Imagine music pounding so hard you can feel it in your bones and dancing bodies seen only through flashes of techno color lights. This is what it was like last Friday, April 17 at Martin Garrix’s concert at Echostage, DC’s largest concert venue. The concert’s atmosphere embodied everything that could be desired in the Electronic Dance Music scene.

Eighteen year old Dutch phenomenon, Martijn Garritsen (more commonly known by his stage name Martin Garrix) performed alongside fellow deejay Jay Hardway in his concert on Friday, playing top hits like their collaborated song “Wizards”, Garrix’s award-winning solo “Animals”, and the newly released Tїesto’s “Secrets”. The deejays played to a wildly responsive crowd throughout the night.

“It was so amazing, I danced for six hours straight…My ears are still ringing, but it was [definitely] worth it,” said senior Kamola Ishmukhamedova, a passionate music lover and EDM enthusiast. Having been to renowned EDM deejay Tїesto’s concert just a few weeks earlier, Ishmukhamedova compared the two.

“Tїesto is like the father of EDM and, in my opinion, will always be the best deejay in the world. Martin Garrix is like a mini Tїesto and even though their music has some similarities, [they are] also different, so I was excited to go.”

And she was right to be; the scene was filled with smoke machines, confetti, and light shows, creating a vibrant, pulsing atmosphere that lasted until the early hours of the morning.

Electronic Dance Music, or EDM, is a term used to describe a broad range of electronic music genres such as house, trance, techno, electro, and dubstep.

“Most people always bag on EDM because it’s just lyric-less beats, but there’s so much more to [it] than that. There are so many sub-genres within EDM and I wish people gave it a chance,” Ishmukhamedova said.

The genre is mainly targeted towards music festivals, nightclubs, and raves, providing a place for people dressed in bright colors and eye-popping outfits to dance the night away. According to Ishmukhamedova, who adorned silver sparkly shorts along with white angel wings and a halo, these concert goers are very friendly and compliment each others’ outfits, encouraging creativity in attire through their lack of judgement.

Although many of these events are intended for music lovers eighteen years and up, that does not stop anyone from enjoying EDM from the comforts of their CDs and iPods. Once a person is of age, they can take after Ishmukhamedova’s example and make up for lost time. “EDM concerts [are] literally heaven for me,” she said, “I can see myself going for years to come, even when I get wrinkly and old.”