The Rothbury Music Festival took place on July 3–6. The first year saw 30,202 in attendance.
Planning On February 13, 2008, the initial lineup was released. By February 25, four additional artists were added.
Steel Pulse was added on March 13, and seven artists were added in April. On May 29, the lineup was complete after six additional artists were added, including
Trey Anastasio of
Phish. The spark of the idea came from Philip Blaine and Jeremy Stein, on the side of the stage, during
Crystal Method at Rothbury. Then Phil brought this vision to Insomniac. From there, Electric Forest came into existence.
Lineup July 3 •
Greensky Bluegrass •
Zappa Plays Zappa •
Disco Biscuits •
Kyle Hollingsworth Band •
Perpetual Groove •
Mickey Hart Band (featuring
Steve Kimock and
George Porter Jr.) •
Railroad Earth • Underground Orchestra •
The Juan MacLean •
Lotus •
EOTO •
Motion Potion • DJ Rootz • DJ Cuntlicker
July 4 • The Dynamites (Charles Walker) •
The Wailers (featuring
Elan Atias) •
Snoop Dogg •
311 •
Widespread Panic •
The Beautiful Girls •
Tea Leaf Green •
Sam Beam •
Keller Williams & The WMD's •
Yonder Mountain String Band (with
Jon Fishman) •
of Montreal •
Primus •
Jakob Dylan & The Gold Mountain Rebels • Panjea (with
Michael Kang) •
Bettye LaVette •
Drive-By Truckers •
Modest Mouse •
Thievery Corporation •
Bassnectar •
Sage Francis •
Flosstradamus •
Diplo •
Pnuma Trio •
Fiction Plane • DJ Rootz •
Motion Potion • SOJOURN
July 5 • Four Finger Five •
State Radio •
Citizen Cope •
Michael Franti & Spearhead •
Dave Matthews Band (with
Tim Reynolds) •
Dead Confederate •
The Secret Machines •
Gomez •
The Black Keys •
Slightly Stoopid •
STS9 •
Trampled By Turtles •
Emmitt Nershi Band •
The Dresden Dolls •
Medeski Martin & Wood •
Derek Trucks &
Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival •
A3 •
The Crystal Method DJ Set •
BoomBox •
Busdriver • DJ Harry •
DJ Rekha •
Kraak & Smaak •
Sweet Japonic • Uncle Boogie Pants • DJ Rootz •
Motion Potion July 6 •
Steel Pulse •
Rodrigo y Gabriela •
Trey Anastasio •
Gov't Mule •
Phil Lesh and Friends •
Brett Dennen •
MOFRO •
Colbie Caillat •
John Mayer •
Ingrid Michaelson •
Taj Mahal •
Beth Orton •
Mike Gordon •
Atmosphere with
Brother Ali • Adam Ezra Group •
Amanda Palmer • Pnuma Live PA •
BoomBox Additional performers The following performers played throughout the weekend: • Etown Radio Show •
The Greyboy Allstars • The Stretch •
Sxip Shirey •
Yard Dogs Road Show Notable collaborations 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 lineup, 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 WMDs 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. ==2009==