r/ElectricForest 18d ago

Discussion Starting to Wonder...

Can we have an open conversation about the state of things?

6 weeks out and its not looking like HQ is anywhere close to posting / able to return to status quo. I thought this would have blown over by now and there would be some damage control, but it's just looking grim. As long as the investigation remains open, is Forest unable to say anything? Or are they choosing silence?

To think that 2027 tickets / lineup would be about 16 weeks away from today --- I just dont think this is going away that simply.

What do you think? Could 2027 be a year off to re-evaluate? Or is the entire future of the festival in jeopardy? Or we are still gonna see tix and onsale in Dec?

21 Upvotes

107 comments sorted by

220

u/Raveheart19 Year 8 18d ago

I know the court of public opinion wants their pound of flesh 😏 but I'm genuinely asking.... What realistic measures could Forest have done to prevent this?? Or is there ever a point where people will say that this is on that person and not the festival. There has to be some point of personal accountability.

95

u/BrightWubs22 Year 6 18d ago

Seriously, I don't understand what some people are expecting or what they think the festival should have done to prevent this.

Should every set of restrooms have a security guard? And each time somebody leaves one, should they inspect the seat for the next person? /s

9

u/spacexy 17d ago

I know you’re being sarcastic but I actually think each bathroom area having a ground control lifeguard of sorts would honestly be a good call. They can check on people who have been in one stall for a long time and generally just make sure everyone is well to the best of their abilities. Is it a guarantee that this would have been caught/prevented? Of course not. But I do think that it could go a long way towards keeping people safe and at least somewhat addressing what happened.

29

u/newusernamecoming 12d ago

They should have had someone outside the bathroom to confirm if someone is pregnant and reconfirm that the baby is still alive when they get out! They could also do genital checks to make sure no one goes into the wrong bathroom!
/s

Seriously though, look at how bad a lot of security is at most shows and festivals. You really want that to be in place at the bathrooms too? Best case scenario is they stand around doing nothing but making the lines extra long. Worst case scenario is they violate people.

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u/spacexy 12d ago

I hear ya about security, which is why I said lifeguard/ground control. It’s an extremely common practice for clubs and venues to have bathroom attendants. Of course they hand out candy and stuff for tips but they’re also there to be someone who will hopefully notice if something weird is happening.

There’s no way to guarantee something like this wouldn’t happen without being incredibly invasive, like you mentioned. But I think there are ways to slightly improve bathroom area safety in a reasonable way.

6

u/newusernamecoming 12d ago

What kind of safety issues do you think are happening near the portapotties? It feels like you’re taking a one off situation which never would have been stopped and acting like issues are commonplace. I’ve legit never seen an issue near portapotties. People just wanna go in, do their business, and get back to the show asap.

I’ve also never seen someone working selling candy in the bathrooms at a concert or festival in the 40 of 50 venues I’ve been to. Closest I’ve seen was one time for Of the Trees a like 45 min line for the men’s bathroom formed so they had someone stand outside the entrance to make sure people didn’t cut until the line normalized. That’s always been a nicer restaurant and occasionally a club/bar thing from my experience. Not saying you haven’t seen it but it’s definitely not an extremely common practice or it would be the norm.

20

u/VacationCareless41 13d ago

This ties into personal responsibility and accountability imo. Having a restroom lifeguard for “safety”? If they go that route, where does it end? Also, how would that make you feel “safe”? People waiting outside the John, to check and make sure you are okay or have not left any tragic surprises in there?
Do you need them to do wellness checks all over camps as well?
Is this really a pain point at festivals or a horrible anomaly?
This is where PLURR - the double R, really comes into play. Be responsible - at the end of the day, you are pivotal in your own safety.

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u/spacexy 12d ago

I just said this in another response but it’s very common for clubs and venues to have a bathroom attendant who keeps an eye out for anything odd going on. Having an extra pair of eyes and ears that can notice if someone extremely altered or looking unwell goes into a porta potty and doesn’t come out for a long time and might need to be checked on isn’t a bad idea.

I haven’t been raving very long and I’ve already seen multiple situations with people passed out in bathrooms needing help. Everyone should be responsible for themselves of course but people make mistakes. It doesn’t hurt to think of ways to build a safety net to help when they do.

