Electric Forest as whimsical, groovy as ever: Weekend 1 Recap, Photos

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The second weekend of Electric Forest kicks off today: the perfect time to look back at a wondrous Weekend 1 in photos, stories and reports from Local Spins and publications across the country. Plus, listen to a Local Spins playlist created especially for the Forest.

Forest Expression: The woods of Rothbury come alive with colorful costumes during Electric Forest. (Photo/Anna Sink)

SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO GALLERIES AND ELECTRIC FOREST PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY

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Local Spins writer Troy Reimink masterfully described the first sold-out weekend of Electric Forest with a litany of colorful phrases:

• A “circus of overstimulation;”

Lighting It Up: The night takes on a different vibe. (Photo/Anna Sink)

• “Headlining sets at Electric Forest represent a sort of unifying crest after which the night can break into a thousand directions;”

• Sherwood Forest is “famously mind-warping;”

• “Electric Forest now stands solidly in the music-industry firmament as a fine example of how to blend subcultures, how to assert a curatorial vision on a massive scale and how to mitigate the things that can make festival attendance annoying, which is everything;”

• Festival-goers “are so polite it’s almost unnerving. … People wish each other ‘Happy Forest,’ and are unfailingly generous with their recreational substances.”

Sherwood Forest Fun: It’s psychedelic, it’s intoxicating. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)

And that’s just the tip of the literary/journalistic iceberg. Read the rest of his Local Spins column here.

Still, for someone who’s attended every Rothbury and every Electric Forest, it can be difficult to conjure up the right words to describe all of the festive performances, the attitude of the 40,000 attendees, the milieu, the culture that is Electric Forest. But luckily, thanks to the second four-day weekend of Forest-ing that begins today, folks who’ve never experienced this psychedelic event still have a chance: Tickets remain available online here and there’s a two-day option for Weekend 2 as well.

Lively Crowds: Part of the weekend experience that is Electric Forest. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)

Better yet, they also have a chance to catch a few top-notch Michigan acts in this unparalleled setting: Traverse City alt-folk band The Accidentals return to the Observatory at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, followed immediately by Lansing soul/pop/rock outfit Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers (after Hertler spins a solo DJ set at 6 p.m. Thursday). Detroit pop sensation Flint Eastwood lights up the big Sherwood Court stage at 5 p.m. Friday. (Grand Rapids’ Flats Stanlie is also rocking the silent disco this weekend.)

Read and ogle more about Electric Forest in this Local Spins feature story (with video) about opening day, and browse new photo galleries from the wild and whimsical weekend below.

But don’t just take Local Spins’ word for it. Plenty of respectable publications from across the country flocked to cover the opening weekend, too, and here are some of their takes on the festival.