Electric Forest’s 2012 Lineup Announced!

Electric Forest – returning June 28-July 1, 2012 to the beloved Double JJ Ranch in Rothbury, Michigan announced this year’s lineup, and it’s destined to be a blast.  If it’s anything like past years, it should be a must visit on your festival tour destinations!  Tickets are available now at www.electricforestfestival.com.

Live music pioneers The String Cheese Incident (3 performances), Bassnectar and STS9 (2 performances) will top the bill at Electric Forest 2012. Also on the bill are Thievery Corporation, Girl Talk, Santigold, Steve Aoki, Ghostland Observatory, Richie Hawtin, Major Lazer, Big Gigantic, The Travelin’ McCourys featuring Keller Williams and many more. The complete list of currently confirmed artists is included below.   

Electric Forest 2012 also introduces special curated events at this year’s festival. Working with such esteemed partners as ESL Music, Dim Mak, Check Yo Ponytail and Paxahau, look for events within the event to be hosted at the Tripolee, Forest and Wagon Wheel stages throughout the weekend. Visit the www.electricforestfestival.com for details as they become available.

Named among Paste Magazine’s 2011 list of “Top 10 Most Intriguing Inaugural Music Festivals,” last year’s Electric Forest helped propel the U.S. festival scene into a brave new era of music and camping festivals – offering incomparable VIP experiences, unique festival site features and amenities with astonishing and unparalleled integration of music and art.

Electric Forest’s unrivaled GOOD LIFE VIP experience boasts something for all budgets and tastes, from camping and RV spots, to log cabins and homes, to resort hotel-style suites – all located on the festival grounds. Visit www.electricforestfestival.com for GOOD LIFE options and details. The festival’s exclusive site – at the one-of-a-kind Double JJ Resort – offers trails, forests, fields, lakes and beachfronts, and even on-site lodging, bars and eateries. In addition, Electric Forest patrons can take advantage of the resort’s many amenities including a 60,000 square foot indoor water park, an 18-hole championship golf course, swimming pools, horseback riding, and more. At the heart of the festival, the mind-blowing Sherwood Forest offers state-of-the-art, jaw-dropping light displays, intricate and earthy artful touches, and everything in between.

Also today, Electric Forest 2012 announces two local philanthropic initiatives: Electric Forest’s Roy Price Memorial Food Drive, and the festival’s Music in Schools Program. Electric Forest’s annual Food Drive returns this year as a tribute to cherished Electric Forest neighbor, the late Mr. Roy Price. “Mr. Price and his wife offered us amazing support during last year’s Food Drive,” explains Electric Forest Producer Jeremy Stein. “They worked closely with our food drive partners, Conscious Alliance, to help ensure that the 9300 lbs. of food donated by festival attendees was distributed to those in the local community who were in most need. Mr. Price will be missed, and we’ll host this year’s Food Drive in his honor.”

Electric Forest’s Music in Schools Program is partnering with Shelby High School and Montague Area Public Schools in Michigan to help support music education in local area public schools. Electric Forest will donate funds and/or musical instruments to these music programs to help ensure that today’s youth have the opportunity to learn about music in school. In addition, young musicians from both schools will be onsite to shadow industry professionals and to perform at Electric Forest 2012.

For ongoing updates:
www.electricforestfestival.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElectricForest
Twitter: @Electric_Forest
You Tube: www.youtube.com/user/TheElectricForest

Electric Forest is produced by Madison House Presents and Insomniac.

Electric Forest’s list of confirmed 2012 performers is as follows (Our favorites in bold):

The String Cheese Incident (3 Shows)
Bassnectar
STS9 (2 Shows)                                                
Thievery Corporation
Girl Talk (<—- A must see)
Santigold          
Steve Aoki
Ghostland Observatory (Long time no see!)
Richie Hawtin
Wolfgang Gartner
Major Lazer
The Travelin’ McCourys featuring Keller Williams
Dada Life
Big Gigantic
Datsik
Zeds Dead
Rob Garza (Of Thievery Corporation)
12th Planet
Borgore
Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk
Midnite
MiMoSA
EOTO                                                              
Das Racist
Reggie Watts
Paper Diamond
Felix Cartal
Gary Clark Jr.
Balkan Beat Box
Big Freedia
Nit GriT
The Infamous Stringdusters
Nickodemus
Chali 2na & the House of Vibe 
Alvin Risk
The Soul Rebels
See-I
Glass Candy
Battles
Gramatik
Elephant Revival
Ursula 1000
Minnesota
Nobody Beats The Drum
Congo Sanchez
Fruit Bats
The M Machine
Chromatics
Pictureplane
AutoErotique
Nathaniel Rateliff
Adventure Club
Afrolicious
Virtual Boy
The Funk Ark
Franki Chan
Brothers Past (Delaware Locals)
Crizzly
HOTTUB
Zoogma
Cherub
Frank Mitchell Jr.
The Knocks
Vau de Vire Society
Morning Teleportation
DrFameus
Robert Rich
Quixotic
Chuck Flask & Keith Kemp
DJ SOLO
Ataxia
The Crane Wives
Secrets
WALA
Human Agency

And Featuring These Curated Events:
ESL Music at Tripolee
Dim Mak at Tripolee
Check Yo Ponytail at Tripolee
Paxahau at the Forest Stage and Wagon Wheel

With more to be announced…

Tickets on sale now at www.electricforestfestival.com and at 1-888- 512-SHOW (Open Mon-Sat 9am-9pm CST).

