Stitched onto the pinky finger of our nation’s mitten in Rothbury, Michigan is the Electric Forest Music Festival. Since 2011 the festival has continued to outgrow itself into a massive EDM and Jamtronica festival that attracts thousands. This year’s festival provided for some special moments, unique surprises and the always incredible Sherwood Forest in its full form. But just like in most cases, with the highs came the lows; mostly created by congested, overcrowded areas and amenities. Electric Forest is unique from any other festival because of the contrast in music preferences within the same crowd, and the unbelievable artwork on display within and outside of the Sherwood Forest.
The first day of the wondrous weekend began with musical duo Cherub at the Ranch Arena and although their travel arrangements landed them 45 minutes late, they still were able to get the crowd moving with ease by dropping some big songsand closing with their big single “Doses and Mimosas.” Rising Appalachia played about the same time on the Sherwood Court stage and started the festival off with their powerful lyrics and gentle voices at a little slower pace than Cherub. Shortly thereafter, Late Night Radio played to a crammed full Observatory Stage and delivered to his full potential while like minded fans most likely stuck around after Rising Appalachia to see Nahko and Medicine for the People who yet again put an entire festival crowd into goosebumps with their strong and revolutionary, yet practical message: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
Nahko is a special breed of musician backed up by an equally special band that have a blast on stage while spreading hope for a world everyone would prefer to live in. After getting all warm and fuzzy with Nahko, The Fungineers provided quite the comedic relief while pulling off a somewhat impressive hip-hop performance. They played every day of the festival and were good entertainment but, there’s no chance in catching this act anywhere but in Rothbury, so start planning next year’s trip now.
As the evening rolled on, the Sherwood Court hosted EOTO who played through some technical issues (because they’re a live band, they actually have that power). When the electronics & speakers kicked backed in no one was even bothered by the five minute Jason Hann drum solo played loud enough to be heard without speakers. After EOTO, fans flocked from Sherwood Court to the Ranch Arena to see the forest in the darkness for the first time and thankfully, nobody was in a hurry so there was plenty of time to observe some of its beauty. As The Glitch Mob’s set began, the excitement was obvious and the swarm of people they attracted moved with every drum beat and drop they dished out over their hour and fifteen minute set. Umphrey’s McGee’s first set of the weekend overlapped with The Glitch Mob’s set but Cosby Sweater and Umphrey’s were gettin’ down from until 2:00, so the opportunity was there to catch both.
Cosby Sweater, the funky EDM styled live band, took away what would normally be a bathroom/ set break and turned it into a dance-off of epic proportions, that kept everyone from congregating in-between sets. Umphrey’s McGee has such a special way of using an overload of guitars to create a sweet sound with raunchy, sour breakdowns. Umphrey’s second set included some commonly played songs like “Hajimemashite” and “Hurt Bird Bath” along with a song off Similar Skin (“Puppet String”) and the more rare gem of “Come As Your Kids” which sent MGMT and Nirvana fans crazy. Even though the Umphrey’s McGee crowd was undeservingly small, which was being discussed by a lot of the crowd, they still put on quite the show while providing a more intimate setting than usual. From around 11:00pm until the festival closed each night, there was “Psychedelic Friendship Bingo” which took place on the Observatory Stage. The jokes were cheesy, yet comical and they had different songs for different letter/ number combinations. At one point, a lady festival goer went for a “double or nothing” and elected to phone her mom as a lifeline which ended with a voicemail by the host.
After a slight change to the entrance setup, zig-zag lines had everyone calling it “High Five Friday” and kept the large pack from getting as bottled up entering the festival, which was a nice modification. Anders Osborne and Lindsay Lowend were both able to draw nice sized crowds, and retain them for the entire set with two totally different sounds. After impressing so many people at the Sherwood Court with Medicine for the People on Thursday, Nahko played a solo set to the Observatory Stage which was far more intimate than the previous day’s set.
An unfortunate amount of people almost saw Ms. Lauryn Hill’s set Friday afternoon, but her being an hour late caused a lot of people to miss out( she did play her full set time though). Friday afternoon displayed once again how Electric Forest pleases both ends of the music festival sound spectrum simultaneously as Ms. Lauryn Hill, Zoogma and Pegboy Nerds all played sets near the same times. The String Cheese Incident’s first set of the weekend started just after 8:00pm on Friday, and as they busted out “Colliding” for their first song people knew the weekend’s madness had only just begun. SCI’s set list was heavenly on Friday, getting down to the tracks “It Is What It Is”, “BollyMunster”,” Rosie” (which faded into “Bonified Lovin” by Chromeo, then back into “Rosie”),“Song In My Head”, “Joyful Sound” and a “Rivertrance” encore that was to-die for.
Following the beautiful set SCI delivered, most of the crowd migrated to the Sherwood Court to catch the end of STS9 and Umphrey’s McGee’s last set of the weekend. STS9 closed with “Moonsocket”, “New Dawn New Day” (an EDM crowd favorite) and “Surreality” which transitioned into “EB”. Umphrey’s McGee kept shredding through tracks like butter and even included a sweet crossover from “Wizard Burial Ground” to “Den” back to “Wizard Burial Ground” followed by “Hangover” (played for the first time this summer’s festival season).
Over on the Tripolee Stage, Excision closed the night out with a set that ranged through several EDM subgenres like dubstep, bounce, trap and drum n’ bass along with several of his own tracks. The tripolee stage was packed to the brim from wall to wall and even Excision claimed he couldn’t see the end of the crowd. The crowd was massive, the stage setup was sweet and Excision’s live mixing really blew everyone away until after 3:00am.
