ROTHBURY, MI — As the gates opened for another weekend of Electric Forest, many eager festivalgoers headed into Sherwood Forest for a special opening act. Others were drawn that direction by the beautiful melodic sounds coming from a one-man orchestra. With a 5-string electric violin in hand, and surrounded by towering pines, Dixon’s Violin stood alone at 4:30 p.
m. on Thursday, June 20, as he began improvising on the Observatory stage. Hundreds danced, while others sat on tiered platforms soaking in the performance.
“It’s really fun to have the artistic freedom to just see what happens. If it’s an old favorite, something that started as an improvisation and turned into something great. If I’m feeling like taking a left turn in the middle of the set, (or a) right.
It’s nice to have that freedom,” Dixon told MLive by phone last week. Dixon’s Violin opens The Observatory stage during the first day of Electric Forest at the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, Mich. on Thursday, June 20, 2024.
Dixon left a distinguished career creating multi-dimensional data visualization in 2011 to go on tour and inspire others with his electric violin. He has played over 1,000 concerts across North America and has been a mainstay at Electric Forest since 2012. Joel Bissell | MLive.
com Dixon, a Flint-area native, has opened the stage in the middle of the forest for several years now. Electric Forest has even proclaimed him as “the most beautiful sound in Sherwood Forest.” At the e.
