockholm.
This year, we’ve added an additional stage to help create future fans of great music by ‘injecting’ live recordings by the headlining artists into their DNA at the earliest stage possible—before they even develop into fetuses,” Way Out West’s organizers said at the time.
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Balenciaga sold a €3,500 “Raver Bracelet”
Gone are the days, apparently, of earning your festival stripes through actual experiences. In 2024, you could buy the look of a seasoned raver without ever having to endure fan-clackers or “woo-woo” chants, thanks to Balenciaga.
The glitterati reared its ugly head back in July, when the brand released a “Raver Bracelet” at the astounding price of €3,500 (roughly $3,789 USD). Where haute couture meets dumpster dive, this overpriced piece of wrist candy is distressed “to imbue it with a worn and aged look” as if you’ve been marinating in sweat, glitter and questionable life choices at EDC.
For the price of a trip to Europe, you too can sport this scrap of fabric, which featured in Balenciaga’s Autumn/Winter 2024 catalog and also came in a virtually indistinguishable version with metallic threading for €4,500.
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Nicole Kidman said she’s a raver
Proving that even the most influential Hollywood’s icons crave the release of the dancefloor, Nicole Kidman revealed her secret passion for raving and techno music. Who knew the Moulin Rouge star, who usually keeps us all eyes wide shut with her elegant demeanor, could trade her corsets for a brat jumpsuit?
“I’m a small party person, but I do like a rave,” she said in a recent red carpet interview, adding that she enjoys listening to techno.
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Liquid Death launched a leather diaper to relieve yourself in mosh pits
Liquid Death recently took “staying hydrated” to a wild new level. Teaming up with a manufacturer of adult incontinence products, the water brand launched a $75 adult diaper for diehard concertgoers who refuse to leave the mosh pit—even for nature’s call. Dubbed the “Pit Diaper,” it sold out within 24 hours.
Deorro threw a rave in a Chuck E. Cheese
Deorro took the phrase “kids at heart” to a whole new level by turning Chuck E. Cheese into the rave venue we never knew we needed.
The family-friendly experience tapped into the early aughts nostalgia with which longtime fans of the DJ grew up. He performed live from inside a custom car DJ booth, turning the venue into a club dancefloor where attendees could grab a slice of classic Chuck E. Cheese pizza, play retro arcade games and meet the mouse mascot himself.
c/o The Exclusive Agency
Boban Marjanović, the NBA’s tallest player, DJed a Berlin rave parade
What is it about playing center in the NBA that turns you into a DJ?
Most by now are familiar with the electronic music career of Hall of Fame NBA center Shaquille O’Neal, fans of whom affectionately call DJ Diesel. This year we saw 7′ 4″ Houston Rockets star Boban Marjanović, who stands tied with two others as the NBA’s tallest player, follow in his gigantic footsteps.
After releasing a techno track, “I Just Wanna,” this summer, Marjanović performed a supersized DJ set during this year’s “Rave The Planet” parade, a massive celebration of techno culture doubling as a spiritual successor to Berlin’s iconic Love Parade.
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Rebecca Black DJed for Boiler Room
And not even on a Friday.
An artist used a squijeeblion to make a bizarre cover of Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”
Have you ever heard of an instrument called a squijeeblion? Neither had we—until we discovered this bizarre cover of Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.”
The eccentric instrument was invented by Leonard Solomon, who performs the cover himself and recreates Skrillex’s dubstep classic with a zany, whimsical touch. The air-powered squijeeblion sounds like a mixture of wind instruments, an organ and a foghorn, but the “bass drop” was the most surprising sound of all.
Knock2 and ISOxo headlined a festival DJing in a shipping container suspended by a crane
In a daring spectacle, ISOKNOCK—the collaborative powerhouse of ISOxo and Knock2—turned heads at North Coast Music Festival over Labor Day Weekend when they performed from a DJ booth suspended in a shipping container by a crane. The high-flying setup was a perfect metaphor for their meteoric trajectory thus far: elevated, risky and absolutely thrilling.
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A photographer was fined after his drone nearly crashed into Fatboy Slim
Back in January, a UK court ordered a photographer to pay over $1,100 in fines after he nearly crashed a drone into Fatboy Slim.
The incident took place on July 22nd, 2022 as the legendary electronic music producer was DJing for a crowd of 8,500 at Brighton Beach. Roughly 15 minutes before Slim’s performance ended, an amateur drone pilot flew his DJI Mavic Mini onto the stage and narrowly missed both the DJ and members of the crowd.
Electronic music legend Jean-Michel Jarre went airborne in a revolutionary flying car
Jean-Michel Jarre became the first-ever passenger to ride in a groundbreaking flying car, which its developers called “a new era of transportation with a touch of magic.”
That’s according to Stefan Klein, an inventor, pilot and the Founder and CEO of KleinVision. The company’s AirCar, which transforms from a sports car into a plane in minutes, was certified to fly in 2022 and its proprietors reportedly hope to bring it to market next year.
Justice released a music video with a robot sex scene
2024 was the year of Justice. Their comeback album, Hyperdrama, was one of the year’s best. Back in February the iconic duo released an astonishing music video for “Generator,” which comes with a disclaimer on YouTube: “This video may be inappropriate for some users.”
Depicting a sexual “dalliance” between two humanoid robots, the video explores sexuality through a transhumanist lens as they tear one another’s skin with their teeth to reveal the circuitry within.
Miami got hit by the most rain in the history of the city on the first day of Ultra Music Festival
Although it was clear and sunny for Ultra’s remaining two days, Miami on Friday received 2.34 inches of rain, a daily record for the city. White shoes turned into mud bricks as Ultra’s free-spirited ravers frolicked through the flooding, partying and bellyflopping in the streets.
