Editorial
10 Electric Forest 2026 Sets You Cannot Miss
10 Electric Forest 2026 Sets You Cannot Miss, from GRiZ and The String Cheese Incident to Sammy Virji, Chris Lake, and More
Electric Forest 2026 returns to Rothbury, Michigan from June 25 to 28, bringing another packed weekend to Double JJ Resort with sets spread across Ranch Arena, Tripolee, and Sherwood Court. This year’s schedule gives fans plenty to plan around, from GRiZ bringing his Chasing the Golden Hour set to Sherwood Court on Sunday to The String Cheese Incident taking over Ranch Arena on Saturday with their special Shebongle Shebang performance. Across the four days, the lineup also brings major dance and electronic names including Disco Lines, D.O.D., Passion Pit, Galantis, Sammy Virji, Shpongle, Chris Lake, and DJ Diesel B2B Teddy Pain. With so many strong clashes and late night slots across the forest, these are the Electric Forest 2026 sets worth keeping on your schedule before the weekend begins.
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Not every set on this list is here for the same reason. GRiZ and The String Cheese Incident are important because of their connection to Electric Forest, Sammy Virji and D.O.D. bring some of the strongest UK-led dance music on the schedule, Chris Lake and Galantis cover two very different sides of festival house, and Passion Pit adds a live indie-pop set into a weekend led heavily by electronic music. These 10 picks give fans a clear place to start when deciding which sets are most worth making time for across the weekend.
1. GRiZ, Sunday, Sherwood Court
GRiZ earns the first spot because his Chasing the Golden Hour set feels like one of the most natural picks for Electric Forest 2026. The series brings out the funk, soul, saxophone, and brighter electronic side of his music, which makes it very different from the heavier material people may know him for. There is also the Michigan connection, which matters here because GRiZ has a long relationship with this crowd, and a Sunday set at Sherwood Court gives his return the kind of placement that people will likely talk about after the weekend. For anyone mapping out the final day, this is the kind of set that deserves to be marked early, especially if they want the more melodic and feel-good side of GRiZ before Electric Forest 2026 comes to a close.
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2. The String Cheese Incident, Saturday, Ranch Arena
The String Cheese Incident is not just another legacy name on the Electric Forest 2026 lineup, because their history with the festival is part of what makes this Saturday set so important. Their long Ranch Arena slot gives them enough time to bring in the jam, bluegrass, funk, rock, and electronic influences that have made them such a central part of Electric Forest over the years, while the Shebongle Shebang element adds a special angle to this performance. With Shpongle also playing later that night, this set feels like one of the clearest examples of what separates Electric Forest from a standard dance festival lineup. It is a pick for anyone who wants to understand the festival beyond the late night electronic names, especially because The String Cheese Incident has been tied to the identity of Electric Forest for so long.
3. Claude VonStroke, Friday, Tripolee
Claude VonStroke is a last-minute addition to Electric Forest 2026 and one of the most rewarding late-night picks of the weekend. The Michigan-born house music icon closes out Tripolee on Friday June 26 from 2:30 to 4:00 AM, arriving off the back of Wrong Number, his strongest streaming album to date and one of the most personal records of his career. More than 20 years in, VonStroke has never stopped being one of the most consistent underground house voices in American electronic music. A closing Tripolee slot in his home state gives this addition a weight that goes beyond a standard late-night booking. For anyone still standing at 2:30 AM on Friday, this is the set worth staying for.
4. Sammy Virji, Friday, Sherwood Court
Sammy Virji is one of the strongest Friday picks at Electric Forest 2026 because his set brings UK garage into a schedule that already has plenty of big-room EDM, house, bass, and jam acts. Tracks like If U Need It, Shella Verse, and Find My Way Home have helped him reach a wider audience through quick drums, rolling basslines, chopped vocals, and hooks that work quickly in a live setting, which is why his music has been connecting with crowds outside the UK. That matters at Electric Forest because his Friday Sherwood Court slot gives people a chance to hear something that is not trying to follow the same structure as a typical festival house set. For anyone looking through the Friday schedule, Sammy Virji is worth marking because his set brings a clear UK garage and bassline presence to Electric Forest 2026 without feeling like a token genre booking.
