Electric Forest’s magnetic appeal, String Cheese Incident draw fans from across the land

Day 2 of Electric Forest in Rothbury, Michigan, unleashed headlining homeboys The String Cheese Incident, plenty of EDM glory, and of course, the psychedelically artsy Sherwood Forest. (Photo gallery, videos)

Hoops and Grooves: Electric Forest-ites jamming to Railroad Earth on Friday. (Photo/Local Spins)

Editor’s Note: Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to photo/video highlights from Days 3-4.

Tennessee, New York, New Mexico, North Carolina, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, Nebraska, Georgia, Connecticut, Florida, Texas and beyond.

Once Electric Forest gets its hooks in fans, they come back every year. Such is the case with the 2013 edition of this hippie-hued electronic dance music and jam-band festival on the Double JJ Resort in Michigan’s north woods, with devotees traveling hundreds, if not thousands, of miles to groove to the beat and jam deep into the evening.

And I’m guessing upwards of 30,000 people or more have descended on tiny Rothbury this year, making this a musical metropolis in the woods.

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue revved up the blues, jazz and funk on the Arena Stage Friday.

Electric it is, too, with a one-of-a-kind Sherwood Forest art installation that’s part groovy hotel with hundreds of hammocks hanging from trees, part zen meditation station, part smoke-em-if-you’ve-got-em party palace, part intimate music venue, part psychedelically lighted la-la fantasy land.

EDM, JAMS, BUT PLENTY MORE

The prevalence of EDM music at the festival has drawn ever younger fans to Rothbury every year, so the vibe has changed a bit over the years, but the do-your-own-thing, dress-your-own-way and no-matter-what-happens-everything’s-cool attitude rooted in the ’60s remains the same among festival-goers who hula-hoop and gyrate their way through the day and into the evening, sporting resplendent face and body paint, furry leggings, insane headgear, masks, flashy umbrellas, circus-styled makeup and stilts, inflatable animals, LED lights and totem poles of every stripe.

Camping in style at Electric Forest.

(The Michigan State Police did report a few drug-related arrests, but overall, the crowd seemed to be relatively well-behaved in a party-till-the-cows-come-home sort of way.)

And despite the predominant musical direction of the festival, there’s actually quite a bit of diversity displayed on its many stages, with everything from hip hop to pop to bluegrass to my absolutely favorite moment of the weekend thus far: a dynamite Pink Floyd tribute band, Oregon’s Pigs on the Wing, spewing dead-on perfect live renditions of the psychedelic rock band’s hits, from “Money” to “Comfortably Numb,” with a huge crowd of 10,000 or more fans — many of whom mouthed every word even though they weren’t even born when the songs were released.

So here’s Day 2’s photo gallery — including the bands String Cheese Incident, GrizMatik (which was actually BiGrizMatik with special guest Big Gigantic joining Gramatik and Griz, creating an absolutely wild scene with as many people in the audience as I’ve ever seen at Electric Forest), Railroad Earth, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Pigs on the Wing and more — with video snippets of Electric Forest by day and, better yet, Electric Forest by night. Enjoy.

ELECTRIC FOREST DAY 2: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY (JUNE 28, 2013)

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