Electric Forest Merges Tiesto, String Cheese Incident and... REO Speedwagon?

Posted on Mar 4th 2011 5:59PM by Benjy Eisen
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Joe Scarnici, FilmMagic

A couple years ago, a music festival called Rothbury took place at a ranch in a town of the same name in Michigan. Rothbury immediately burst onto the festival scene with a Bonnaroo-worthy lineup, Burning Man-inspired installations and an infrastructure reminiscent of summer camp for grown-ups. Tens of thousands of attendees swore they would return the following year... and they did. But there was no Rothbury to return to last year.

Now, in its place, and with the same team behind it, comes Electric Forest. Held on the same property -- the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, Mich. -- Electric Forest may prove to be even more diverse, and certainly more strange and unusual, than Rothbury. While the roster leans heavily towards the electronic (Tiesto, Bassnectar and Pretty Lights are all anchors), String Cheese Incident will perform three shows -- one per night. Also delightfully weird: REO Speedwagon will play the festival's "Saturday Afternoon Special" -- one of many sideshow attractions adorning the main event. Other draws include Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Stephen Marley and Toubab Krewe on the organic side of things, with Kaskade, Shpongle and Beats Antique on the electronic. In between, there's everything from indie hip-hop (Chiddy Bang) to jammy bluegrass (Railroad Earth) to Nawleans funk (Galactic).

Naturally, the festival has bragging rights for their dedication to sustainable practices, with a strong commitment to merging the worlds of art and music into one massive camping festival. But check this out: they also have a water park, golf course and horseback riding. And as anybody who went to Rothbury will tell you -- dude, when you're there... you gotta check out the Sherwood Forest. It's electric.

The inaugural Electric Forest will launch on June 30 to July 3, with full details available now on the official website.

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