5. Chris Lake, Saturday, Ranch Arena
Chris Lake is the Saturday pick for anyone who wants a straight house set from someone who knows exactly how to work a festival crowd. His catalog gives him plenty to pull from, including Turn Off The Lights, Deceiver, Beggin’, and Summertime Blues with Sammy Virji and Nathan Nicholson, but the appeal is not only the recognizable records. A Chris Lake set usually works because he keeps the drums clean, the basslines heavy, and the vocals placed where they lift the crowd instead of overcrowding the mix. At Ranch Arena on Saturday, that makes him one of the easiest choices for anyone staying out late and wanting house music made for a big festival stage. On a lineup that moves between jam bands, bass acts, indie-pop, and psychedelic electronic music, Chris Lake gives Electric Forest 2026 a house set that does not need much explaining.
6. Shpongle, Saturday, Sherwood Court
Shpongle is one of the more interesting Saturday choices at Electric Forest 2026 because this is not a set that fits neatly beside the usual bass, house, and festival EDM names on the schedule. With Simon Posford Live listed for Sherwood Court, the focus should be on the project’s psychedelic electronic side, where the music can pull from psybient, downtempo, trance, dub, and world music influences without following a standard DJ set format. That kind of booking makes sense at Electric Forest, especially on a night that also includes The String Cheese Incident and their Shebongle Shebang performance earlier at Ranch Arena. For anyone who wants one of the weekend’s stranger and more specific electronic sets, Shpongle is worth keeping on the Saturday plan because it gives the night something outside the usual late night festival run.
7. DJ Diesel B2B Teddy Pain, Saturday, Tripolee
DJ Diesel B2B Teddy Pain is the wild card on the Electric Forest 2026 schedule, and that is exactly why it belongs on this list. On paper, Shaquille O’Neal going back-to-back with T-Pain already sounds like the kind of booking people will be curious about, but the set also makes sense for Tripolee because it is likely to pull a crowd that wants something loud, heavy, and less serious late on Saturday. DJ Diesel has spent years building his bass music side through festival sets and collaborations, while Teddy Pain brings a name people know far beyond dance music, which gives this B2B more appeal than a normal celebrity slot. It may not be the most polished set of the weekend, but it is probably one of the ones people will be talking about after Electric Forest ends.
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8. Galantis, Friday, Tripolee
Galantis brings one of the most familiar Friday night sets to Electric Forest 2026, especially for anyone who wants a run of big vocal dance records at Tripolee. Songs like Runaway (U & I), No Money, Peanut Butter Jelly, and Gold Dust still carry a lot of weight with festival crowds because they come from a period of EDM that many people grew up with, and they still work when they are played in front of a large crowd. That makes this set less about discovery and more about hearing songs that people can immediately sing back, which is a different kind of pull compared with the newer dance names on the lineup. On a Friday schedule that also includes Passion Pit and Sammy Virji at Sherwood Court, Galantis gives Tripolee a brighter, more familiar EDM set for anyone who wants that classic singalong moment in the middle of the weekend.
9. Passion Pit, Friday, Sherwood Court
Passion Pit is a strong Friday pick at Electric Forest 2026 because their set gives Sherwood Court a live indie-pop moment in a weekend filled with electronic acts. Songs like Sleepyhead, Take A Walk, Little Secrets, and Carried Away still have the kind of choruses people recognize quickly, especially for anyone who followed the late 2000s and early 2010s indie scene. That makes this set a good change in the Friday schedule, not because it moves away from dance music completely, but because it brings live vocals, synth-pop hooks, and a different kind of nostalgia to the festival. Between heavier late night choices and more club-focused sets, Passion Pit gives Electric Forest 2026 something people can sing along to without it feeling like a standard EDM throwback.
10. Disco Lines, Thursday, Ranch Arena
Disco Lines is a solid Thursday pick at Electric Forest 2026 because his set gives Ranch Arena an easy entry point into the weekend before the schedule gets heavier later at night. His music sits in a playful dance lane, with songs like Baby Girl, No Broke Boys, and RWEOK? giving people the kind of vocal-led records that do not need much time to connect in a festival crowd. That works well for Thursday because people are still arriving, settling in, and moving between stages, so a set like this can pull in both casual listeners and people who already know his music from streaming, social media, and recent festival clips. With Disco Lines playing early in the weekend, this is the kind of set that can help start Electric Forest 2026 on a fun, accessible note without feeling too forced.
