This past weekend, a four-day music festival attracted music lovers from across the country and beyond, back to the site of one of the old, big festivals of the nation. Rothbury, Michigan, hosted Electric Forest Music Festival, a partnership of Madison House Presents (Rothbury Festival hosts) and Insomniac. The beloved festival site held five stages, featuring music day and night, with shows staggered and overlapped so there was nonstop entertainment Thursday through Sunday.
Experienced festival goers, including Rothbury veterans from 2009 and before, declared this one of the greatest festivals of all time. Old hands and festival virgins were partying at all times, enjoying the star-studded lineup and beautiful, fun festival setting.
The music - obviously focused around electronic sounds as the name suggests - had a wide range and variety, from indie rock to dubstep DJs. The festival grounds included the "Sherwood Forest," a wooded, outdoor art exhibit of lights, decorations and hammocks.
Festivities started Thursday afternoon, with Emmitt-Nershi Band playing the mainstage. The modern bluegrass jam-band jumpstarted Electric Forest with a powerful opening show. The crowd went wild, full of positive energy for the first big band to play the festival.
Unfortunately this exciting beginning was followed shortly after by heavy rain, driving a lot of the festival-goers back to their camps, where people huddled under canopies, in tents and cars, while a breathe-taking lightning storm crashed across the sky overhead. During this deluge of rain and thunder the Kyle Hollingsworth Band, Toubab Krewe and Greensky Bluegrass played on for small, brave audiences.
When the rain finally stopped Excision was on the main stage, playing a vigorous, dance-able set of breakbeat, dubstep and drum & bass, leading the audience to a frenzy that was the kickstart of the night's energized shows. Skipping any of his slower, more drawn-out tunes, Excision played songs that listeners could really sink their teeth into, dancing non-stop through the set.
Lotus finished the night at the second-largest stage, Sherwood Court. The electronic jam band played a set remarkably comparable with Sound Tribe Sector 9 - on a good night. While STS9 shows are a gamble, with fans crossing their fingers, praying the band doesn't mess up a song that sounds too good to change in its recorded versions, Lotus showed the crowd an excellent set of inspired electro-rock, moving from heavy, bass-stompers to lighter, trance pieces that allowed the crowd to pace itself with its dancing. Sadly, this joyful show was cut short, when the band was playing their finale. Rumor has it a blonde woman approached the sound guy on duty to the right of the stage, and as soon as she started talking to him, the sound cut out of the speakers facing the audience. While listeners could still faintly hear the band's performance from the speakers facing the band, the volume was considerably lower. The band played on through their song, either unaware, or simply trying to be professional. But after the song was completed, the band could not even use their muted mics to thank their audience. Still, the crowd cheered and applauded and the musicians bowed and waved their gratitude. Lotus played magnificently, but the sound issues at Sherwood Court seemed to doom that stage to late starts the rest of the festival, with bands and sound people determined to get it right from then on, even at the cost of time.
However, this was not really the end of the music for the night. Out among the tents in the camping area, not far from the entrance to the actual stage grounds, John Gallup of Mammoth Live in Lawrence set up a small stage for Dumptruck Butterlips to perform EACH NIGHT after the shows were over. Starting Thursday night after Lotus, the four-piece band began rocking out with their fun, catchy tunes and hilarious, raunchy banter. The group summoned a hefty audience even on their first night, with the crowd enjoying an intimate show with nothing between the front row of dancers and the band but their mic stands. More than any band at Electric Forest, Dumptruck Butterlips poured their souls into their shows, performing as late as 4 a.m. every night, for four nights, entertaining the late-night crowds that could not stop partying. This contribution may have been an unpaid, unofficial charity show, but it was every bit as good as any other show during the festival in terms of music quality and positive energy.
Friday began with more rain, leading up to the second act on the main stage: Stephen Marley. One of Bob Marley's sons, who inherited his father's talent; Stephen played a fun, funky reggae show, featuring some of his Dad's big hits. The crowd got down to this set in the afternoon sunshine, chasing the clouds away with their upbeat vibes.
