Electric Forest 2023: Day 2

As the sun rose over the campground on the second day of Electric Forest, the endless possibilities of the day felt almost overwhelming. Sitting around camp and trying to plan my day and chatting with the people camping next to me, we decided to wander over to the entrance of the Lucky Lake campground to see if we could sneak in and check it out and maybe cop a free “shower” in the lake. At first, I hesitated because it seemed like a lot of time to spend on something that wasn’t taking photos of the festival, but boy am I glad I ignored that thought. The lake ended up being a highlight of the weekend for me. I hesitate to even write this, because the Lucky Lake seems like it might be Electric Forest’s best kept secret. All I’ll say is swimming in that lake was better than waiting in line for 20 minutes to take a lukewarm shower that costs $10. The lake was beautiful, the people were nice (some even had kittens), and the vibes were immaculate. Could not think of a better way to start my day. Moments like that are the ones that you don’t get if you’re following a rigid schedule while festing. You’ve got to leave some wiggle room for the magic to happen.

I used to go to festivals for the music, but as I get older my favorite part has hands down become the people. There is literally no feeling like being in a field for four days with tens of thousands of people who are all there for the same reason as you. As an adult, it’s rare that you’re in a room with more than five people who are all focused on the same thing as you. Unless you play team sports or some other group activity, this sense of camaraderie and group togetherness is often something many have not felt since college.

Electric Forest in some ways is like if you took all the fun parts of college and crammed them into a 4-day weekend.

One thing that consistently blows my mind is that I can go to these festivals alone and make some of the best friends of my life with the people camping next to me. It’s actually unavoidable unless you intentionally avoid speaking with your neighbors. I met some of my favorite people in the world attending Bonnaroo during my college years. As you get older it’s harder to make friends, but that is not the case at music festivals. I camped next to truly amazing people at Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Electric Forest this year as well. It boggles my mind that I’ve made such close friends at nearly 100% of the camping festivals I’ve attended in my life. If I’m camping next to such cool peeps every time, that must mean the entire campsite is full of similarly cool peeps. It kinda makes you sad that you can’t meet every single one of them…

The second day of Forest was equally jam packed with amazing acts as the first day. I could write another 1000 words about how amazing the performances by artists like Fletcher, 070 Shake, Illenium, DJ Diesel, Ganja White Knight and more were but I’m hoping the photos paint a better picture for you than I can. If you’re an EDM fan, Electric Forest is sure to have a lineup that will exceed your expectations. What I’m really hoping the photos show though, is how amazing the people were. Thousands of smiling faces. People who will go out of their way to make someone else’s day. The people of Forest love spreading the love, whether it be through cute trinkets or free hugs or just smiles. Over the course of the weekend, I heard countless stories of people losing their things and finding them at the Lost and Found almost instantly. Everyone is looking out for each other, and it ends up feeling like the safest space in the world.

Another amazing thing I witnessed and something that I want to share is that during a set, someone had some sort of emergency requiring medical help in the crowd. Not only did the people around them shout for help, but every single person in the crowd between them and the medical tent held up their phone light, which created a trail of lights leading the paramedic straight to the person who needed help.

It truly was an amazing moment for me to see at least 100 people coordinating instantly to help out a total stranger.

There should be a concert training course where they teach people this stuff because it was inspiring to witness.

The music rocked. The people were amazing. The forest works in mystical ways. Read more about it in our day 3 coverage!

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