Magical means beautiful or delightful in such a way as to seem removed from everyday life. This single word perfectly describes life inside Electric Forest. From the mind encapsulating, brought to life, art installations, the hypnotizing lighting designs both on stage and enweaved inside the forest, and the far from traditional festival style foods, this extra-ordinary whimsical tour through another world set far outside of the realm of reality will leave you wishing to escape your day to day of life.

Electric Forests 9th year began on June 27th in Rothbury, Michigan. Changes made in 2017 and 2018 extended the festival into a two consecutive weekend event, but 2019 brought the festival back into the one weekend path with headliners such As ODESZA, Zeds Dead, Alison Wonderland, Bassnectar, Kygo and many more, that sold out in around three hours. Electric Forest line-ups are notorious for introducing electronic music and jam bands to upwards of 45,000 or more attendees. The festival brings in fresh new artist annually, but also holds the tradition of the residency of The String Cheese Incident, who have headlined the event consistently through the years.

This year Substream sat down with festival virgins, CHON, hailing from Oceanside, California. CHON guitarist, Mario Camarena talked about the whimsical nature of the forest, “It’s so amazing to see the people in the forest and their costumes, and the ones that jump out of nowhere and scare the fuck out of you”. Of course, not in a horror movie fear type of fear, but an unexpected manner of captivating fans attentions as they wonder through the paths of Sherwood Forest. Camarena went on to discuss their movement into the electronic realm as a jam band — one that is something they have always envisioned as the path they wanted to take their band, which is now a huge reality as the band had embarked on a festival run in the 2019 season. CHON played a late night set deep inside Sherwood Forest on The Observatory stage.

Another dare not to miss moment this year was Bob Moses, an electronic duo originally from Vancouver, BC. The duo released their sophomore album, Battle Lines, in September 2018. With moody keyboard, deep lyrics, and gritty sounds, the duo had their fans dancing faithfully during their set. Their production brought on a transcension that would envelop any festival goer that was within listening distance of Sherwood Court.

For a large festival with so many in attendance, the EF teams manage to keep the production rolling spot on and the grounds are kept in pristine condition. Everyone tends to work together as a community to ensure everyone has the most memorable experience. Everyone takes care of each other, no one is a stranger in the forest. Electric Forest is a true dream come true for forest virgins and veterans. If you love music, the Earth, making new friends, creating beautiful memories and living in the most memorable moments, then Electric Forest if singing your name. See you next year, friends!