Some 35,000 colorfully attired fans descended on the tiny community of Rothbury on Thursday for another edition of this much-beloved hippie-fest.
Electrifying Night: Umphrey’s McGee delivered an illuminating set on Electric Forest’s opening night. (Anthony Norkus)
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By John Sinkevics
LocalSpins.com
Half-man, half-goat, Travis the Faun looked down from the perch on his stilts and smiled as thousands of Electric Forest devotees streamed through the festival’s resplendently surreal, art- and laser-bedecked Sherwood Forest on Thursday evening.
Psychedelic Splendor: Sherwood Forest (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
“It’s always a magical place,” gushed the resident of Taos, New Mexico, who was accompanied by a gaggle of similarly tall, stilts-enhanced creatures who had traveled 1,400 miles for the third year to attend this singular, EDM- and jam band-driven music festival held at the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, north of Whitehall.
Magical, indeed.
It’s that sort of mysterious, magnetic appeal that’s helped cultivate an intensely loyal army of Electric Forest-ites who return to this remote festival ever year, driving from Colorado, Connecticutt, Virginia, Texas, Massachusetts, Iowa, pretty much every state in the union to reconnect and groove in the woods.
It’s one reason why, for the first time, Electric Forest is a sellout, drawing 30,000-plus wildly attired hippies, hoopers, stilt-lovers and dancers.
“Love and be happy,” proclaimed a sign waved by one festival-goer who greeted motorists on the road leading to the entrance to Electric Forest 2014, a four-day event which kicked off on Thursday amid sunny and somewhat muggy conditions that attendees seemed to relish.
Opening day seemed more crowded than past years – with even more crazily decorated totems toted by ebullient groups – as audiences waved and gyrated to performances by The Glitch Mob, EOTO, Cash Cash, Paper Diamond, Zeds Dead and more.
Glitch Mob played the Arena Stage. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
The highlight may have been the prog-rock-infused, late-night set by Umphrey’s McGee, which drew a buoyant throng to the Sherwood Court stage for a constantly shifting, brilliantly lighted display and music that ranged from a Pink Floyd vibe to reggae. They perform again tonight, at 12:30 a.m.
Of course, many told Local Spins they had come to Electric Forest for the jam-band mastery of String Cheese Incident, the festival’s “house band,” which will play nearly four-hour sets Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
And there’s plenty more to come, with STS9, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Steve Angello and Moby among the notables. Get the full schedule online at electricforestfestival.com.
Local Spins will be there all weekend to document the action in photos, starting with these stunning images from the festival’s opening day and night supplied by Local Spins photographer Anthony Norkus. And check out the video from opening night, with footage from the always-artsy Sherwood Forest, which gets revamped with a new theme every year.
ELECTRIC FOREST’S OPENING NIGHT: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Anthony Norkus
Click on photo to enlarge gallery
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music