Finally, it was time for one of The String Cheese Incidents' three nights of music magic. The electronic jam band is considered one of the greatest bands playing on stage today. Often compared to Phish, and clearly stemming from the roots of jam, especially the Grateful Dead, The String Cheese Incident is a force of nature, the very spirit of live-performance entertainment. Starting strong on Friday night, String Cheese led the crowd in a dancing party of epic proportions. Fans of the band brought along all kinds of toys and tools to make the show all the more fun. Inflatable alien ballons crowd-surfed back and forth across the audience, explosions of glowsticks burst through the air with every climax and the crowd cheered and screamed with joy through each song. The humongous LCD screen behind the main stage showed beautiful, moving images to suit each song, while a massive criss-cross web of lights overhead danced and spun across the crowd, dazzling the audience throughout both sets.
Immediately following the headliner's second set, Galactic began at Sherwood Court. The New Orleans electronic funk band jammed out jazzy tunes for an already-pumped up audience, keeping the dance party going. The String Cheese Incident may be a tough act for any band to follow, but Galactic's show of instrumental skills was the perfect continuation of the nights' festivities.
Drawing festy folks away from Galactic and back from campsites, DJ Tiesto took up the main stage after midnight, to enetertain a crowd almost large enough to rival String Cheese. The European DJ god is reknowned around the world. However, with such high standards to live up to, it was difficult for the DJ to impress anyone after the live-music performed by musicians all day long. The fact is that as a fan of DJs, electronic music of all kinds and an avid dancer, this reviewer was surprised and disappointed by the mediocre electronica the "master" DJ spun. Tiesto's beats were almost entirely identical. The actual music behind the beats, mild and uninspired. Worst of all perhaps was the uncommonly silly background lights for this show. Completely misusing the LCD screen, the DJ displayed unoriginal phrases like "Make some noise" and "Go crazy," which repeated over and over again, only working on a fraction of the audience so over-excited or mind-addled that they could not resist the basic commands. This was easily the least impressive show to take the main stage. But there is no doubt that a huge crowd of philistines with no real appreciation for the difference between good, and terrible electronic music came to see this Dutchman, helping Electric Forest pay for all the good musicians everyone else came to see. Other DJs and electronic artists filled the rest of the night with thumping beats painfully similar to Tiesto, raging on until 4:30 in the morning.
Saturday "early birds" got out to see The Macpodz at Sherwood Court at 1:45 p.m. The bands; self-titled sound of "Disco Bebop" combines world beats with jazzy rock tunes. Their show blasted a small but determined audience with sound under the hot sun blazing in the clear blue sky. This raucous warm-up, reminiscent of ska, contained some funky jam covers and their own songs that the party people enjoyed. The smaller crowd enabled dancers to flail and spin with ease, making use of the extra space around them.
Keller Williams began the shows on the main stage, with a smooth, calm opening of jazzy acoustic guitar strums for a chill, relaxed crowd. The lone artist rocked out on his guitar with a pre-recorded set of drums and piano backing him up, until he was joined by other musicians from String Cheese for part of his set. As the show went on the energy picked up a bit, but overall this was a laid-back beginning to the day, keeping things cool in the heat of the summer day.
Following Keller, Rubblebucket played at the second largest stage, gathering an impressive crowd of listeners who patiently waited while the sound people got the big band set up. The indie rock group's unique styles vary and change even within a song. Their singer/saxophonist, Kalmia, and Trumpet player Alex really got into their music, dancing across the stage and even getting down and playing in the crowd, surrounded by fans. Rubblebucket's thrilling set of unusual, but pleasant songs made them the most creative and diverse band at the festival, demonstrating the true depth of original music available at Electric Forest. The fresh, upbeat set was a highlight of the festival to be remembered.
Back at the main stage, the oldy but goldy REO Speedwagon played their best and brightest songs, including "Take It On The Run," and "Keep On Loving You." These glorious rock stars seem like random guests for a mostly-youthful festival like Electric Forest, but the veteran musicians partied like all the youngsters in their audience that day, showing the same stamina and energy their peers brought to other sets.