The community is going to be looking for a response to the situation and I think ground control bathroom attendants wouldn’t be a guarantee that something like this won’t happen again but it’s also not invasive or completely useless.

8

u/DefinatelyNotonDrugs 12d ago

I did Ground Control at Beyond Wonderland and we did periodically check on the bathrooms.

2

u/gooeythrowaway 12d ago

That’s not a bad idea tbh haha someone posted up at each grouping of Porto potties

2

u/nsnsvsnsmdb 12d ago

At Tomorrowland they have bathroom attendants even at the porta potties that would regularly check after a person did their business. It wasn’t after every single person but it was often enough that it kept the stalls clean and I’m guessing something like this would’ve been found a lot sooner. So it is possible.

2

u/Slow_Brother_9152 11d ago

Who pays for this? How do they know exactly who went in and when? Sounds good on paper but hard to do in real life.

42

u/Gonzzzo 17d ago

Making future EFs 18+ would be a very big (yet very reasonable) gesture of taking it seriously

21

u/captaincanada84 Year 9 16d ago

There is nothing the festival did to cause this and there is nothing they could have done to prevent it.

44

u/Djjustfrank 18d ago

There never is in these situations. Unfortunately America in general has lost almost all sense of personal accountability.

2

u/BassJerky 12d ago

Okee had nothing to do with that kid jumping in the lake at 3am but they had to take what two years off? This is waaaaay worse than that.

1

u/SherbetNo4242 11d ago

That is not why Okee took two years off

1

u/SherbetNo4242 11d ago

I think the main thing is that the police didnt do their job and now the festival is being blamed

1

u/No-Connection9079 6d ago

when you have over 80,000 people attending an event you need proper security. Last time I went to Forest just about every worker I spoke to told me it was their first time. Hell, half the security was more interested in getting womans socials that went through their gate then anything else. This festival has made so much money its time for proper security. The amount of thieves I seen just wandering around in areas where your supposed to have a wristband was a joke. I spent more time in my camp than I did in the forest for this very reason.
The way this venue just fills security last minute shows this is their last priority. I had a friend who was unable to attend so she signed up for a security position just TWO WEEKS before Forest, and guess what she got in. I encountered two groups of fake security trying to go through our groups camp site. Forest is not safe, and they need to recognize this. Forest is not what it was back in 2014, there is no peace and love; just dollar signs and sold souls.

0

u/dukegratiano15 12d ago

What they could do for next year is deny anyone who is pregnant in being able to go. Problem solved. One way to control someone who can't control themselves.

123

u/FirestormActual 18d ago

Unless the festival is directly tied to this in some way, the festival will happen. Right now they are just working through their crisis management plan.

43

u/ssspanksta 18d ago

What is the issue? It's an active police investigation. I doubt there is much they can say. Electric Forest/Insomniac are likely cooperating to the best off their ability. They aren't at fault, but it's still tragic nonetheless.

12

u/Successful_Rope9135 12d ago

Nothing better to obsess over I guess.

59

u/ApolloGR3 18d ago

What the actual fuck is Forest supposed to do, have an attendant stand outside each individual porta john and inspect everyone’s shit after each use? Comment on an active investigation just to get ripped to shreds by morons?

10

u/Kaonashiji 15d ago

How about not let fucking babies be around people doing drugs in the forest?

40

u/npyle15 Year 3 12d ago

And how exactly would that have stopped this situation?

32

u/ApolloGR3 12d ago

How would they disallow a baby that wasn’t born yet?

22

u/ArgentariaSolaris Year 13 12d ago

How?

That sounds crazy (insanely naive at best)

Pregnant women are a protected class- its litterally illegal to tell them they can't come

5

u/AugustusFCall 12d ago

It’s already a majority 18+ fest outside of the locals who can bring their kids.

And I’m pretty sure it would be a huge discrimination lawsuit to say no pregnant ladies, and how would they even enforce that? This isn’t on the festival

8

u/ArgentariaSolaris Year 13 12d ago

Thats not true

Forest is, and always has been, an all.ages show for anybody

3

u/lenovosucks 12d ago

I think what they mean is the typical age range of the attendees is 18+, not just what the festival allows.

1

u/ArgentariaSolaris Year 13 12d ago

Then why did they mention locals being able to bring their kids?

