Electric Forest is a multi-genre music festival produced by Madison House Presents and Insomniac Events, with a focus on electronic music and jam band genres.
Originally named Rothbury Festival in 2008, it is held in Rothbury, Michigan at the Double JJ Resort. Rothbury Music Festival took place in 2008 and 2009 and was on hiatus for 2010.
In 2011, the event debuted under its current name, Electric Forest. The event was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people attended the most recent festival in 2025.
The most recent festival, the 14th Electric Forest, took place from June 25th to June 28th, 2026.
2008 The Rothbury Music Festival took place on July 3–6. The first year saw 30,202 in attendance.
Planning On February 13, 2008, the initial lineup was released. By February 25, four additional artists were added. Steel Pulse was added on March 13, and seven artists were added in April. On May 29, the lineup was complete after six additional artists were added, including Trey Anastasio of Phish.
The spark of the idea came from Philip Blaine and Jeremy Stein, on the side of the stage, during Crystal Method at Rothbury. Then Phil brought this vision to Insomniac. From there, Electric Forest came into existence.
Lineup
July 3
Greensky Bluegrass Zappa Plays Zappa Disco Biscuits Kyle Hollingsworth Band Perpetual Groove Mickey Hart Band (featuring Steve Kimock and George Porter Jr.) Railroad Earth Underground Orchestra The Juan MacLean Lotus EOTO Motion Potion DJ Rootz DJ Cuntlicker
July 4
The Dynamites (Charles Walker) The Wailers (featuring Elan Atias) Snoop Dogg 311 Widespread Panic The Beautiful Girls Tea Leaf Green Sam Beam Keller Williams & The WMD's Yonder Mountain String Band (with Jon Fishman) of Montreal Primus Jakob Dylan & The Gold Mountain Rebels Panjea (with Michael Kang) Bettye LaVette Drive-By Truckers Modest Mouse Thievery Corporation Bassnectar Sage Francis Flosstradamus Diplo Pnuma Trio Fiction Plane DJ Rootz Motion Potion SOJOURN
July 5
Four Finger Five State Radio Citizen Cope Michael Franti & Spearhead Dave Matthews Band (with Tim Reynolds) Dead Confederate The Secret Machines Gomez The Black Keys Slightly Stoopid STS9 Trampled By Turtles Emmitt Nershi Band The Dresden Dolls Medeski Martin & Wood Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival A3 The Crystal Method DJ Set BoomBox Busdriver DJ Harry DJ Rekha Kraak & Smaak Sweet Japonic Uncle Boogie Pants DJ Rootz Motion Potion
July 6
Steel Pulse Rodrigo y Gabriela Trey Anastasio Gov't Mule Phil Lesh and Friends Brett Dennen MOFRO Colbie Caillat John Mayer Ingrid Michaelson Taj Mahal Beth Orton Mike Gordon Atmosphere with Brother Ali Adam Ezra Group Amanda Palmer Pnuma Live PA BoomBox
Additional performers The following performers played throughout the weekend:
Etown Radio Show The Greyboy Allstars The Stretch Sxip Shirey Yard Dogs Road Show
Notable collaborations Several members were present from their respective bands: The String Cheese Incident, Phish, Grateful Dead, and The Allman Brothers Band. Following the addition of the Kyle Hollingsworth Band to the lineup, all six members of The String Cheese Incident were present in separate bands: Bill Nershi played with the Emmitt Nershi Band, EOTO is composed of Jason Hann and Michael Travis, Keith Moseley played in the WMDs who accompanied Keller Williams, and Michael Kang played with Panjea. Three of the four members of Phish were present: Mike Gordon, Jon Fishman, and Trey Anastasio. Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart, of Grateful Dead fame, also performed in their respective bands. Two of the current members of the Allman Brothers Band, Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule and Derek Trucks, performed in distinct bands.
David Murphy, of STS9, joined the stage with the Disco Biscuits during their Thursday night set.
2009 The Rothbury Music Festival (not the Electric Forest Festival) officially returned in 2009. The second Rothbury was held July 2–5, over Independence Day weekend. The festival's second year expanded the think-tank discussions established the first year and continued the use of sustainable technologies.
Controversy Because of concerns over the ownership of the ranch, as well as the potential sale of the festival grounds, there was originally uncertainty about whether a second festival would be held in 2009. A major hurdle was overcome when a federal bankruptcy judge cleared the way for a lease of the festival property between the bankruptcy trustee and AEG. A second hearing was necessary to determine if the lease was valid, because part of the land used by the festival was on a sheriff's deed and needed to be purchased by the trustee. Following the approval of this final hearing, WZZM reported the festival would return in 2009.