Lettuce and Future Rock competed for the crowd after REO was finished, but Future Rock's amazing set at Summer Camp last year and last November at the Granada brought this writer around. This summer, Future Rock was no less amazing, even if the show was much earlier in the day and outdoors instead of inside a massive venue. The third-largest stage, Tripolee held a medium-sized crowd of people rocking out to the three-piece electronic rock. Heavy bass beats to head-bang and stomp along to, intricate synthesizer melodies and harmonies and skull-scrambling drums took the show to a higher level of volcanic energy not seen before - at least not so far on Saturday.
The String Cheese Incident took the main stage again Saturday evening for another two sets of blissful electronic jams. The days' sets featured some incredible covers, including "21st Century Schizoid Man," by King Crimson. This salute to one of the greatest psychedellic progressive rock jam bands to lay the foundations for modern music was a trip into another time and place. With all due respect - and more - to the magnificent King Crimson, this cover/tribute to the band may have actually matched the original song in terms of instrumental skill and inspiration. Only String Cheese could cover a song like that. In the second set, String Cheese covered The Talking Heads' "This Must Be The Place," another band and song that cannot be easily covered. But String Cheese did a fantastic job, making a fun, dancable second set for their adoring fans to cheer through.
Through Sherwood Forest at the second stage, Big Gigantic was all set up by the time the audience had cleared out of the main stage. The duo of saxophonist/DJ and drummer played live hip-hop-infused jazzy electronica that is completely original while mixing famous songs, with irresistibly dance-able beats and wicked jazz parts. Watching these guys perform live, with their own neat light show around them was a thrill. Do NOT miss these guys August 26th, at the Granada!
Moving on back to the main stage for Bassnectar may have been a mistake. Bassnectar has had a great run, rising from barely filling the Granada with fans, to over-flowing at Liberty Hall and bigger venues in bigger cities. But at some point the sets start to grow monotonous and there is less bang for the proverbial buck. Bassnectar's set at Electric Forest was not bad by any means. It was a whole lot better than Tiesto the night before, and some of the songs were really quite cool. But to watch an enormous crowd struggle to get to the front of the stage, just to see the "Cousin It" from The Adams Family do his little bob-around in front of his table, while repetitive, whomping bass blared over any actual melodies or harmonies, was a little too silly, when Big Gigantic featured musicans playing their actual instruments live, in front of the crowd. Ironically, contrary to his namesake, some of Bassnectars best songs Saturday night were the ones that went easy on the bass, so you could hear more of the actual song. The most entertaining moment of this show was seeing a man on a hammock three-hammocks up into a tree, sitting up in his perch, arms flailing and thrusting at the stage, mouth wide in awe, or fear, as he appeared to fight against, or pull himself toward the music. No doubt that man had an excellent view of the entire stage and crowd, not to mention a deafening amount of unfiltered music flying over the crowd and straight into his ears. Hopefully his contorted face was an expression of marvel, not dread.
Shpongle, Skrillex and Archnemesis all competed and exchanged audience members the rest of the night, with people struggling to decide which DJ they liked best. It was a little much after Bassnectar's set, but at a festival, a great many people simply cannot get enough. Shpongle's last show in Lawrence was less than impressive, and Skrillex's set at Electric Forest was basically the DJ's album played off an ipod, with the DJ saying variations of "Put your hands in the air!" between songs. Archnemesis was a duo of DJs playing a relatively decent show in the small confines of the smallest venue, the Wagon Wheel, where roughly twenty to thrity party people continuously got down to the electronic mixes. However, there is more to a music festival than just the music. Partying with friends, strangers and simply enjoying some time camping in nature is part of the experience.
Sunday the main stage got started earlier than any other day, with Railroad Earth jamming out at 2:30 p.m. The acoustic jam band features funky brass, energetic drums and bluegrass strings. Their hour-and-a-half show set the day off right, with powerful songs the audience eagerly danced along to.
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros were up on the main stage next. The folk jam band received a lot of love from a full audience, their lead singer Alex even walked through the front of the crowd, talking to folks and making friends. The band played some of the best old hits including "Home," which they may in fact be getting sick of. It's hard to blame them, the hit single has been played so much they probably can barely stand to hear it any more. Instead of just getting grumpy and avoiding it, the band has changed up the song a bit, with new lyrics and casual chats with the audience and each other during instrumental solos. Although it felt like a reluctant concession, with the singers practically dragging their feet and hanging their heads, the rest of the show was quality work.
