From DJ Diesel to droning thunderstorms, here’s what made this year’s Forest unforgettable
This year, Michigan-based camping music festival Electric Forest reminded us why it remains one of the most beloved experiences in dance music culture. The fest is held across four unforgettable days in Rothbury, Michigan, combining music and art in an immersive forest experience unlike no other music festival. At night, the entire forest becomes transformed into a glowing maze of hidden pathways, projection-mapped trees and buildings, surreal art pieces, drum circles and interactive performers who blur the reality between music event and alternate universe. Where else in the world can you experience forest fairies, surprise sets, secret tea rooms, a time travel side quest, and so much more?
Words and Photos By Gaby Deimeke
On the music side, this year brought together one of the festival’s most balanced lineups in recent memory, mixing legendary electronic acts with rising talent and some incredible live performances. Effin kicked off a very sunny Thursday at the main stage while Levity popped up with an iconic surprise set at the Honeycomb stage. The Chicago-based trio rose in notoriety after their first Electric Forest set a few years ago, and they mentioned it meant so much to them to get to play at that stage again.
Disco Lines wasn’t able to come to the festival at the last minute, so it’s murph filled in with some melodic house music. The Observatory stage surprise set was filled by DJ and producer LSDream, and Alleycvt, Excision and Ganja White Night closed day one of the festival, with lots of lasers and fireworks meeting the beat-based music.
On Friday, headlining performances by Galantis and Passion Pit packed Ranch Arena, while smaller stages became home to some of the weekend’s most talked-about surprise moments. Jai Wolf had a vibey Honeycomb stage set, an immersive and intimate stage hidden in the forest with multiple levels for fans to watch, and Barclay Crenshaw had a surprise set at the Grand Artique, which is a small stage in the forest that also has a post office where you can mail letters home, a store that only sells pickles, and The Trading Post, an antique store which sells items only by trading and bartering.
Grant Kwiecinski, known by his stage name Griz, played on the main stage, mixing funk and soul beats while playing the saxophone and bringing a full band on stage, and Indie pop trio Laszewo played melodic house music, noting that it was their first time playing at Electric Forest. As always, some of the best memories happened accidentally, while stumbling through the woods and exploring, from finding the silent disco to little fairy houses full of trinkets, to three story buildings where you could sit on a couch and listen to the music.
Standout sets on Saturday included DJ Diesel (the stage name of former basketball player and sports analyst Shaquille O’Neal) in a back-to-back with T-Pain (nicknamed “Teddy Pain” on the schedule), who did a bass DJ set, and two String Cheese Incident sets full of psychedelic bluegrass, rock and funk music. Tiffany Day, Channel Tres, Vandelux, and Madeon were other Saturday highlights, with music going all through the night until sunrise and cool visuals to accompany them.
Returning attendees said this year felt especially focused on exploration, with a new maze area for folks to explore. There were secret scavenger hunts, hidden lounges, and spontaneous performances if you were willing to look and be open to the adventure. The maze had hidden stages, a fashion runway, a dentist’s office, a plane and much more to explore. The iconic Trading Post culture remained strong, with attendees bringing handmade trinkets, tiny gifts, kandi bracelets and handwritten notes to exchange amongst one other.
Sunday morning started off strong with a Lightcode set by LSDream, which is a guided meditation and sound bath that fans could lay down and enjoy. Many fun activities were happening around the woods, from Rumble in the Bumble beatbox battle to attendees getting married in the chapel, to EDM line dancing.
Like many Forest weekends, Sunday came with a little unpredictability. Griz’s Chasing the Golden Hour sunset set started great, along with an Illenium surprise pop-up at the Honeycomb, and then a lightning storm rolled through and the festival was evacuated for a few hours while the rain passed. Organizers reopened the fest a few hours later for a high-energy Illenium and Wooli B2B along with a Lane 8 melodic set, to a big fireworks show at the end.
The real headliner this year was the community. More than one specific artist or stage design, what made Electric Forest 2026 memorable was the feeling that people carried with them as they traded Kandi bracelets with each other, picked a trinket at the Giving Tree, made new friends in the campsite, danced with old friends and new, and watched a demonstration at The Brainery. Strangers became besties over shared snacks and convos late into the night. We all left Michigan on Monday morning, grateful for the experience and the great music that we heard.
