Idk what it’s was actually called but we called it grandma house all weekend, it’s was like a all cassette dj set up that look like a house right out of the 80’s. that was my favorite place to kick it vibe were amazing and if it’s at seven stars im lost my shittt😭 Peak memory was dancing on a table at sunrise in there lol.
This was my first Forest. It's been a dream of mine since I got into the rave scene over two years ago. I'd hear people talk about it like it was something sacred, something different from every other festival, and I always told myself: one day, I'm going to experience that for myself. This year, I finally did.
And I want to start by saying, the lineup was incredible. Genuinely. Every artist I caught gave it their all, and there were moments of pure bliss on that dance floor that I'll carry with me for a long time. Musically, it delivered.
But there's a heaviness I've been sitting with since I got home, and I think I need to write it out.
The forest magic is real. I felt it, in flashes, in certain sets, in certain moments under the trees when everything just clicked. But underneath all of that, there was this undercurrent of something forced. Something corporatized. Like I was walking through a version of Forest that used to mean something deeper, but had been hollowed out and repackaged to sell more wristbands. Insomniac oversold it, probably by 10-15k people, which I know is just business as usual for them at this point, but it changes the feeling on the ground. It changes the energy.
And I'm not even going to bring up the baby issue.
I came into this weekend wanting so badly to feel that collective love everyone talks about, that thing where strangers become family, where you're held by the energy of the people around you. And I did feel that, in pieces. But there were also multiple moments where I was genuinely struggling, where my emotions hit me hard and I felt completely alone in a sea of thousands of people. I kept hoping someone would notice. That someone would walk up and ask if I was okay. No one did. when i tried to talk with someone and lets them know i could really use a friend rn, they would just brush me off….So I isolated myself because i thought i was the one bringing down the vibes, and for a while I really couldn't find my way back to having fun. I sat with that heaviness for longer than I wanted to. Eventually I did pull myself out of it, and I owe that to Steller, who without even knowing it, helped me feel human again.
But that experience left a mark. It made me realize something I think I've been avoiding admitting to myself for a while now. I'm done with these massive corporate Insomniac-run festivals.
To be clear, the staff were amazing. The people actually working the festival, busting their asses all weekend, they are not who I'm talking about. I'm talking about the people at the top, the ones running the show, who I genuinely believe see us as nothing more than dollar signs. Numbers that fund their next car, their next house, their next quarter. Not people. Not a community. Just revenue.
I think what this weekend really showed me is that I want something different. I want the smaller, more intimate festivals where you can still feel the soul of the people who built them. Places like Seven Stars, Infrasound, Gem & Jam, Secret Dream, Lightning in a Bottle, festivals that haven't lost themselves chasing a bigger paycheck.
So if you've never looked into independent festivals, please do. That is where the real magic still lives. Not in these massive corporate machines running on the nostalgia of what this scene used to be, before it got bought out and turned into a billion-dollar product.
I'm grateful for the lessons this weekend taught me, even the hard ones. But I think I finally know what I'm looking for now.
Edit: i been to seven stars, Lib, gem and jam, Okeechobee, and soon camp alderwild; so ig it’s was my first insomniac fest.
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Going to organize a little get together of the soundmap EDM community at electric forest !
we’re really small community on soundmap but very dedicated to collecting our songs! If you’re interested, we’ll post more information in the next following week!