11. D.O.D., Thursday, Tripolee
D.O.D. is the Thursday pick for anyone heading to Tripolee and wanting a more direct house set later in the night. Tracks like So Much In Love, Set Me Free, and Still Sleepless have made him a reliable name for vocal house that still has enough club weight behind it, which fits well into a stage schedule that leans heavily into dance music. His set gives Electric Forest 2026 a different Thursday option from the bigger mainstage choices, especially for people who want to stay with house music as the first night gets going. It is not the loudest or strangest booking on this list, but D.O.D. makes sense here because his sound gives Tripolee a clean, late night house run to help open the weekend.
With Electric Forest 2026 bringing so many different corners of the lineup into one weekend, the best plan is not only to chase the biggest names, but to make room for the sets that give each day its own reason to be remembered. Between Ranch Arena, Tripolee, and Sherwood Court, these 10 picks cover the kind of range that makes the festival more than a standard electronic lineup, from long-running Electric Forest favorites to house, UK garage, bass, indie-pop, and psychedelic electronic music. Set times can always change, so fans should keep an eye on the official schedule and app before heading to Rothbury, but these are the sets worth marking before the weekend begins.
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Chris Candela becomes the first Venezuelan artist to release on mau5trap with debut single ‘Move Your Feet’ alongside AOSM.
Chris Candela and AOSM debut on mau5trap with the single ‘Move Your Feet’, making Candela the first Venezuelan artist to release music on deadmau5‘s iconic label. Marking a significant milestone and the beginning of a new chapter in his career, the record introduces a darker, more club-oriented sound from Chris Candela.
Discussing the track’s sonic identity, the Venezuelan artist says: “When AOSM first sent me the initial idea for ‘Move Your Feet,’ I immediately felt the track had something special. I’ve always been inspired by artists like Justice, Wolfgang Gartner, and even Knife Party, so bringing those influences together felt completely natural.”
Drawing on those influences, the two artists created a record that fits naturally within mau5trap’s darker, experimental sound. Blending gritty electro-house energy with cinematic sound design, “Move Your Feet” establishes a strong narrative identity. Built around distorted synths, driving grooves and atmospheric textures, the single delivers a modern club sound filled with raw energy.
Chris Candela not only produced the instrumental with AOSM, but also wrote and performed the track’s vocals.
“One of my favourite parts of the process was writing and recording my own vocals. The lyrics explore the overwhelming feeling that can sometimes come with being in a crowded club, until you realize the only thing that really matters is letting go and moving your feet,” says the artist.
Who Is Chris Candela?
Currently based in Mallorca, Spain, Chris Candela is an Italo-Venezuelan artist with more than 15 years of experience in the electronic music industry. Beyond the studio, he has built a substantial Spanish-speaking EDM community through his CDCVLOGS platform, before launching the Chris Candela alias project in 2025.
Throughout his career, Candela has received support from artists including Don Diablo and Fedde Le Grand, but also reached No. 44 on Beatport’s Bass House Top 100 with “Lost To The Rhythm”, his collaboration with RE-KA. Now, with his mau5trap debut, Candela reaches another major career milestone.
Reflecting on the significance of the release, he says: “Releasing on mau5trap has been a dream of mine for years. deadmau5 has been one of the artists who has influenced me the most, both creatively and personally. To become the first Venezuelan artist to sign with the label, alongside my good friend AOSM, who becomes only the second Mexican artist to do so, makes this milestone even more meaningful.”
With “Move Your Feet”, Candela enters a new chapter in his career, defined by a darker and more club-focused sound. “Move Your Feet” is out now on all major streaming platforms. Listen to Chris Candela and AOSM’s latest track below.
Follow Chris Candela:
Spotify / Apple Music / Instagram / YouTube / X (Twitter) / TikTok / SoundCloud
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Skrillex Says AI Songs Can Go Viral, But His Comments Point To A Bigger Issue Around Human Connection In Dance Music.
