For as long as I’ve been going to festivals, I’ve known of Electric Forest. People always talked about this as the most magical place, a place beyond the level of any other festival. I knew it would be an amazing experience, but I had no idea what I was in for when I decided to make my first trip to Rothbury, Michigan for Electric Forest 2019.
The first thing that caught me off guard about Electric Forest was that I immediately realized that this was so much more than a music festival. I know that’s something you hear all the time, but this is, literally, so much more. The first day I spent my whole night running back and forth between the sets I wanted to see. However, the next day was when I started seeing how much more this place had to offer besides just my favorite artists.
On my second day, I experienced some of the secrets that Electric Forest had to offer. I can’t go into too much detail, but I will tell you that it was an awesome interactive experience that really showed the magical side of the festival. Interacting with new people and making new friends with this experience is something I will cherish for a lifetime. My experience during Day 2 was when I really started to feel that Electric Forest is not your average festival, and to be honest, I don't think there's any other festival like it in the world. Every corner I turned, something magical was happening. Like the guy with his own mini-bar carved into the wood selling shots of the best maple syrup you’ve had in your life. Not to mention, everywhere you walk, there are awesome art displays everywhere. Walking around Forest is straight up like experiencing a real-life, magical moment from a movie.
On the third day, I met up with some friends who were in this amazing part of the Forest that had probably over 50 hammocks running through each and every tree. These friends were huge fans of several of the artists playing on that particular day, but instead of going to the sets they told me they were going to sit in the hammocks and hand out candy to random people all day, because, as they put it, “we can see Bassnectar any time, we can only enjoy this Forest once a year”. This idea blew me away but also resonated with me to the point where I ended up spending most of the day in those hammocks, too.
And that’s what makes Forest special. I could sit here and tell you guys about the amazing sets from my favorite artists, about all the cool outfits people wore, about the amazing people I met. But the truth is, these are things that happen at every festival. Forest is so much more than that.
If you’ve never been to Electric Forest, I promise you this festival is worth all the time, energy, and money that people put into it. I highly recommend purchasing tickets as soon as they go on sale so you don’t risk missing out if it sells out as quickly as it did this year. There is a reason why so many people call this place “home”, and I can’t wait to return home next year.