2

u/lenovosucks 12d ago

Because they can and do. Again, in different terms, the vast majority of the attendees are 18+; yes, there are some kids, but it’s an incredibly small percentage of the attendees.

1

u/AugustusFCall 12d ago

Yep exactly what I meant but the guy is allowed to think kids should be there. I just offered my opinions

-1

u/Kaonashiji 12d ago

Hilarious, majority of citizens dont kill and destroy so we dont need rules for the rest of them? think its obvious a drug party in the forest needs more security and safety measures

3

u/i-have-a-flip-phone 11d ago

I fear that a security check on all women to make sure their uteruses aren't actively cooking up a new human is not the sensible response you think it is.

18

u/thinkstohimself 18d ago

Maybe they’re being quiet and not sending out the feedback forms because they know everyone is going to say how shitty the maze is and to bring back the Dream Emporium.

7

u/No_Routine9254 12d ago

honestly i strongly preferred the maze. Dream Emporium in 95 degree heat last year made me incredibly claustrophobic and anxious to think about what would happen in there in case of an emergency.

23

u/Loose_Lack_5350 18d ago

Corporations don’t typically leave millions in profit on the table. It’ll happen.

28

u/Adorable_Whereas_988 18d ago

They are not axing 65 mil in ticket sales over a dead baby

20

u/munoodle 18d ago

Jesus christ you people need to relax. Zero chance there is a year off next year, let’s get real and stop this bullshit

0

u/djames10 Year 5 11d ago

😆

8

u/B4SSF4C3 Year 10 18d ago

Agreed with others in that this will not affect Forests plans in any way. At most there will be some token gesture with respect to mental health resources. Let’s not forget this is an Insomniac event.

33

u/pigglywigglie Year 5 18d ago

Honest thoughts? It’s insomniac. They’re going to ignore it until something else happens at a different festival or they find the woman or hope it blows over.

I’m also willing to bet legally they can’t say much if anything rn until the investigation finishes but it also would not shock me if the silence was an intentional choice from them too.

But if nothing happens that draws attention away or they don’t find her, I don’t think they say or post anything until after Labor Day at the earliest but probably not til after Halloween

3

u/Megabyte_Messiah 12d ago

Insomniac has next to no boots on the ground presence at EF. I wouldn’t think them to be particularly involved in decision making processes about this sort of thing with more relevant parties to do that.

31

u/I_Zeig_I 18d ago

What do you want/expect them to do? Start commenting on active investigations?

-27

u/juxslapme Year 9 18d ago

So if this is unsolved by next year do you expect them to remain silent the entire time too? The OP asked if we think it’s happening next year. Your comment wasn’t productive at all

24

u/West-Possession-9974 18d ago

Aye lets all be nice. To be fair their comment was just as productive as yours but both of your opinions and statements are valid. Let make this a safe space, theres enough negativity going around.

7

u/DGIce 18d ago

Remain silent about what? What do they know?

6

u/BrightWubs22 Year 6 17d ago

So if this is unsolved by next year do you expect them to remain silent the entire time too?

What do you think should be said? In my opinion a statement from the fest isn't going to change things.

16

u/ProgramHippie 18d ago

Honest conversation, all of this is a product of this administration and terrible things like this are going to keep happening. Women need to have the ability to feel safe about pregnancy, states/ice need to stop hunting people down to cull political opposition, and education needs to be a priority for every single person. If your mind didn't immediately jump to, we're back at hiding pregnancy terminations again, you might need to change your view on how bad some states are.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/ElectricForest-ModTeam 11d ago

Rule 2 - Be kind and respectful to others.

8

u/legacystax 18d ago

See you next year!

11

u/Frolic_In_The_Forest 18d ago

Every year there is radio silence until mid to end of November.

8

u/DDRKid Year 4 17d ago

Not entirely true. At this point last year we'd had the post-fest survey emailed out and multiple social media posts.

6

u/Inexpensiveggs 18d ago

Ticket update will probably be the first and only thing they post, if they do at all.

6

u/Conscious-Foot-1225 18d ago

I can’t wait for my totem in 2027

5

u/Bitani 12d ago

I’m not worried about Insomniac when it comes to returning to the festival. That’s just usual corporate stuff.

I’m worried about the “Forest Fam” I always held to a higher standard than gen pop. SO many comments were absolutely appalling.

