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I'll preface this by saying I've been to Bonnaroo 9 times and this was my first Electric Forest. I'm also a huge electronic music fan so maybe I'm a little biased, I think they are really different festivals so it's hard to compare but if I had to choose it's Electric Forest for me. The forest itself is amazing, i got lost (in a good way) in there SOBER the first night lol. Also bought an Eno Doublenest hammock just for this event and it was perfect. At about 9-10 in the AM its too hot to sleep in the tent. I'd have some coffee do some yoga and head into the forest for hammock time (where you can actually get a nap in), whereas Bonnaroo doesn't really have anything like that (place to sleep that is, i know they have yoga), once its 9AM at roo you are awake whether you like it or not. And for someone who is usually up till sunrise at these fests it makes a huge difference. I also enjoyed the people at Forest more, its seemed to be a more experienced crowd that knew what the collective community was all about. I will agree that the Shakedown St./Vendor area was pretty small compared to Roo which kinda stunk but the vendors also had some really fun after parties that went till sunrise. Inforoo brunch at Roo is great i try to make it every year, not sure if yall are on reddit but they made a whole camp at EF and had a potluck/meetup on the first day. But yea both fests are great, just really different. Bonnaroo in 2010 brought out the Lunar Stage which catered to all the house/techno heads and I absolutely loved it! But bc they couldn't figure out the soundbleed issues they just scrapped it instead of getting creative, I mean they have 700+ fucking acres! Ever since then they've gone really small on the DJ front - about 4-5 a year and at really weird times, like in the hot afternoon instead of night. So yea while I love the diversity of acts Roo brings I feel like theyve really kicked me in the dick the last couple of years bringing in DJ talent. EF did a great job mixing in mainstream acts and underground talent. Highlights for me this year were: Justin Martin, MK, J Phlip, Lee Burridge, Art Department, Golf Clap, Booka Shade, and on the Jam side of things Papadosio, Umph, STS9, and Cheese were all great. Also the group camping worked out really well, we had a crowd of 99 of us from DC, Baltimore, NYC, and jersey show up and although there was some initial chaos it was great being camped right next to the entrance, you could hear the Tripolee stage perfectly from our camp. That's another thing, the sound engineers at EF were on point! Never really had any sound bleed issues, whereas theres been a few sets at Roo over the years that were ruined by sound bleed or sound engineer incompetence. I know it prob sounds like I'm hating on Roo, i think I've just gotten frustrated, don't get me wrong I love it and will totally make it to 10 at some point but I've got to prioritize. Next year I'm looking at Electric Forest again and then a late summer trip back to Ibiza.
The more I think about it, I'd probably go to Forest again next year. Just for the experience of the forest itself, and the fact it's only an hour away for me. I honestly didn't even see that many shows though, and I didn't really care. I was just enjoying the forest and the atmosphere.
One thing for sure, I felt like compared to Roo, the drug culture was MUCH more in your face. It's obviously around at Roo, but it was EVERYWHERE at Forest. It's definitely a different fest.
