Electric Forest Day 1 Recap: Next-Level Jamtronica Steals the Show

Reggie Watts kicked off the Ranch Area mainstage music for the 2012 installment of Electric Forest. His tongue-in-cheek beat box raps set a fun mood for the festival goers. He reminded everyone to “try the stuff that’s going around… it’s really good” and talked about grits and what not. A sharp contrast from Borgore’s set to come.

From there we explored the beautiful art installations in the Sherwood Forest for a while. The eye-candy at Forest is beyond any other festival. Where most stop at live painting, Electric Forest offers thousands of trees hit with lasers, disco balls, LEDs and every other form of light you could imagine. Trace the trees down to the ground and look around. You will find a plethora of organic designs made up of hay, mulch, rocks, leaves, branches, etc. to form something beautiful. It’s an experience all in its own walking through the Sherwood Forest, but we also have the best music around.

EOTO hit the stage to please everyone’s ears with the improvisational EDM they boast. The 3D visual mapping of the lotus flower surrounded them to please everyone’s eyes. It’s really a shame they don’t give out free burritos during their set because they are well on their well to a full sensory overload. Anyway’s the duo had a bunch of new visuals displayed on the lotus that I had never seen before. Lots of cool images that will be up for your eyes to feast on our FaceBook page. The crushing glitch-hop / electro / dubstep improv show continued ’till midnight as Jason Hann got the crowd screamin’ “Everybody in the forest gettin’ tipsy” along with bits of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” and Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue”. If EOTO comes to your town, just go see them. It’s awesome.

With Day 2 on the horizon, we simply can’t wait for the rest of the weekend.