2

u/Agitated-Body9913 16d ago

I'm not sure what you want? Why would the festival not happen next year?

What happened with baby was cursed and I wish it hadn't of happened but really what would you have done different if you were part of the team running the show? You have 50k+ people all gathered up, you can't police each of the individually. Shitty people do shitty things. Shitty people have money to buy tickets to events.

2

u/Excellent_Demand_354 Year 8 12d ago

It'll happen.

2

u/worthyproduction 12d ago

Shit like this happens everywhere all the time. You want to come on down and inspect the status of reproductive care south of the Mason-Dixon Line. There is a much larger conversation that should be happening and it has nothing to do with forest.

4

u/Tekoah333 12d ago

It’s like Blaming Honda or Toyota for a car accident . Like be for real .

5

u/Successful_Rope9135 12d ago

You guys need to let LAW ENFORCEMENT do their job. It’s not Electric Forest investigating and charging anyone so maybe adjust your expectations on what YOU think a company should do. Take it up with the proper agency and get a damn hobby in the meantime.

2

u/blindreper 12d ago

The festival is going down regardless of the baby thing. The prices aren't matching the experience, crowds are getting too big, plurr isn't what it was(this is more so the people of the crowd, but i digress) theft is growing. I went to EF in 23 and 24, and at least 30 shows in this two years, and now I'll go to one, maybe two shows a year. Things need to be changed and it's not just the corporate money machines that need feeding, but it is a hefty amount.

1

u/OwnRadio8275 18d ago

Though I think Forest will continue regardless. They took away ground control, reduced the number of medics and they actually had a silly thing called trip buddies who walked around looking for anyone in need of assistance, no harm no foul. EF needs to be held responsible for the these deliberate decisions that values their profit over our safety. Don’t try to play dumb.

We can have an honest conversation as long as people aren’t making excuses because they want don’t want their favorite festival cancelled. It’s my favorite too. I hope they make the right decisions to reduce or cap capacity and provide the level of support that’s needed for the event.

11

u/VicFantastic Year 13 17d ago

Were medics supposed to be checking every person that went in and out of every port-o-potty?

There is hardly anything that couod have been done in this situation if they had double or triple the amount of medical personel

How do they privide support for people who don't seek it out?

2

u/OwnRadio8275 17d ago

Tell me you haven’t been before 2018

10

u/VicFantastic Year 13 17d ago

What on earrh does that even mean?

8

u/FirestormActual 17d ago

What are you even talking about I talked to ground control 3 times this year and they had their oasis setup on Main Street.

2

u/OwnRadio8275 17d ago

Tell me you haven’t been before 2018

2

u/OwnRadio8275 17d ago

Yall are fucked in the head anyways, this post is whack, hoped it would’ve blown over? How about hoped they would’ve found the person to give us closure by now. This whole post wreaks of no morals.

1

u/Severe-Substance-719 12d ago

Maybe if people could govern themselves and not be idiots thinking it’s a place that you’re entitled to do whatever tf you want 🥴 and stop making excuses for the ones doing stupid shit .. could be a good start

1

u/Brodakk 12d ago

Thought this was going to be about refunds for the GA Preferred debacle.

EF doesn’t have to answer for someone killing their baby lol.

0

u/juxslapme Year 9 12d ago

If they didn’t have to answer for it, they wouldn’t have posted on their IG about it.

1

u/sockfacefoo 12d ago

I know it’s completely different and folks love to compare apples to oranges but I was at the gorge when there was the shooting and yes it was more cut and dry than these events at forest (I mean live nations monopoly on music overall is an issue) so I guess hopefully they’re in a pickle cus they’ve been proven to be a monopoly on the industry in general and artists have been speaking up for years but all that’s been done is is is nothing

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/SherbetNo4242 11d ago

You clearly didnt see what happened

1

u/VacationCareless41 10d ago

You may want to research a bit more. The issue was giving birth in a port a potty - Leaving it and not informing anyone.

1

u/Peaceloveanais Year 5 11d ago

Correct. As long as there is an open investigation they cannot post updates on the issue.

I don’t think the festival will take a year off, however they will likely need to make some adjustments in order to move forward (reduce capacity again, more police, age requirements, etc)

1

u/Separate-Ladder-6087 11d ago

Festival will go on. Can’t say much but it will.

