| Location(s) | Rothbury, Michigan, US |
|---|---|
| Years active | 2 |
| Founded by | AEG Live, Madison House |
| Date(s) | Early July |
| Genre | jam band |
| Website | Rothbury Festival |
The Rothbury Festival is a four-day jam band music festival in Rothbury, Michigan at the Double JJ Resort. The festival first occurred in 2008 during the Independence Day holiday weekend. In addition to music and arts, the festival is intended to promote sustainability and promote overall improvements to the environment. Rothbury has won the Greener Festival award for 2 years running, and is up for 2009's Greenest Festival world-wide. Greening is handled by The Spitfire Agency.
The festival, which is produced by AEG Live and Madison House Presents,[1] first publicly released its plans for creation on February 13, 2008, along with the initial lineup.[2]
After a hiatus in 2010, the Rothbury Festival returned in 2011 as the Electric Forest Festival. The event was co-produced by Madison House Presents and Insomniac Events.
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The first festival took place July 3 through July 6 and was hailed as a great success, with an estimated 50 thousand in attendance the first year.[3] A revised figure puts the paid attendance at 30,202. This figure is based on Madison House's promise that US$2 of each ticket sold would go toward Grant Township.[4] In an article posted in the Muskegon Chronicle, the total amount of money donated to Grant Township was $60,404.[5]
On February 13, 2008, the initial lineup was released. By February 25, four additional artists were added to the line up. Steel Pulse was added on March 13, and seven artists were added in April. On May 29, the line up was complete after six additional artists were added, including Trey Anastasio of Phish.[6]
The following performers played throughout the weekend:
Several members were present from their respective bands: The String Cheese Incident, Phish, Grateful Dead, and The Allman Brothers Band. Following the addition of the Kyle Hollingsworth Band to the line up, all six members of The String Cheese Incident were present in separate bands: Bill Nershi played with the Emmitt Nershi Band, EOTO is composed of Jason Hann and Michael Travis, Keith Moseley played in the WMD's who accompanied Keller Williams, and Michael Kang played with Panjea. Three of the four members of Phish were present: Mike Gordon, Jon Fishman, and Trey Anastasio. Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart, of Grateful Dead fame, also performed in their respective bands. Two of the current members of The Allman Brothers Band, Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule and Derek Trucks, performed in distinct bands.
David Murphy, of STS9, joined the stage with the Disco Biscuits during their Thursday night set.
After multiple hurdles, Rothbury officially returned for a second festival in 2009.[7] The second Rothbury was held July 2–5, once again placing the festival over the Independence Day holiday weekend.[8] The festival's second year expanded the think-tank discussions established the first year and continued the use of sustainable technologies.[9]
Due to concerns over the ownership of the ranch, as well as the potential sale of the festival grounds, there was originally uncertainty on whether or not a second festival would be held in 2009. A major hurdle was overcome when a federal bankruptcy judge cleared the way for a lease of the festival property between the bankruptcy trustee and AEG. However, a second hearing was necessary to determine if the lease was valid, because part of the land used by the festival was on a sheriff's deed and needed to be purchased by the trustee.[10][11][12] Following the approval of this final hearing, WZZM reported the festival will return in 2009.[7]
Before the official lineup was released, there were rumors of artists such as Phish and Tom Petty performing,[13] although this never occurred.
July 2:
July 3:
King Sunny Ade & His African Beats
July 4
July 5
According to an announcement made on Rothbury's official website on January 22, Rothbury will be "on hiatus" in 2010, but is expected to return in 2011.
"During the past three years, all of us involved with ROTHBURY have greatly appreciated the tremendous outpouring of support for the future of the festival. For 2010, we have had to make the tough decision to postpone our efforts. A contributing factor in our decision is that, due to various artists’ recording and touring schedules, we now believe that timing will not allow for us to assemble the cutting edge roster that everyone has come to expect from ROTHBURY. The result for this year is that we are not able to move forward with the integrity and high standards that we demand from ourselves and for the festival.
Despite the 2010 postponement, we intend to move toward continuing ROTHBURY in 2011. This event is something very special, and we are unwilling to potentially tarnish what ROTHBURY is, and can become, by working under conditions that will produce anything less than a magical experience.
ROTHBURY is more than a festival. It is a mission intended to discover strength in community, and what it means to be a large-scale sustainable event in these times. Our efforts are certainly not coming to an end.
It is important for us to thank the people of Michigan, Oceana County, The Village of Rothbury, Grant Township, and the Double JJ Resort. Also, we thank our team members, volunteers, creative contributors, media partners, and sponsors. We have made many friendships that will last a lifetime.
To all who attended the first two years of ROTHBURY we thank you for the soul you gave the event. Those times entered rarified air because of your energy.
We hope you have a fantastic July 4 this summer."
String Cheese Incident guitarist Billy Nershi mentioned in an interview that the String Cheese Incident is trying to put together a festival at Rothbury for summer 2011. No definite dates have been announced.
“We’re also planning on doing something next summer at the Rothbury site. That will be a weekend festival with a lot of String Cheese sets. It’ll be different from Rothbury in that it will be more like our thing at Horning’s, where String Cheese plays every night, and it will include bands in our String Cheese family with art installations and that kind of thing.”
It has been confirmed that Madison House Presents, the company in charge of promoting the previous two ROTHBURY music festivals at the Double JJ Resort in Grant Township, took out a mass gathering permit application from Grant Township officials. Grant Supervisor Roger Schmidt said festival Director Jeremy Stein took out the application after visiting with officials Jan. 12. “We’re expecting to hear back from them within a month,” Schmidt said.[14]
It was ultimately resurrected as the Electric Forest Festival and ran from June 30 to July 3, 2011. [15]