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Someone bought Avicii’s guitar for over $25,000
Back in October, an extremely rare auction of Avicii’s personal belongings raised over $700,000 in support of his family’s efforts to advocate for suicide prevention. 267 of the late EDM icon’s personal items hit the auction block and all proceeds benefitted the Tim Bergling Foundation, a philanthropic organization launched in the wake of his death.
The most expensive item? Avicii’s custom Martin X Series acoustic guitar, which fetched over $25,000.
Sean Eriksson
A man climbed to the top of the Las Vegas Sphere, the world’s biggest spherical structure
Turns out, scaling massive structures without permission isn’t as glamorous as it looks on Instagram. A content-creating activist was arrested back in February after climbing to the top of the $2.3 billion Las Vegas Sphere, the world’s largest spherical structure, which stands 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department called the man’s actions a “publicity stunt” ahead of Super Bowl LVIII. After reportedly causing $100,000 in damage, he got a different kind of “high” to enjoy: the view from a jail cell at the Clark County Detention Center.
deadmau5 caught a drone with a butterfly net onstage at EDC Las Vegas
In a bizarre mid-set maneuver at EDC, deadmau5 went full entomologist and used a butterfly net to ensnare a wayward drone. Ironic since he wasn’t performing under his TESTPILOT alias, but we digress.
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Spotify execs cashed out the same amount of money it would take an artist 314 billion streams to make
Spotify executives reportedly cashed out over $1.1 billion in company stock in 2024, a figure that would take artists an astronomical 314 billion streams to match through royalties. That’s according to Music Business Worldwide founder Tim Ingham, who bemoaned the disparity after the outlet reported Spotify CEO Daniel Ek sold 875,000 shares of Spotify for a total of $283 million this year.
That figure pales in comparison to the cash amassed by Ek’s co-founder, Spotify ex-Chairman Martin Lorentzon, who sold 1,488,364 shares for a staggering $556.77 million. The numbers underscored the ongoing tension between Spotify and musicians, who have long argued that the streaming giant’s compensation structure is fundamentally broken as they struggle to earn a living wage from the royalties generated by their music.
Stuart Isett/Fortune Brainstorm TECH
Tesla’s Optimus Bot said Daft Punk is its favorite artist
When a robot says it loves Daft Punk, you know the future has arrived.
Back in October, we discovered a video in which Tesla’s Optimus bot surprised a group of inquisitive attendees at the company’s “We Robot” event with its top music pick: Daft Punk. Speaking with the group, the bot also said electronic dance music is its favorite genre before referring to the legendary duo by name.
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A 9-year-old DJ became the youngest to ever perform at Tomorrowland
DJ Archie, 9, once again proved that age is just a number after becoming the youngest to ever DJ at Tomorrowland, taking the world’s leading EDM festival by storm in July. The impressive milestone followed his record-breaking achievement at Glastonbury, where he became the youngest DJ to grace the legendary UK fest the summer prior.
Archie’s journey into the world of music started almost as soon as he could walk, guided by his father, DJ Essex. By the age of four, he had already set a Guinness World Record as the world’s youngest club DJ.
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Someone developed technology that lets plants play music with bionic arms
The far-fetched concept of plants performing live music became a reality in April, thanks to the Manchester-based duo Bionic and the Wires. Their inventive apparatus equips plants with bionic arms, enabling them to produce music from a traditional steel handpan drum and even a violin.
At the core of their performance, the duo uses sensors attached to the plant’s leaves to detect bio-signals generated during photosynthesis. The signals are then converted into electrical inputs that power the robotic limbs, enabling the plant to interact with musical instruments.
Those iPhone ringtones? They were created by Flying Lotus
This was certainly better than the time Apple forced a U2 album on everyone’s iPhones.
An August episode of the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz revealed that two iPhone ringtones were secretly written by Flying Lotus. Released in 2019 as a part of Apple’s iOS 13, “Daybreak” and “Chalet” have been available to all iPhone users.
Flying Lotus reveals he wrote two of iPhone’s ringtones: “Daybreak” and “Chalet” pic.twitter.com/McUO7FxZMn
— Modern Notoriety (@ModernNotoriety) August 21, 2024
Will Ferrell became the 4th member of Swedish House Mafia for a night
Who knew Ricky Bobby was into house music?
Saturday Night Live icon Will Ferrell hosted Chicago’s “Ultimate DJ House Party,” a charity event to support Cancer For College. Described as a “unique and wild celebration of house music,” the philanthropic show in October saw Ferrell take the stage with the legendary Swedish House Mafia trio.
Self-driving cars stalled and blocked traffic out of Portola Festival
The future of transportation hit a speed bump in late-September, when a handful of Google’s self-driving Waymo vehicles malfunctioned and blocked traffic outside San Francisco’s Portola Music Festival. The company, which is considered among the world’s preeminent autonomous vehicle companies, uses a combination of AI, lidar and machine learning to navigate city streets.
One irate attendee couldn’t care less, urging Portola’s organizers, Goldenvoice, to ban Waymo from the festival’s grounds in a contentious Reddit thread.
On our way out of @PortolaFestival we got mega stuck behind two confused @Waymo cars. Thanks guys, great work letting them loose when there’s a major music festival going on in the city ❤️ pic.twitter.com/39TBSQuVh5
— Nima (@heythereitsnima) September 29, 2024
A GoFundMe campaign raised over $500 to replace DJ decks drenched in urine
After a DJ’s decks were “soaked in pee” during a party, he launched a GoFundMe to replace the damaged equipment. The electronic music community rallied, proving once again that nothing brings people together like a good cause—and a bit of, well, unexpected bodily fluid. Donations flooded in, and by January 2024, he’d raised over $500.
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