Electric Forest Day 3: More jams, waiting for the bass to drop and, of course, ‘Where’s Carl?’

Thousands attending the four-day Michigan music festival on the Double JJ Resort continued to whoop it up Saturday, with performances on six stages, including The String Cheese Incident and more. (Photos, video)

Electrifying Pop: Passion Pit at Electric Forest. (Photo/Anna Sink)

Synthpop’s Passion Pit closed out the Sherwood Court stage entertainment at Electric Forest in the wee hours of Saturday morning with a rollicking light show and amped-up performance by singer Michael Angelakos in front of thousands of bizarrely bedecked fans and hordes of bobbing totem poles.

Officially, it signaled the end of Day 2 on one of Electric Forest’s six stages, but it could also be viewed as the celebratory opening salvo of Day 3 of the 2013 edition of this Woodstock-like music festival on the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury.

And what a day it was.

You might think that by the third day of nearly nonstop techno beats, jamming and partying, attendees and performers alike would be worn out and ready to go home.

Keeping the Beat: A drum circle at Electric Forest. (Photo/Mary Mattingly)

Of course, you’d be wrong. Saturday’s festival-goers showed no signs of packing up: They were too busy dancing to funky DJs such as BoomBox, weaving in and out of hula hoops, just hanging out, amid cooler, cloudy weather.

A sense of community has developed by this point and it’s clear the festival takes care of its own, with people developing friendships with others from all across the U.S.A. (and sharing this year’s inside joke, “Where’s Carl?”).

Daytime brought chill sets for those recovering from the night before or activities such as Mary Clare Sweet-led yoga at the Tripolee Stage. But musical highlights started to pile up soon after with no shortage in the diverse jam bands preceding the thudding dubstep that dominates the night:

• Funk rock’s The Main Squeeze, from Chicago, tore up the Sherwood Court stage, playing off the energy of some devoted fans in the audience. The crowd danced when the band implored them to dance, sang when the band told them to sing and just plain had a good time with it. Singer Corey Frye’s crystal clear high range, reminiscent of the King of Pop, paved the way for funky solos.

Electric Forest at night.

• As soon as Lettuce took the stage at Ranch Arena in early evening, bits of the funk band’s namesake were tossed into the air as tribute from the sizable crowd that had gathered. And while they performed, an artist behind the group painted a picture of an eye that blossomed and transformed as the band’s music progressed through the set.

• The day boasted its share of loop-pedal enthusiasts with artists such as Sam Klass following in Andrew Bird’s footsteps by looping his own impressive beatbox skills over trippy guitar lines. robbieFITZSIMMONS also captivated the crowd, looping keyboard tracks over his f.u.n-like high, vocal lines, and bringing Cello Joe onstage with him for his final song.

• Of course, The String Cheese Incident played another seemingly endless set deep into the evening to a seemingly constantly energized crowd. “We’re gonna need 25,000 people to help us out with the percussion for this next song,” guitarist Bill Nershi told the bumping throng. “What a coincidence, looks like we’ve got 25,000 people right here!”

It’s all part of a popular pattern that gets repeated every day during Electric Forest: As the sky gets darker, the forest once again lights up and transforms, taking festival-goers down the rabbit hole once more.

— Mary Mattingly and John Sinkevics for LocalSpins.com

Check out the Local Spins photo gallery by Anna Sink and Mary Mattingly below. For videos and photos from Day 2, click here.

ELECTRIC FOREST DAY 3: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY (JUNE 29, 2013)

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