Electric Forest 2011 (aka Rothbury)

       

Happy Belated 4th of July fellow Techno lovers. Last weekend was a glorious weekend, mostly due to a little festival in Rothbury, Michigan, called Electric Forest. For 4 days hippies and ravers alike jammed out to some great electronic, as well as jam bands (specifically Cheese, for 3 days and 6 sets). Anyways, I took a bunch of videos, they're all on YouTube, on the Litany Approved Channel (HERE), but here are some reviews as well as highlights for your viewing pleasure, in chronological order:

      

Day #1

There was an absolutely massive lightning storm on the first night of Rothbury. Excision was playing around 11:00, but got held up for a half hour while the weather cleared up. Video doesn't do the storm justice. His set was exactly what you'd expect from Excision, heavy dub that never lets up.



Kaskade followed him up on the Ranch Arena (mainstage), good solid set from Ryan as well.


Day #2
Second day Tiesto was the main electronic headliners, who would usually play about a half hour after String Cheese Incident finished up their 2nd set of the night, at around 12:15. I had never seen Tiesto live, and was fucking stoked. Obviously tons of club bangers. Opened with "Pressure" and then dropped Avicii's "Levels".

My favorite set of the weekend went to Feed Me. He seemed really into it, interacting with the crowd and such. Not to mention it was just such a diverse set, sometimes crazy ass dub, other times poppy electro. Can't wait to see him again.



Day #3
The 3rd day was definitly the most stacked as far as the number of DJs to catch. Bassnectar, Zedd, Porter Robinson, Skrillex, 12th Planet and more. I wish they would have spaced it out, by the time 3:30 in the morning came around, and Skrillex had finished his set, and 12th Planet's was about to begin, I was so beat I decided to skip 12th Planet's set and go crash. In retrospect that was a huge mistake, apparently 12th Planet really threw down and Skrillex showed up for a mini guest set. Favorite sets of the day went to Bassnectar and Zedd. Bassnectar absolutely destroyed it (watch for the glow stick explosions, they're pretty cool), and Zedd was just classic electro house, and the indoor stage (Wagon Wheel) wasn't too crowded for his set. Honestly, Sonny was kind of a let down, he kept cutting the music out and trying to do a crowd sing a long, but it just wasn't working. Combine that with pretty sloppy transitions and a lot of rap, and it just didn't live up to what I've come to expect from Sonny live.

Zedd @ Wagon Wheel

Porter Robinson @ Wagon Wheel

Bassnectar @ Ranch Arena

Skrillex @ Tripolee


Day #4

Not too much in the way of Electronic acts on the last day, mostly just Cheese's final set, Pretty Lights and Eoto. Sadly Derrick went on super late, and his set ended after Eoto's had ended, even though schedule wise you shoulda been able to catch both.

Solid fucking festival, had a shit ton of fun, can't wait for next year.

      

For all my videos from Electric Forest, check out the YouTube Channel below:
http://www.youtube.com/litanyapproved