Another rousing Electric Forest is in the books, with Michigan’s biggest music festival wrapping up in the wee hours Monday morning. Check out the highlights and our resplendent photo galleries.
Beastly Musical Feast: N.C.’s Saxsquatch, aka Dean Mitchell, drew throngs to the Honeycomb stage. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Electric Forest 2025 wrapped up early Monday morning in Rothbury after four days of musical revelry amid searing temperatures. Check out our coverage of Day 1 online here, with our recap of Friday-Sunday kicking off today with columnist Todd Ernst’s take on DJ sets, followed by highlights of other performances. Scroll down for photo galleries.
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In what proved to be one of the warmest Electric Forest weekends on record, the periodic showers over the weekend in Rothbury helped to tamper the dust at Double JJ Resort, and the wind provided a perfect antidote to these scorching temperatures.
This year, rising artists had more opportunities to showcase their respective efforts, as there seemed to be fewer “top-shelf” headliners if you will. Don’t get me wrong, the big acts brought the house down as the saying goes, but there was no shortage of seek-able surprises this year. Below are performances and DJ sets that stood out.
• HAYLA: While best known as the vocalist for John Summit’s hit tracks “Where You Are” and “Shiver,” Hayla proved to be the perfect act to pretty much open the festival on Thursday night at Ranch Arena not long after the rain lifted. It’s pretty rare that a vocalist can prove to be studio accurate during live performances, but HAYLA did exactly that during a midnight encore “unplugged” at the Honeycomb stage. Personally, I hope Electric Forest’s talent-buying team is taking note in showcasing the duality of many artists, as this was a treat for HAYLA as much as it was her fans.
• CLOONEE: UK based Cloonee wasted no time getting down to business by opening his Friday night set at Ranch Arena with his global smash “Stephanie,” reworked as a bass-heavy, tech-house monster featuring the original vocals of hip-hop’s Young M.A’s “OOOUUU.” From there forward, he never took his foot off the gas during his 90-minute set, and it was clear Forest attendees were ready for something a smidge harder and more aggressive.
Final Fiery Flurry: Sunday night at Electric Forest. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
• MINDCHATTER/BRYCE CONNOLLY: Many Forest attendees know that the true magic happens at the Honeycomb stage, and for me this year’s surprise was NYC’s Bryce Connolly, aka Mindchatter. First brought to my attention by a dear friend that is in a bit of an infancy within her own discovery of electronic music, Mindchatter posted up on Saturday night as the sun dropped through the trees while he denied genre specificity and flawlessly weaved through house, indie and elements of nu-disco. These moments are what define the magic in a DJs set, and the crowd was in agreement as they enthusiastically swaggered and weaved in unison.
• MOCHAKK: For those that feel like Brazil’s Mochakk sort of came out of nowhere, he literally took the world by storm in 2022 courtesy of a viral Tik Tok, and he proved to be the perfect artist to take it all home on Sunday night with dual performances — first at Honeycomb for a more dynamic electronic performance, and later at Tripolee, where he roared through his trademark energetic festival stylings. Perhaps the best thing about Mochakk’s efforts are that he is never just blending as some artists do; rather he has layers upon layers of things going at once, and somehow pulls it all together with an almost unmatched energy in the DJ booth. – By Todd Ernst
BEYOND THE ELECTRONIC FANFARE
The Forest holds many hidden and not-so-hidden gems beyond the thunderous roar of its main stages and internationally hailed producers and DJs.
Indeed, The String Cheese Incident — Electric Forest’s longtime “house band” — electrified fans during its lengthy, jam-propelled Saturday night set at Ranch Arena by bringing Detroit’s own Mike Posner on stage to sing The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” followed by renditions of Cypress Hill’s “Hit from the Bong,” Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” and The Toyes/Sublime’s “Smoke 2 Joints.”
The String Cheese Incident (Photo/Anna Sink)
(The band, by the way, plays Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids for the first time on Aug. 14. The show is sold out.)
Sunday’s final salvo included a crowd-pleasing set from alternative/eclectic Texas trio Khruangbin — also at Ranch Arena — with festivalgoers still displaying impressive enthusiasm even after four days in the searing heat and humidity.
There was also the late-night, deep-in-the-woods bluegrass jam on Sunday featuring West Michigan’s own Hawks & Owls and Austin Benzing, a strikingly intimate affair compared to the hubbub of the sprawling main stages.
And violinist/looper Dixon’s Violin, who opened Electric Forest 2025 on Thursday afternoon amid the glaring sunshine of The Observatory, closed it all out in darkness for a sweet, appropriately honeyed 1 a.m. Monday set on the Honeycomb stage amid the psychedelically adorned Sherwood Forest.
The stifling heat, of course, sent more than the usual number of attendees to the festival’s medical tents on the hottest days, according to the Hart post of the Michigan State Police, which reported six arrests for a variety of infractions, including trespassing, assault and one drug-related charge. – By Anna Sink, Eric Stoike and John Sinkevics
Check out full coverage of Day 1 at Local Spins via words, photos and video here.
PHOTO GALLERY: Electric Forest, Days 2-3
Photos by Eric Stoike
PHOTO GALLERY: Electric Forest, Days 2-3
Photos by Anna Sink
PHOTO GALLERY: Electric Forest, Day 4
Photos by Eric Stoike