The debate around AI music has often focused on fake vocals, copied artist styles, copyright issues, and whether machine made songs should be labeled clearly, but Skrillex has brought the subject back to something more human. In his first formal interview in over a decade, published in 032c Issue #49 Summer 2026, Skrillex spoke with Ecco2K about creativity, rave culture, and the limits of AI in music, including the idea that AI songs can go viral while still missing the feeling of being seen by another human being. That distinction gives the topic more depth because he is not only questioning whether AI can generate music that performs well online. He is asking what happens to dance music when a song can reach listeners quickly, but the person, history, and lived experience behind it become harder to find.
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Why Skrillex’s View On AI Is Not About Rejecting Technology
Before Skrillex became known as a producer and DJ, he was the vocalist of From First To Last, a post hardcore band that already placed him in a scene where live emotion, distortion, and internet era fandom were closely connected. His move into solo production did not erase that background; it carried some of that intensity into songs like Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites and Bangarang, where chopped vocals, aggressive bass design, sharp edits, and software based production became part of the identity of the record. The same artist who helped make those sounds reach a wider audience is now saying that AI songs can go viral, which is why the point cannot be reduced to fear of computers in music.
His own career shows the opposite: technology can still carry feeling when there is a real person making the decisions behind it. In the 032c interview, Skrillex discussed making Mora in GarageBand before moving into Pro Tools and Ableton, along with ideas like Bangarang beginning from rough recordings on Snowball mics or laptop mics. Those details show that electronic music does not lose its human side just because it starts from rough digital material, software, or imperfect recordings. The difference is that an artist is choosing what to keep, cut, distort, rebuild, or leave imperfect, while a generated song can imitate the texture of those choices without carrying the bands, scenes, failed ideas, studio accidents, and years of taste that came before the final record.
Why Viral AI Songs Do Not Prove Listeners Are Connecting
When Skrillex talks about AI songs going viral, the point is easy to connect to cases the music industry has already dealt with. Heart On My Sleeve, the fake Drake and The Weeknd song made with AI vocals, did not become a talking point because listeners had discovered a new artist with a real story. It went viral because people were trying to work out how close the vocals sounded, whether the artists had approved it, and what it meant if a fake collaboration could travel that quickly. That kind of attention can make a song look successful on the surface, but the reaction is tied to the stunt, the confusion, and the technology behind it, not to a real connection between artist and listener.
Dance music has its own version of that problem because records often gain meaning before they are officially released. Rumble by Skrillex, Fred again.., and Flowdan was already circulating through DJ set recordings and crowd clips before its official release, while Baby again.. by Fred again.., Skrillex, and Four Tet gained more attention after being played live, including during their back to back set at Madison Square Garden. That path is different from an AI song going viral because it sounds close to an existing artist or copies a familiar vocal style. In dance music, the memory around a song is often tied to the DJ who tested it, the crowd that reacted to it, the festival or club clip that kept circulating, and the months of people asking for the release. AI can copy the sound of a viral record, but it cannot recreate the human trail that makes people care about where the song came from.
What This Means For AI Music Going Forward
The next stage of AI music will probably come down to what artists, labels, and platforms are willing to make clear before a song reaches listeners. John Summit’s call for human made music labels points to one possible response, especially as fake vocals and copied artist styles become harder to spot at first listen. David Guetta’s experiment with an AI generated vocal in the style of Eminem showed how quickly a technical demo can raise bigger questions about likeness and consent, while deadmau5 has already warned about deepfakes and false endorsement. Once a voice, image, or artist identity can be copied well enough to confuse people, the problem is no longer only about whether the song sounds convincing; it is about whether listeners know who actually made what they are hearing.
Skrillex’s point is closer to what listeners may start caring about as AI music becomes more common. AI may keep producing songs that go viral, especially when the hook feels familiar, the voice sounds close to someone famous, or the curiosity around the technology is strong enough to push the clip online. But dance music has always depended on more than a first reaction. People remember the DJ who played a song before release, the set where they first heard it, the crowd clip that made them search for the ID, and the artist history that made the record feel connected to something real. AI can copy parts of that format, but without a person behind the choices, the trust becomes weaker, and that may be the difference between a song people click on once and a record they keep returning to.