Electric Forest 2012 – Tracks Approved.

MTT has covered a ton of festivals all over the United States, and one festival that has always stuck in our minds as an AWESOME all-around experience is Electric Forest.  Originally known as ROTHBURY, the Electric Forest festival in Rothbury, Michigan is one (two) of the best times that we’ve had to date.  Madison House Inc. puts on a ridiculously great festival, and you’d be remiss if you don’t make the trek to beautiful Michigan at some point to hit their festival.

From the amazing SHERWOOD FOREST (I cannot emphasize enough how awesome it is.  Trippy is a HUGE understatement), to the incredibly cool and comfortable weather and the very accessible stages and amenities (a beach on a lake?!) … Electric Forest is a must hit on your festival bucket list.  Here are some details which will be updated as more info becomes available.

 

New to Electric Forest 2012! ELECTRIC AVENUE TENT CAMPING!

Show up carefree to Electric Forest — Your large weather proof safari-style tent complete with cots will be set up for you before your arrival, with parking available near your tent and staff members on hand to assist with any questions you may have about your tent through out the weekend.

You will also enjoy all the amenities of THE GOOD LIFE VILLAGE

• Accommodations in a large weather proof safari-style tent with windows and a tarp floor
• Tent is prepared for your arrival – NO SET UP NEEDED!
• 2 – 4 Cots per tent
• Parking near your tent
• On-site staff to help with any questions about your tent
• All GOOD LIFE Amenities and Village Amenities included

Check out the Brand New ADD ONS to THE GOOD LIFE VIP Packages for 2012!

Prefer to do Electric Forest in style?

Do you want to golf with your favorite musicians in the Electric Forest Celebrity Invitational?
Or join Kyle Hollingsworth of String Cheese Incident for a beer tasting?
How about the Ultimate Back Stage Experience?

Personalize your VIP Experience by choosing one or all of the ADD ONS!!!

Share Your Videos with Electric Forest

Some great times were shared at Electric Forest 2011- what are your favorite moments? Was it in Sherwood Forest, on the beach at Big Wildcat Lake, or closing out the weekend dancing at Pretty Lights? Share your videos with us on our official YouTube channel. Post them HERE!

Return to the Forest Loyalty Tickets

The Return to the Forest Loyalty Ticket is on sale now. To show our appreciation to all of you who helped make last years Electric Forest an exceptional weekend, we have set aside a limited amount of Loyalty tickets for you. If you purchased a ticket to Electric Forest in 2011, you will have received an email with a private code to purchase a UP TO 2 WEEKEND PASSES at the Loyalty Price ($189 plus fees for a Weekend Ticket, $389 plus fees for a Good Life Village VIP Ticket)!

The Loyalty Ticket is available until 5pm EST Monday, January 30th, or while supplies last. Quantities are limited and are available on a first come, first served basis. Please note this offer is limited to a maximum of 2 WEEKEND PASSES per person and credit card. Thank you for your support of the Electric Forest community and see you in the Forest!

Thoughts On The Current State Of Music Festivals

Music festivals have always been the life-blood of Moe Train’s Tracks. Ever since our inception, we’ve been hitting several music fests a year all over the US. We’ve hit Las Vegas, Chicago, Tennessee, Michigan, and more. Each festival has its own culture and draw, which always causes for a unique experience.

This festival season will be light for The Tracks, as both B and The Train are extremely busy taking care of personal business. We’ll be hitting Rock the Bells in NYC in September, so if you’re going, let us know! 

Anyway, within the past five years, we’ve seen some amazing music, done many “dream” interviews with massively acclaimed artists, met thousands of great people, made new friends, and business associates. We’re certainly missing not hitting up our usual fests this year. But, the future will hold more big things for Team Excelsior.

We’re very fortunate to be able to see all aspects of a music festival; from the planning, to the set up, the crowd interactions, and everything in between. Some festivals are more media friendly, some make it all more accessible, and some… Well… They could get tips from other fests.

After all these consecutive years of attending music festivals in a media capacity, I can help but to notice that some festivals have started to rest on their laurels. Same setup, same artists year after year, etc… We really took note of this last year. There’s something to be said about consistency, yet, they can’t be the coolest thing since sliced bread if the bread has gotten stale and is starting to wilt.

The freshest feeling festival that we’ve experienced was Madison House’s first year of Rothbury. Great music, amazing atmosphere where people could readily escape the sun and heat, a lakefront club and beach(!!), and more. They took aspects of several different festivals and wrapped them into one great package. This opened our eyes to the fact that first year festivals have a great chance to blow away other established festivals in an inaugural year. Every few years, the big festivals need to think back to when they were first coming onto the scene, and create a fresh experience for their devoted attendees. There are a multitude of ways to recreate “newness” outside of the box, the promoters just need to reach deep and do so.

Maybe next year we’ll see a rejuvenation of the music festival scene. Who knows… We could be desensitized to the pure awesomeness of it all. Believe me, we love the scene and the people. Some music festivals just need a little soap and Scope to freshen up their images.

We’d love to hear your thought about the state of the festival scene and any stories that you’d like to share. Feel free to email us through the site, or add your comments on the site!

The MTT staff hopes you all have an amazing and SAFE summer festival season. Remember to drink tons of water, get rest and rock it out! (Have a few shots for us too…)

- Moe and B