My Biggest Takeaway from Electric Forest This Year Was Finding True Love

(A story in multiple parts)

On Day Three of Electric Forest, I was still reeling from what had happened the night before and still really in a state of disbelief over how everything went down. “Is this really happening?” I asked myself after I woke up and finally texted Luke. How could I have gotten so lucky that in my time of losing my friends at the festival I ended up meeting this really cool guy who instantly clicked with me and also happened to want to spend as much time with me as possible?

My friends in my group camp all wanted to go see Minnesota, but we all entered the festival staggered and I ended up going in with my best friend Hudson and our friend Lark. I had been texting Luke up to that point, and he said that he was at Tripolee but that he also wanted to go see Minnesota. Hudson and I will always laugh about this, but literally as soon as we all got through security and situated our gear, I started making my way towards Tripolee as he and Lark continued to head in the direction of Sherwood Court for Minnesota. I looked back at them as I got some distance and I waved at them and said “Ok bye! I’ll see you guys later, if not at Minnesota then probably during Bassnectar!” They both had a somewhat confused look at first, but laughed and said “Ok, see you later!”

So I made a beeline for Tripolee, which was the first stage after the entrance, and met up with Luke, who was there with Christian. We all stayed and vibed at PLS&TY’s set for a while, and then into Baynk’s set for a bit. Then, Luke asked if I wanted to go check out Minnesota. I lit up at the question, thinking that it meant we could find my friends since they were all there too. Christian wanted to stay for the rest of Baynk’s set, so Luke and I ended up heading to Sherwood Court on our own and it was a nice time for the two of us to continue to bond and get to know each other.

We passed by the insanity that was T-Pain at Ranch Arena, and I looked around at the packed crowd hoping that I might be able to find some of my friends who had T-Pain as one of their must-see sets, but of course I didn’t find anyone because that crowd was so dense that it was a bit of a struggle to make our way through them on our way to Sherwood Court. Luke and I finally made it to Minnesota’s set and we danced together for a while as I also kept looking around trying to find my campmates. I never found them, but I was ok with that because it just meant more quality time for Luke and I to get to know each other and just be in each other’s company away from both sets of our friends.

Eventually, Luke asked if I wanted to go back over to Tripolee because Christian was still over there and wanted to link back up with us. I told him I was down and would follow him wherever he felt like going because regardless of where my friends were at, what I wanted most was to spend as much time with him as possible. He said he was glad that was the case, so we made our way back over to Tripolee and caught the end of Baynk’s set and stayed for the entirety of Dr. Fresch’s set.

After that, we went back to Sherwood Court to catch Ookay’s live set, where we met back up with the rest of Luke’s campmates. I had the time of my life, and Ookay completely blew my mind with his stage presence and how he carried out his performance. I had initially wanted to see The String Cheese Incident with my campmates, but ultimately I was happy that Luke wanted to see Ookay and that I tagged along because it was such an amazing time.

Towards the end of his set, I felt a hand on my shoulder and some pressure, as if someone was using me to gain some stability. I turned around and this beautiful woman was indeed using me for stabilizing support, and she said “I hope this is ok, everything just really hit me hard and I just needed someone to hold on to, to help me stay up.” I told her she was absolutely fine and could hold on to me for as long as she needed. Luke and I then started talking and vibing with her and her friend until the end of Ookay’s set.

When it was all over, they decided that they wanted to go to Jubilee to see CharlesTheFirst, and Luke and I were enjoying their company so much that we decided that was the move for us too, so we followed them. Luke’s brother was following us at first, but eventually got lost in the crowd, so it ended up just being me and Luke with the two women, Aubrey and Jill, who we then found out were from Texas but going to school in Denver. We all walked towards Jubilee together talking and getting to know each other.

Aubrey and Jill had to go use the restroom on the way to CharlesTheFirst, so we stopped by some portapotties and waited for them outside. The lines were pretty long, so Luke and I ended up getting a lot of time to just hang out with each other and talk more. At one point he started telling me about how he had just recently broken up with his girlfriend, and then halfway through his story he stops and asks “wait, why am I talking about my ex-girlfriend?” and he changed the subject and we kept on getting to know each other more. Then, in the midst of our conversations, he grabbed my hand and we kept on talking, and after a while he said “wait, why are we holding hands?” And I laughed and said, “I don’t know man, but I mean I’m not complaining, it’s cool.”

The girls finally came out and were happy to see that we had actually waited for them, and we continued our journey to Jubilee. We enjoyed the entire CharlesTheFirst set together, at times we would stop dancing to sit down and hang out for a bit and talk to each other. We had some pretty amazing discussions about raving, and about this generation and how it’s the most open minded and accepting and loving generation we’ve ever known, and how we are the ones who will truly make a difference in the world despite how the previous generations like to ridicule us for our idealism. Conversations like that are what I live for. Several times throughout our conversation, Luke and I would kinda playfully touch each other and he would take his fan and put it in between us and Aubrey and Jill and mouth “I love you” to me and I would respond with “I love you too.” It was a nice testament to how strong our connection was to each other despite only having met the previous day.

