Yesterday Bassnectar broke the news that Pretty Lights would be headlining at Electric Forest 2013, and now today Insomniac followed it up with the full phase one lineup. Your headliners for Electric Forest 2013 include; Pretty Lights, The String Cheese Incident (3-sets), Passion Pit, Empire of the Sun, Knife Party, Dispatch, Lotus, Benny Benassi, Yeasayer, Madeon, A-Trak and Grimes.
This is not what we expected from Electric Forest. Festival Season 2013 is supposed to be the breakthrough year for electronic dance music and it appears that Insomniac decided to take a different approach with the EF lineup going with more jam based acts.
The only true EDM headliners are Pretty Lights and Knife Party. Madeon and A-Trak are second tier (not talent wise but draw) and for some reason Benny Benassi is famous for only having one song. As of now dubstep fans are limited to Knife Party and Kill The Noise. This is crazy to me, especially considering last year’s lineup featured Datsik, Conspirator (album review), 12th Planet, Borgore, Zeds Dead, Adventure Club and more.
Another question that I have is why is every single festival booking Passion Pit? I’m a fan and just saw them a few months ago and they were great, but nothing legendary. They’re touring the US right now, so there’s nothing really exclusive about them playing at Electric Forest, Coachella or Sweetlife. I think people would be more interested in seeing Phoenix on the lineup than them.
That said this is only phase one and more artists will be added in the upcoming weeks. I don’t expect the lineup deter anyone from voyaging back to Sherwood Forest as it consistently ranks as one of the most popular festivals among our readers. I would go just to get weird in the woods and catch Empire of the Sun.
Electric Forest 2013 Lineup
The String Cheese Incident (3 shows)
Pretty Lights
Passion Pit
Empire of the Sun
Knife Party
Dispatch
Lotus
Benny Benassi
Yeasayer
Beats Antique
Madeon
A-Trak
Tommy Trash
Grimes
HOLY GHOST!
NERVO
EOTO
Railroad Earth
Headhunterz
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Kill the Noise
Emancipator
FEMI KUTI & The Positive Force
Baauer
Noisia
Michal Menert
RL Grime
SuckerPunch ft. Marc and Aron of the Disco Biscuits, Jamie Shields of the New Deal, and Mike Greenfield of Lotus
Danny Brown
Greensky Bluegrass
3LAU
Digital Tape Machine ft. Joel Cummins & Kris Myers of Umphrey’s McGee
The Werks
Treasure Fingers
BoomBox
Future Rock
Craze
Le Castle Vania
OLIVER
Jeff Austin & Friends
Ana Sia
Pigs on the Wing ft. Murphy of STS9
Reptar
Nick Catchdubs
The Pimps of Joytime
Clockwork
Ryan Hemsworth
Just Blaze
Doldrums
Nahko and Medicine for the People
Robert DeLong
Up Until Now
Helicopter Showdown
Moon Hooch
LowRIDERz
Milkman
Samo Sound Boy
Twiddle
Tumbleweed Wanderers
The Stepkids
Manic Focus
Party Supplies
Cosby Sweater ft. Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee
Christian Rich
Motion Potion
Bestfriends
Munson Meeks
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There has always been a jam basis to the Electric Forest, and although there are larger more mainstream dubstep or electronic acts that have been on lineups in the past, this year still delivers, and will deliver to a very well educated “Jam” scene.
There is no shortage of EDM on this lineup and a slew of live electronic acts like Lotus, Empire of the Sun, SuckerPunch, Up Until Now, BoomBox, and look for STS9 to make a return in the next phase of the lineup.
There’s also no shortage of dubstep… Ana Sia, Manic Focus, Craze, and more including hardstyle master Headhunterz.
However if you are looking for an EDM specific festival, dont come, and most already know that.