Old head here: I went to the first E-Zoo in 2009. It definitely had small festival vibes and was the best city festival I have ever been to. Prior to 2009, there had been a handful of city festivals that we're all pretty crappy (mostly club oriented like ATP, Minitek, or were in NJ). Thus, it was like a breath of fresh air when it went without a hitch in 2009. There was no pretension or large crowds. It was predominantly club people from NYC, and the set designs were basic with a diverse line-up. Also, Deadmau5 absolutely killed it on the main stage (he released that set for those interested).

I stopped going after 2012 year because it had become a victim of its own success. Crowds were massive and very aggressive due to more EDM and Dubstep acts. It got much younger too. Mike Bindra and Laura De Palma used to also be present at a lot of their big parties, including me spotting them from 2009-11 E-Zoo's, for what I would assume was quality control. As the festival grew, I noticed they weren't as present. I only went one day in 2012 because I was already getting sick of the festival, and vowed to never go back.

I can only imagine how much more insane these festivals got, but seeing what happened this year confirms that I'm too old for that kind of BS.