With 40,000 wildly adorned attendees flooding Double JJ Resort on Thursday, the West Michigan music fest withstood some rain and mud for a celebratory parade of national and regional stars. (Video, photos)
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The onslaught had begun.
Watching the flood of resplendently attired festival-goers, hippies and Electric Forest devotees marching toward the giant Ranch Arena and Forest stages on Thursday afternoon has become one of my favorite moments at this singularly groovy and distinctly Michigan affair at Double JJ Resort in Rothbury.
There’s an unbridled, upbeat, anticipatory and yes, electric, atmosphere permeating the air – along with the strong scent of weed – as stages erupt with a mix of bass-driven EDM, dance-fueled funk and jam-band rock, from Brasstracks to Con Brio to The Revivalists to, of course, String Cheese Incident (the de facto house band for Electric Forest).
By Day 3, many have succumbed to the weight of long hours of partying, dancing, walking and otherwise Forest-ing, snoozing in hammocks in the artistically adorned Sherwood Forest or just passed out in one of the fields amid a sea of 40,000 revelers.
But on opening day, the excitement is palpable and for good reason at this 2017 edition of Electric Forest: The festival has integrated a fair number of diverse musical acts and Michigan favorites into its lineup – which for the first time ever stretches over two weekends – while still satiating the EDM and jam-band devotees who flock to this northern Michigan outpost from across the country and the globe.
On opening day of the sold-out Weekend 1, after a brief delay in the opening caused by heay rains on Wednesday night, it was a return to what longtime Forest-ers and festival devotees consider the epicenter of escapist musical nirvana, with an anything-goes attitude that extends to fashion, fellowship and frolicking.
As one exuberant attendee put it, “It’s the greatest spot on Earth.”
For Erik Schleeweiss, 22, and his buddy Kiefer Tyrrell, it’s well worth the long return trip to Rothbury from their home in Amherst, Mass.
“We’re happy to be here,” Schleeweiss said as the pair made their way toward the Ranch Arena stage early Thursday evening. “It’s all family. Everyone’s family here.”
It’s certainly a giant family with a sense of humor and a knack for eye-catching wardrobes, from animal headgear to clown suits to spacey uniforms. Colorful totems carried by groups trumpeted Star Wars, Bigfoot, horseheads, Oprah Winfrey and cartoons characters ranging from The Rugrats to The Simpsons.
If this really is Earth, it’s akin to stepping into some rollicking section of Area 51 surrounded by aliens with a really groovy attitude. (Of course, with the rain that came down on and off Friday night turning parts of the grounds into pure mud, it also recalled Woodstock.)
Amid this alternative universe – with seven stages and a silent disco dotting the sprawling festival grounds – a bevy of diverse acts uncorked some memorable performances on Thursday, some of them defying the electronic dance music reputation of this annual soiree in the woods.
DODGING RAIN FOR INSPIRING MUSIC
There was The Revivalists’ inspiring indie-rock attack at Ranch Arena, hip hop’s Waka Flocka Flame pumping up the Forest Stage and faves String Cheese Incident — which plays three long evening sets three nights in a row — grooving in prog-rock fashion (with lots of other genres mixed in) for approving Cheese-heads.
Traverse City’s The Accidentals made the most of their second visit to Electric Forest in three years. The duo-turned-trio-turned-quartet turned in an electrifying set as darkness — and some rain — fell on the Observatory stage on Thursday evening with their uplifting alt-folk, earning a robust and loud ovation at the end of their genre-bending set.
And members of Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers gave late-night fans a marvelous ‘Pure Michigan’ moment, too, when they joined the Everyone Orchestra led by California musician Matt Butler after midnight in the Hangar for an all-star improvisational jam that also featured Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. It all had gleeful Forest-ers — and the musicians on stage — gyrating and jumping.
Butler is well-known for assembling super-groups from various bands at festivals across the country and this may have been one of his most dynamic and smile-inducing collaborations yet.
Overall, it was an impressive kickoff to a weekend that continues to hold a special spot in this writer’s heart and history — even with the late-night rain that soaked Double JJ Resort and sent some attendees back to their tents and campers.
Apparently, I’m one of only a very few media persons – local or national – who has attended (and survived) every Rothbury and all of the Electric Forests that have followed.
That odyssey started with Rothbury at Double JJ Resort in 2008 and has continued through the seventh Electric Forest that unfurled its hippie wings on Thursday afternoon in the meadows and fields about 24 miles north of Muskegon.
I’ve even worn the same trusty black Adidas sneakers for every one of these assignments, sneakers which logged 10,000 steps on my FitBit before 6 p.m. Thursday as I crisscrossed the festival grounds — and another 10,000 by the end of a very long, very muddy night.
To say it’s been a wild ride might be an understatement. But it’s been an eye- and ear-opening expedition well worth taking.
See the schedule for Electric Forest’s Weekend 1 and Weekend 2 at electricforestfestival.com.
PHOTO GALLERY: Electric Forest 2017, Day 1
Photos by Anthony Norkus
PHOTO GALLERY: Electric Forest 2017, Day 1: The People
Photos by Anna Sink
VIDEO: Electric Forest: Day 1 Highlights
Copyright 2017, Spins on Music LLC