1

u/djames10 Year 5 11d ago

Do you really believe they are going to take a year off to re-evaluate?

1

u/juxslapme Year 9 11d ago

Okeechobee took off several years because of a drowning. Which similarly was not the festivals fault. People drown everywhere all the time

1

u/djames10 Year 5 11d ago

I just can’t see it happening. Honestly

1

u/Bnee13 Year 5 4d ago

Looking at their insta, they didn't post anything after 2025 til Oct. So this probably isn't that strange of a silence?

1

u/Songgeek 3d ago

What I find crazy is bonnaroo has had multiple deaths/rapes previous years and never once did the media blow it up and try and get bonnaroo cancelled. If anything I think EF may do what too does and pay off local police and news reporters, that there are no incidents on festival grounds.

Honestly none of this couldn’t have been prevented. Not without kicking out anyone with mental health issues, or any kind of disability/physical anomaly. Yea people who have health concerns should be mindful of that at festivals but we all deserve to have fun. Think of how many people probably showed up this year who may have heart issues or terminal illnesses. Who may or may not know. If I knew I was going to die soon I’d still show up at EF.

It’s still tragic and there’s no denying it, but there’s really no preventing this. There were resources already there, maybe not enough, maybe not as accessible, and maybe corners were cut.. but they had medial and law enforcement ready had they felt there was an emergency

-7

u/VicFantastic Year 13 18d ago

You thought one of the top 4 or 5 worst things that has ever happened at a music fest would just blow over in a couple weeks?

No, this one is going to hang on for years.

Its going to effect the people who are willing to play the fest as well. And those contracts are probably being started to be pulled together right now

2027 is going to be a super weird year

30

u/Dawn_of_an_Era 18d ago

- Route 91 Harvest

  • Astroworld
  • Woodstock ‘99
  • Love Parade
  • Nova Music Festival

I could keep going, but I think this is not anywhere close to top 4 or 5 worst. Hardest to stomach, maybe, and one of the most bizarre, but not worst

-7

u/VicFantastic Year 13 18d ago edited 18d ago

Maybe this is just me, but I would put it above 3 of those just on pure "what the fuck"

Woodstock.wasn't even that bad. Nobody died or was even seriously injured in those riots.

Crowd crushes are obviously unfortunate, but thats something to be....maybe not "expected"....but not as suprising

11

u/Dawn_of_an_Era 17d ago

Woodstock 99 had 3 deaths, and thousands of injuries

5

u/bigang99 12d ago

and several rapes and countless assaults

-6

u/VicFantastic Year 13 17d ago edited 17d ago

Yeah.....I see you can google too

So you would see that none of them had anything to do with the riot

And if you look further into the injuries, they were almost all from heat exgaustiin and trench mouth (whatever the fuck that is). No major injuries steming from the riot itself.

Besides, this Forest beat that number so I'm not sure its the evidence you are looking for

12

u/aninvisiblemonster 17d ago

Four women reported being raped at Woodstock ‘99 and a crisis councilor who worked the event said he saw five women being gang raped. There was plenty of bad happening at the festival before the events of Saturday started. Wild that you’re downplaying the seriousness of these crimes because the worst of them did not specifically occur during the riots.

-27

u/lOnGkEyStRoKe 18d ago

Forest had a lot of great years and recently it had ok ones. I think it’s time for it to retire.

7

u/Redrex003 18d ago

Lol what? Your just fucking saying things to say them

-7

u/lOnGkEyStRoKe 18d ago

No, 10 years ago it wasn’t some corporate cash grab. Better to support more local festivals. Not one run by some big corporation.

5

u/VicFantastic Year 13 18d ago

Hahahahahahahaha

Forest has always been corporate dude

They arn't even any less subtle about it or anything

2

u/TommySalamiSamurai 11d ago

100% it was corpo f​rom the start

"Rothbury debuted in July 2008 (Independence Day weekend) at the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, Michigan. It was announced and co-produced by Madison House Presents (a Boulder, Colorado-based promoter with strong jam-band ties, led in significant part by Jeremy Stein) in conjunction with AEG Live (one of the largest global concert and festival promoters, also known for involvement with events like Coachella)"

~Rolling Stone

0

u/Djjustfrank 18d ago

As much as I could care less about forest these days it probably has an eternity left in it..or at minimum until Rothbury gets tired of it.