After CharlesTheFirst, we all wanted to go see Bassnectar, so we headed out and started making our way towards Ranch Arena. Aubrey and Jill decided that they wanted to go get water first, so they started heading to a water refill station, and somewhere along the way we lost sight of them in the crowd and it ended up being just me and Luke again. We stopped for a bit to kinda get our bearings and that provided us with another opportunity to just spend some time in each other’s company talking and getting to know each other better. We did this playful thing with each other where we went back and forth telling each other “you’re amazing,” “no, you’re amazing” etc.

Eventually, we started walking towards Ranch Arena again and we bumped into his brother and the rest of their camp, so we all mobbed over to see Bassnectar together. When we got to Ranch Arena, we met up with the rest of Luke’s camp and started following them through that insanely packed crowd. Unfortunately, at some point during our trek towards the front, we somehow lost sight of his friends and once again it ended up being just me and Luke.

We kept on trying to make our way through the crowd in search of his friends, and by some rave miracle (this always happens to me), without even actually actively looking for them, I bumped into my campmates! They saw me first and got my attention, and I said hello to them all and then bid them farewell again, as Luke was still trying to find his friends and I didn’t want to just leave him by himself. How funny that my words to Hudson and Lark earlier in the day ended up being true, I ended up not seeing anyone from camp until Bassnectar’s set! And I still didn’t stay to be with them because I was too preoccupied with helping Luke find his own campmates.

After a while of maneuvering through various areas in the crowd, Luke and I both came to the conclusion that we would not end up finding them, so we threw in the towel and just enjoyed the rest of Bassnectar’s set together. After that, Christian suggested that we go to the Carousel Club because Louis the Child was there doing an extended set in place of Honey Dijon, who ended up not being able to make it. So we went there and got inside just in time, as they had to eventually close it off shortly after we got there due to it reaching full capacity. We had the time of our lives because Louis the Child ended up bringing out Dr. Fresch, SNBRN, and Ookay and they all did this massive b2b2b2b and it was just this awesome party with everyone dancing the night away.

After a while, Luke decided that he wanted to go to Tripolee to catch Alison Wonderland’s set, but Christian and his other friend wanted to stay until the end of Louis the Child, so once again Luke and I had some time with each other to bond away from our friends. We made our way out of the crowd and headed over. I was happy about this, as my camp mates had also said that they would be at Alison Wonderland, so I had hoped that perhaps we would run into them again and get to enjoy the set together.

When we got there, we looked around for a bit trying to see if we could find either of our groups of friends, but we initially couldn’t find anyone so we just enjoyed the set for a bit. Then I got word from my campmates about what general area they were all in, so I suggested to Luke that we head in that direction. As luck would have it, before we ever found my campmates, we ended up bumping into all of his campmates and it was this joyous reunion and Luke told them that I had suggested that we look in that direction, so all of his friends were happy that we had found them. We enjoyed the rest of the set together, and Alison Wonderland totally threw down and it was such an awesome time!

Luke then asked me after the set ended what my plans for the rest of the night were, and once again I told him that I had no plans yet but I would like to go see the RV parties at some point. So once again he invited me to come back to his camp and hang out with him and his friends for a bit, and once again I told him of course I would love to. His friends decided that we were all too tired to walk all the way back to the group camp, so they paid for a ride on one of those bike taxi things, and it was a really cool experience for us all despite the high cost of the ride.

When we got to his group camp, we all got situated and started hanging out, and Luke told me again, “So, I kinda feel like we’re gonna end up just staying here for a while again and we might not end up going out to the RVs even though I really want to, is that ok?” And I told him again, “Dude, that’s totally fine with me! As much as I would love to go check out the RV parties tonight, whatever ends up happening, happens, and what’s important is that I get to spend as much time with you as possible this weekend.” So we all hung out at his group camp and just talked and shared stories with each other, and next thing I know the sun is coming up again and we had ended up spending all night together just talking and hanging out at his camp getting to know each other better. It was perfect.

He asked me what my plans were for the last day, and I told him that I wanted to go see the Seven Lions b2b Dimibo secret set at The Observatory, and he said that he and his friends all wanted to go see that as well. So he told me to message him after I wake up and we would coordinate from there. We hugged and said good night to each other and went our separate ways for the morning.

Once again, this story is getting pretty long, so I’m going to end it here for now, and I will continue with the rest of the story in future posts. The best part is coming in the story for Day Four of Electric Forest, so definitely check back soon to find out what happens next! I know I’ve been setting up a whole vibe with this story, but I PROMISE you it’s not going where you think it’s going! You’ll have to stay tuned to see for yourself exactly what I mean by that. ;)

Thank you again for taking the time to read my Electric Forest stories! I hope you have been enjoying them as much as I have been enjoying writing them and reliving these unforgettable memories.