Before Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros were through, Beats Antique had set up at Sherwood Court for a gathering crowd. The three-some of Oakland, California brought their all with a set of sexy, seductive dance songs, heavy on the bass, featuring Middle-Eastern accents and melody mixed with heart-pounding drums and thumping bass. The drummer and keyboardist provide music all on their own, but the show takes on a whole other level of sophistication and visual stimulation when Zoe Jakes steps on stage. Whether she is thundering along with her marching-band drum, belly-dancing, or feather dancing, Zoe is the sex appeal that gives the audience a visual aide for the dark, deep harmonies and rhythms of the music. The show featured other dancers alongside Zoe and the two boys in the band playing whole songs on their own while Zoe changed outfits. Altogether this won out as the most unique and impressive show on Sunday.
The String Cheese Incident had the whole crowd to themsevles for most of their final show. Both sets were amazing spectacles. The band was bringing their A game each night, but there was something special about this last night. Despite it being Sunday, despite two days of heavy music showcases, exhibitions from String Cheese along with dozens of other bands, the musicians of String Cheese Incident came together and put on a show of fantastic proportions, full of positive energy and unyeilding enthusiasm that went on with their encore. Even if this band's music is great to listen to in albums and recordings of live shows, there is really nothing to compare to actually BEING there when they are playing, feeling the vibes, joining the crowd and experiencing the scene first-hand.
Conspirator played at the third-largest stage after the show, including a cover of "Another Brick In The Wall" by Pink Floyd, set to a dancing beat that had a big crowd going nuts. This seemed to serve as a nice follow-up to the jam-band, while everyone got their electronic mind-set going for Pretty Lights' set on the main stage.
Pretty Lights demonstrated a gratitude and humility rarely seen in DJs, but he also lacked in energy, maybe just struggling to match the incredible musicians who had already stacked people's expectations higher and higher through four full days of art. The set of moderately dancable beats felt slightly off, with a lot of repetitive mixes that leaned heavily on a middle-tone of scratchy noise, not quite bass, not quite a melody or harmony, just...DJ noises. The crowd was there in full force, because this was the last show on the main stage, it was Sunday night, and a lot of people were still determined to get their money's worth. But the finale on the main stage was less than satisfying considering the other great performances on stages large and small.
Last but not least, EOTO played until after 1 a.m. on Tripolee, the third-largest stage, to finish the festival. The duo's set may not have compared to some of their impressive shows in Lawrence, but it was not bad either. Party people raged on through the show, not willing to accept the festival's gradual end. Certainly this was a nice cherry to top of the Sunday, but it was nothing spectacular. Sadly that is often the way things go with festivals; the best is not saved for last. But EOTO held their own and played well for a grateful crowd.
All weekend long people were dancing, laughing, cheering, hugging, kissing, and celebrating great music in a lovely place, surrounded by friends and family. It was a four-day binge of merry debauchery, to match any festival in the world. Festivals compete for fantastic acts and strive to find the best entertainment elements and extra features to attract a crowd and create an unforgetable experience. Electric Forest put on a full, professional festival to make Rothbury proud. Well worth the long drive from Kansas, this festival should be on again next year. Don't miss the chance to enjoy epic good times with beautiful people and impressive music!
Now for Previews:
Tonight, L5 and The Spook Lights will be playing with Strange Boys and White Mystery. Any fans of garage rock and psychedelia should check this out! No word on the price, but the doors open at 8 p.m.
Tomorrow, Thursday the 7th, Matisyahu and the Wailers will be playing at the Crossroads in Kansas City. This show is an off-the-chain combination of new and old reggae rock goodness. Anyone who can afford the $26 must not miss this fantastic show! Doors open at 7 p.m.
Friday Dumptruck Butterlips will play the Bottleneck. The price and time are a little mysterious, but it should be a great show. Dumptruck Butterlips have been busting their butts with shining shows all over Kansas and beyond. Don't miss the fun!
Saturday Ashes to Immortality will play with Leaf at the Jazzhaus for just $4! This awesome bluegrass folk show will be the place to be Saturday night, so don't miss out!
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