Headstash

Headstash On The Road: Electric Forest Day 2

Sherwood Forest - Photo Credit: Jordan August

Don’t care about anything besides String Cheese? Skip to the SCI review.

Friday morning started off rough with a monsoon enveloping the grounds most of the morning into the afternoon. Even after the rain stopped, it was still overcast and cold throughout the day, keeping people lurking around their campsites.

When music started at noon it was pretty empty inside the gates, but by 4:00 p.m., the stage areas started filling up.

Photo Credit: Jordan August

At 5:30 p.m, Stephen Marley took control of the Ranch Arena stage, belting out hit reggae classics like "Mind Control" and some of his father's classics including "Jammin'." It was the perfect post-rain mellow set.

Midway through Marley's set, The New Deal began their electro dance party at Sherwood Court. As The New Deal gets closer to their final show (Jam Cruise 2012), their performances seem to be getting better and better.

The band brought the heat and got everyone in the crowd moving despite the early set time. They definitely should have had a late-night slot, but they played as if the sun was down anyway. Highlights included an infectious "Back to the Middle" that everyone in the crowd couldn't help but dance along to.

After, the crowd started pouring in for String Cheese Incident’s first set of the weekend. For a detailed recap of that craziness, scroll down a bit further.

Galactic - Photo Credit: Jordan August

Immediately following Cheese, Galactic threw a funky get-down back at the Sherwood Arena. Most of the Cheese crowd squished their way shoulder-to-shoulder through the forest toward the jazzy sounds emanating from within.

At one point in the slowly moving mass of people, a cheer erupted and everyone in the forest joined in, creating a raucous scene.

The odd pick of the festival, Tiësto, claimed the Ranch Arena stage for his late-night techno dance party. Despite some head scratching from attendees over the selection, Tiësto more than held his own. 

Sure, all of his drops build and fall in the same pattern, but he sure is fun to dance to. Tiësto definitely converted some skeptics with his set and by the end, all of the jellyfish creatures floating above the Cheese crowd were bobbing their way through to the dance party.

Photo Credit: Jordan August

Highlights included a cover of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep” and Pretty Lights' "Finally Moving.” There weren't too many other recognizable songs and he focused more on his “DJing.”

One thing that he really has to work on, though, is his backdrop, which for almost the whole set just flashed words like "club life," "party" and "sweaty." It was a little lame – a colorful visualizer would have made his set perfect.

After Tiësto, many people were danced out and headed back to their campsites, but a few of the dedicated ragers stayed out to watch Adam Deitch tear up the drums with Break Science.

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String Cheese Incident - Photo Credit: Jordan August

Talk about a truly eclectic band. String Cheese’s opening set proved that they can cross all genres while still sticking to their roots. The set started off mellow at 8:00 p.m. while still fully daylight and transformed into a full-on party by the time it ended close to midnight.

String Cheese Incident - Photo Credit: Jordan August

At the beginning of the set, the crowd was fairly small but extremely rowdy and dedicated. Most people close to the stage knew all the words and sang along with the band.

Cheese opened with "Best Feeling," prompting stragglers to start running towards the stage area. During the jam, the group teased "Jessica" ever so slightly that it was hard to detect.

Then they went into "Can't Stop Now" followed by another song and then the Latin-sounding dance tune "Latissimo." The next song was a long jam where the crowd broke out into a boisterous synchronized clapping.

During "Rain," the visualizer screen backdrop behind the band finally turned on. Then, all of the members left the stage and percussionist Jason Hann was alone ripping on a bongo solo. After a few minutes, he was joined by Michael Travis for a duo drum section as one by one the rest of the band came back on and started playing "On the Road."

String Cheese Incident - Photo Credit: Jordan August

The visualizer was in full force with images zooming through desert scenes and crazy shapes. Cheese had just gotten the crowd fully riled up when they left the stage for their surprisingly long set break

By the time second set started, it was dark out and the glow toys were rampant. Cheese proceeded to completely switched gears and it seemed like there was a completely different band on stage.

They started off with keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth leading a jam that started off lighthearted. then dropped into a knee-bending jam. If the people who came to Electric Forest for Tiësto and Bassnectar were skeptical of Cheese's sound, this song totally converted them.

On the next song, string player extraordinaire Michael Kang took over vocals while six people dressed as mushrooms came bouncing around on stage and people in the crowd started setting off fireworks.

Next up was "Freedom Jazz Dance" which turned into an instant dance party and at one point, Cheese teased "In the Jungle." It was super random and silly but worked perfectly with the song.

String Cheese Incident - Photo Credit: Jordan August

With "Shanty Town," String Cheese dipped into even more genres. The song started out pure reggae and then turned trancey with some spooky sounding echoes. Then they played the super trancey "Rivertrance."

If someone had walked up to the stage during this part of the show, I think you would have a hard time convincing them that it was String Cheese Incident on stage. To close out the set, String Cheese played Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.”

The sounds were so varied throughout that their next set could be filled with anything. Cheese was baiting the dubsteppers with this set as if to say anything you can do I can do, too.

As I overheard one fan so eloquently put it, "That Cheese set got me right in the pudding."

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A note from the photographer:

Cirque du Womp - Photo Credit: Jordan August

As 7:30 a.m. rolled around, I was awoken by Mother Nature’s wonderful Michigan rainstorms. Electric Forest has become a living, breathing entity despite being so different from its Rothbury predecessors.

STRING CHEESE INCIDENT:
String Cheese has become something of a lost treasure in the jam scene. The band that got away before the new generation could jump on tour and find themselves on the road. Though I wish I could see them more often, the huge events they play every so often make each one intimately special. The set started off heavy and fast with "Black Clouds" getting the crowd moving and stirring dust up into the air.

My highlight of the set had to be "Shanty Town.” With lyrics that mention “forest,” “woods,” people wandering and the sun going down, it had to be the most appropriate song to play at the moment. Kang mentioned that this show was only the beginning, and I believed it.

GALACTIC:

Galactic - Photo Credit: Jordan August

The overdose of electronic and dubstep was wisely split by Galactic in the Sherwood Court. With special guest singer Anthony Gunther, they were able to play some older songs off "Ruckus" that I hadn't heard live in a long time

Magical rowdy times were followed by drummer Stanton Moore picking up his snare drum and walking it to the front of the stage accompanied by the rest of the band with pieces of his set. This "drum solo" was a creation of music in a very original way. The crowd loved it so much it went on for about five minutes.

CIRQUE DU WOMP:
Not exactly what I expected, but the phrase "let’s get weird" was the most valid way to describe this. With a man climbing the light truss and some downtempo beats in the background, the woods had a mellow vibe.

Then came the dubstep and everything that comes along with it. It was fun, cramped and crowded yet worth the trip to check it out.

BREAK SCIENCE:

Break Science - Photo Credit: Jordan August

Boom goes the dynamite! They came out with thunder so loud and dominate that the “Swiss cheese” crowd filled its holes with people in a matter of minutes.

The live drums of Adam Deitch pummeled the crowd up front, but that didn't stop then from getting throwing down. It was hard for me to be in the press area with no earplugs.

No complaints from me though – it’s all about that bass.

- Jordan August

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Saturday’s slate features Keller Williams, Lettuce, Big Gigantic, Shpongle, Bassnectar, Skrillex and of course, a lot more String Cheese Incident.

Stay tuned for more coverage from Electric Forest