On Saturday, the trend continued as organic, rootsy music fans could catch Xavier Rudd while all the party people fled to the Kansas natives, The Floozies to start their day off with an upbeat funky livetronica set. For hip-hop fans, the third day provided for a difficult decision as Stephen Marley and Schoolboy Q performed at the same time on separate sides of the venue. Bringing the legendary music that comes along with his legendary name was no problem for Stephen Marley, as he rattled off classics like “Could You Be Loved” and a transition between “Is This Love” and “Buffalo Soldier” that was flawless and had the festival’s spirits on cloud nine.
The Emancipator Ensemble and Flying Lotus then took the Sherwood Court as The String Cheese Incident warmed the crowd up before The Ms. Lauryn Hill Incident took place. They eased the fans into the night with “Beautiful” and “Sirens” before closing the first set of Saturday Night on “Just One Story”. The set break drew added anticipation from the crowd who waited to see if The Lauryn Hill Incident could live up to all the hype. Spirits were sky-high in the crowd when the second set began with “Outside and Inside” along with “Valley Of The Jig”, the fireworks, inflatable Mario “mystery boxes”, confetti, pac-man ghosts, totem butterflies and lasers combined to create a fun and playful crowd where the real world became undoubtedly irrelevant.
The fun continued for the first twenty minutes of the set before Lauryn Hill came out to join them on stage with her band. The entire hour and a half was picture-esk as String Cheese assisted Lauryn Hill through some incredible jam-outs, some Bob Marley Classics and The Fugees classics like “Ready Or Not” and “Killing Me Softly” which sent the fans off, some of which whom noticeably didn’t realize who Lauryn Hill actually was. The magic that landed on The Ranch Arena Staurday night during The Lauryn Hill Incident concluded with their unique rendition of “Could You Be Loved” by Bob Marley, and fans exited towards the magical Sherwood Forest almost immediately to wander, or to head over and see STS9 who was starting shortly.
Sound Tribe’s crowd was pretty large, but somehow not the biggest at the time. This is what may cause some to be concerned about the direction of the festival, as Steve Angello looped similar sounding thumps to an absolutely massive crowd during the same set time. The show production level was there, without a doubt, but does effortless EDM that lacks creative art have a place on a packed main stage, at a venue that once hosted The Dead and Bob Dylan on the same weekend in 2009 for the prior named Rothbury Festival.
Sunday, the final day of the festival started with most people heading in to see Cosby Sweater or Trippy Turtle. Both sets were dance music, one being a livetronica version; the other being remixed and mashed up R&B slow jams. Trippy Turtle caused the entrance gates to become backed up almost immediately as he played to the Tripolee Stage, which faced the main camping areas. For a 3:45pm set time, the show he put on and the crowd’s reaction fueled everyone’s reserved energy to ensure nobody was holding anything back on day four.
The two hour block scheduled between 5:00 and 7:00 PM gave the diverse options between Earphunk, Moon Taxi, Aloe Blacc, Matt and Kim and Kygo. The attendees were like marbles rolling through the forest, bouncing from stage to stage and indulging in all sorts of music. What So Not took the Tripolee Stage’s 7:30 set time, and was off to a great start until about thirty minutes in where his style, BPM, and mixing all seemed to hit rock bottom. He lost the crowd, never to regain them again like they were moving for the first half of his set.
The String Cheese Incident’s sets on Sunday were slotted from 8:30 until around 1:00am, and included several crowd favorites (“Let’s Go Outside”, “Sometimes a River”, and “Bumpin Reel”) while also slipping in a cover of The Police’s “Spirits in the Material World” which was only the second time the song has been played by SCI. After closing with “Good Times Around the Bend” they bowed and exited the stage without peeping a word about future Electric Forest plans, leaving the crowd on a cliffhanger. The EDM fans who chose not to catch String Cheese on Sunday, had the opportunity to relax and enjoy Tycho, or to squeeze into the overcrowded Forest Stage to catch the debut of Manic Menert which was the combination of Michal Menert and Manic Focus. The speakers weren’t quite loud enough and the stage choice may not have been the best, but that wasn’t stopping the crowd from loving the funky, upbeat set that they put together.
This year’s Electric Forest Festival was put on by Insomniac without any major hiccups, while providing fans with an experience they’ll remember forever. The lineup and the curated events were solid, but could have been better. The sell-out crowd created longer lines than necessary and it didn’t seem the festival was prepared for the crowd. The EDM headliners left a gap that festival goers in general had a tough time filling, lacking the “Big Name” that everyone wanted to see. The direction of the festival is a bigger question now than ever, as it seemed they provided entertainment to two separate crowds (Jam and EDM), and scheduled few artists that festival goers on either end of the spectrum could enjoy together.
STS9, Umphrey’s McGee, The String Cheese Incident and Papadosio were more than enough to spark the fire for the jam fans while The Glitch Mob, Zeds Dead, Excision and Trippy Turtle all put on above-par performances to their spectators. In years past at Electric Forest, there is usually a couple of headliners that everyone is dying to catch, which didn’t seem like the case this year. The venue is one of a kind and the internal boundaries you can break through inside of the Forest are endless.
Live photos by Josh Cox
3 Responses
We had an amazing time this year being a sponsor! Here is our slow motion highlight video of the attendees. http://youtu.be/axL4_diX2pw
If you delight in discoveries or serendipity, your meter will be off
the charts at Electric Forest.