How Electric Forest Keeps Shining in a Packed Festival Market: ‘It’s Kind of a Choose Your Own Adventure’

Samantha liked that attending Electric Forest took some planning – that it wasn’t one of those festivals that a person just attended on a whim.

“You can’t just buy tickets the night before and decide you’re going the next day – it’s more complicated than that. There’s camping, there’s travel, there’s making sure all of the LED lights on your outfit have the right batteries and are still working from last year,” she said, laughing.

In the 12-month span between Electric Forest 2023 and 2024, which ran June 20-23, Samantha (not her real name) left a “toxic” relationship and was involved in a serious car accident that required intensive physical therapy making it very difficult to walk or stand for long periods of time.

“Knowing that I had to heal my body in order to attend my tenth Electric Forest is what got me through my physical therapy,” she told Billboard. “After the year I had, there was no f***ing way I was going to miss the festival.”

Samantha was one of more than 50,000 fans who attended this year’s sold-out Electric Forest festival in Rothbury, Mich. Produced by AEG and Insomniac on the grounds of the Double JJ Ranch, the 13-year-old event has remained the largest camping festival in the jam and electronic music scene, an impressive feat in a market saturated with smaller, low-cost options targeted at casual fans.

“Our success begins and ends with the community of fans and supports that make Electric Forest a regular part of their lives,” says Alicia Karlin, vp of global touring and talent at AEG Presents, who serves as the talent buyer for the festival.

That’s impressive considering how much the festival has moved away from the Electric Forest model. A decade ago, festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo were compelled to offer camping because attendees needed a place to stay for three days. But the shift toward urban centers, and the increasing costs of providing tens of thousands of fans with bathrooms, showers, trash collection and access to medical care has made camping costs prohibitive for many event organizers.

Electric Forest, on the other hand, is 99 percent camping and located in a fairly remote part of the state – the city of Rothbury, which hosts the festival, has a population of less than 450 residents. Attendees bring everything they need for the festival – from camping gear to food and luggage, undergoing rigorous security checks and driving as much as 500 miles in each direction.

And while most festivals rely on their headlining artists to move tickets, this year’s festival featured Pretty Lights, Subtronics, Excision, The Disco Biscuits, Umphrey’s McGee and two sets from String Cheese Incident. Moreover, Electric Forest sells out the bulk of its annual tickets before the lineup is announced.

“We have 10 stages and a huge creative team and cast,” Karlin tells Billboard. “The agents and managers we work with trust us to put their artists in the best light and we’ve gotten to a point where many artists black out the entire weekend to play the festival and then attend the show the rest of the week.”

Two of Electric Forest’s biggest draws are the Sherwood Forest and Dream Emporium, each enhanced with actors and volunteers and hundreds of set pieces and custom art displays that change from year to year.

Much of the art pieces featured at Electric Forest are commissioned by the festival, explains Brad Lyman, Electric Forest production manager and creative director, who said the event receives more than 60 commission requests per year and accepts about 5 new pieces including a new Ocular organ delivered for 2024.

The Sherwood Forest separates the festivals main stages and camping areas with dozens of different areas and hidden pockets waiting to be discovered, from a field filled with hammocks to a small chapel where weddings are performed and walkways decorated by hundreds of Thai parasols.

The festival’s complex lightning and laser design is handled by Felix Lighting of Los Angeles while the festival’s walk-through experience – the Dream Emporium, is managed onsite by a team of creative professionals led by Suzanne Down.

“It’s kind of a choose your own adventure,” explains Down, who welcomes visitors to the Dream Emporium into a small lounge set up for UFO karaoke into a mirrored infinity tunnel designed to look like a 1970s car wash. Visitors wander the maze-like complex and stumble upon a skating rink wither roller skates available for rental, an indoor lake with a yacht and a punk dive bar that doubles as a wrestling ring.

Many artists get their start at Electric Forest playing one of the outdoor activations, Karlin explained, or even playing one of the late-night parties within the campground that often draw thousands of fans.

“There is always something to discover wherever you go, and fans tell us they really enjoy and appreciate the opportunity to discover something new each year,” Karlin explains. “That’s what motivates us as well. There’s a tremendous amount of time and resources that goes into Electric Forest but hearing these positive stories from fans year after year really puts it all into perspective.”