As AI music becomes easier to make and harder to identify, the future of dance music may depend less on whether listeners reject the technology and more on whether they still trust the people attached to the songs. Skrillex’s comments point to a problem that goes beyond one viral record or one copied vocal, because the deeper risk is a culture where the source of a song becomes unclear and the relationship between artist and audience starts to feel less certain. Dance music has always moved through clubs, festivals, IDs, edits, and shared recordings, but those moments only last when people believe there is a real person behind the choices, the risk, and the history of the record. AI may continue to create songs that travel quickly online, but the harder question for artists, labels, platforms, and listeners is whether speed can ever replace trust, and whether a song can still mean something long after the first reaction if no one can feel the human life behind it.
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Electrisize Festival Returns With Turbo Takeover and Fireworks as the 2026 Edition Brings Artist Signings, New Areas, Valley of Sound and 55,000 Visitors to Haus Hohenbusch.
Electrisize Festival returns from August 7 to 9, bringing the 2026 edition back to the historic grounds of Haus Hohenbusch near Dusseldorf. Presented by 1LIVE, Europe’s second largest youth radio station, the festival is expecting 55,000 visitors for a weekend built around new experiences, expanded stage production, artist signings and fireworks across all three days.
More than 150 artists will play across the three day event, covering EDM, hardstyle, techno and Mallorca party anthems. This year’s lineup includes Alle Farben, Brennan Heart, Showtek, David Puentez, Eko Fresh and Mia Julia, alongside rising names OSWALD and Yung Saint Paul, both featured on the 2026 New Music Hotlist. They join Gestört aber GeiL, Glockenbach, Paul Elstak and Kati K to round out the bill.
Meet the Artists Up Close
Festival founders Raphael Meyersieck and Michael Frentzen are introducing a handful of new experiences this year. For the first time, fans will get the chance to meet their favorite artists in person through dedicated Artist Signing Sessions, collecting autographs and photos to remember the weekend by. There’s also a new Ferris Wheel Flat Rate giving guests unlimited rides and sunset views all weekend long, and for those craving a cold beer with some rock energy, the new pub “The Thunder” offers a campfire setting built for tribute bands and karaoke nights.
Photography by janheesen.com
Winter Vibes in the Middle of Summer
Austria’s Valley of Sound is bringing its own stage to Haus Hohenbusch for all three days, adding a mountain inspired setup to the festival site during the summer weekend. Another new addition is The Source, an area tucked into nature and designed around yoga, music and mindfulness, giving festivalgoers a place to reset before heading back to the stages. The main stage production is also expanding this year, with lights, lasers and fireworks running across all three festival days instead of just one.
Turbo Takeover on the Mainstage
Electrisize’s Turbo Stage continues to be the home base for singalongs and Mallorca party hits, with artists like Calvin Kleinen, Caro Winter, Eko Fresh, Frenzy, Kreisligalegende and Van Keeken bringing the confetti and party focused sets attendees expect. Friday kicks off with a special Turbo Takeover as Frenzy and Rumbombe bring Turbo straight to the Mainstage, while Sunday closes out with Mia Julia taking over the Mainstage to wrap the weekend.
Beating the Summer Heat
Electrisize has come prepared for high temperatures, with free drinking water, complimentary sunscreen, shaded areas, sun sails and multiple chill out zones spread across the grounds. Water cannons will help cool down the crowd, and thanks to the festival’s partnership with Valley of Sound in Austria, snow machines can even be activated across the site if temperatures rise during the weekend.
Non Stop Action at Electricity
The Electrisize campsite, known as Electricity, comes with its own schedule of activities, from the Runners Club on Friday morning and the After Runners Club Party that follows, to Beer Yoga, Shuffle and Hakken workshops, Beer Pong tournaments and a full lineup of DJ sets. Paved walkways connect the campsite to the festival grounds, and campers can look forward to complimentary premium showers and sanitary facilities, along with a 24/7 supermarket stocked with Dutch snacks and camping essentials.
Photography by janheesen.com
Electrisize is also making the festival more accessible this year with the launch of NextGen Tickets, aimed at attendees aged 16 to 19 and starting at just 55 euros. The festival’s popular Group Deals are back too, letting groups of four or more save on tickets. More info and tickets are available at www.electrisize.de.
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