Lineup Before the official lineup was released, there were rumors of artists such as Phish and Tom Petty performing, but this never occurred.
July 2
Fox Rocks Winner Toubab Krew Davy Knowles & Back Door Slam Keller Williams Quannum Allstars Lotus Future Rock The Cool Kids The Disco Biscuits Cold War Kids Break Science ft. Adam Deitch Tom Butwin Band
July 3
King Sunny Adé & His African Beats Brett Dennen Steppin' In It Rachel Goodrich Rebelution Martin Sexton G. Love & Special Sauce Broken Social Scene Femi Kuti & The Positive Force The White Buffalo Damian Marley & Nas Flogging Molly Soulive The String Cheese Incident STS9 Chromeo Lynx & Janover Girl Talk Lipp Service The Glitch Mob The Macpodz Tom Butwin Band
July 4
Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys Four Finger Five Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad Son Volt Jackie Greene Underground Orchestra Wendy Darling Hill Country Revue Railroad Earth John Butler Zappa Plays Zappa Les Claypool Reed Thomas Lawrence The Black Crowes The Dead Umphrey's McGee MSTRKRFT Pretty Lights STS9 (Live PA Set) Shpongle DJ Set EOTO
July 5
The Ragbirds The Hard Lessons Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band with Tony Rice Toots and the Maytals Sam Roberts Band Guster Chris Pierce Yonder Mountain String Band Govt' Mule The Hold Steady Matisyahu The Parlor Mob Ani DiFranco Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Ralston Bowles – folk musician Bob Dylan & His Band Umphrey's McGee Nightcap Alex B (Pnuma Trio) Willie Nelson and Family Big Gigantic
2010 According to an announcement made on Rothbury's official website on January 22, the festival would be "on hiatus" in 2010, but was expected to return in 2011.
2011 - Electric Forest begins Electric Forest was co-founded by Pasquale Rotella, founder and CEO of Insomniac, and Madison House Presents' Jeremy Stein, CEO. It was not "Rothbury Festival", a trademarked name. A notable change was the lack of the main "Odium" stage. In its absence "The Ranch Arena" stage became the main stage. The area where the Odium had been was not accessible to festival attendees again until 2015. From June 30 to July 3, a new and different festival was held on the same festival grounds, the "Electric Forest Festival". From Electric Forest's inception in 2011 until 2016 The String Cheese Incident acted as the host band, performing three shows each year (more than any other performer).
Lineup The lineup included
2012 Electric Forest Festival returned to Rothbury from June 28 to July 1. Acts included
2013 Electric Forest Festival returned to Rothbury in 2013 from June 27 through June 30.
Lineup The initial lineup, announced on February 5, included:
2014 Electric Forest Festival was held on June 26–29, and sold out for the first time.
Lineup The lineup included:
2015
2016 Electric Forest Festival was held on June 23–26, 2016.
Lineup The lineup headliners included:
2017 For the first time, the Electric Forest Festival was held on two weekends: June 22–25 and June 29 – July 2, 2017.
Lineup The lineup for both weekends included:
Artists appearing in Weekend 1 only
Artists appearing in Weekend 2 only
2018 In 2018, Electric Forest took place across two weekends: June 21–24 and June 28 – July 1.
Lineup The lineup for both weekends included:
2019 In 2019, Electric Forest reverted to a single weekend festival, and was held June 27–30, 2019.
Lineup The lineup for 2019 included:
2020 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the spring of 2020, Electric Forest considered rescheduling the event for September 2020. The Rothbury Village Council voted to reject the proposed postponement, leading to the complete cancellation of Electric Forest 2020, which would instead return in the summer of 2022.
2022 In 2022, Electric Forest returned after a two-year hiatus, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival took place June 23–26, 2022 in Rothbury, Michigan.
Lineup
2023 In 2023, the festival took place June 22–25, 2023 in Rothbury, Michigan. The first wave of artists was announced in December 2022 followed by an additional wave in March 2023.
Headliners
Additional artists (alphabetized, second tier)
Additional artists (alphabetized, third tier)
2024 The 12th Electric Forest Festival was scheduled to take place June 20–23, 2024. The first wave of artists was announced on December 5, 2023, with an additional wave expected to follow in the spring. Loyalty tickets went on sale beginning on December 4, 2023, with tickets for the general public going on sale on December 8, 2023.
Headliners
Additional artists (alphabetized, second tier so far)
Additional artists (alphabetized, third tier so far)
See also List of electronic music festivals List of jam band music festivals
References
External links
About the festival in Russian