"Watch people play records? That's stupid. You couldn't pay me to go," Petty ranted. "I'm not oversimplifying it. That's what's going on. I don't think it would be any fun without the drugs. It's a drug party."

Pasquale Rotella, CEO of Insomniac Productions, the team behind Electric Daisy Carnival, has responded to Petty's critiques with a measured and thoughtful post on the Insomniac website. Rotella even went so far as to invite Petty to a future show:

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about records, DJs and dance music, including Tom Petty. We're living in a very electronic era with constantly evolving forms of entertainment, which may be a daunting thing for a classic rocker in search of contemporary social relevancy as he starts promoting new music. But I would think that someone who played shows with Dylan and the Dead-someone who lived through and actively contributed to the counterculture era of the '60s and '70s-wouldn't be so quick to drink the overhyped media Kool-Aid about our festival experience.