Lightning in a Bottle 2015: Bigger, not necessarily better, but still altogether welcoming

By Joe Giuliano

Lighting in a Bottle returned for its second year to Lake San Antonio Recreation Area near Bradley, Calif., a little more than an hour north of San Luis Obispo — and now with 100% more bridges! Seriously though, the bridges made all the difference. The festival, held May 21-25, made numerous changes this year in addition to two bridges traversing the two major ravines, having experienced serious growing pains last year with a location too big for their britches. Even with the lingering talk of problems from last year, the festival, which sold out for their first time ever, managed to surpass 20,000 people. (For those counting, that’s more than 10 times the size of Desert Hearts and only just under one-quarter of the size of Coachella.)

Staged by L.A.-based interactive environment event producers The DoLab, the annual festival continues to offer a multitude of electronic genres, Burning Man-esque installation art, jaw-dropping performance art and self-improvement activities such as nearly every type of yoga, diverse workshops, and motivational gatherings. The lineup, bigger than ever this year, included festival regulars the Lucent Dossier Experience, and musical talents spanning decades such as exploding newcomers Shiba San (of the famed San Francisco Dirtybird label) and industry favorite Mano Le Tough, as well as old-school pros like John Digweed.

The Lightning Stage, with a new breezy aesthetic, replete with a giant patchwork shade structure overhead, was a sight to behold. With festival circuit headlining regulars like SBTRKT, Odesza, Flume and Tycho gracing the main stage, it’s no surprise that it was nearly always spilling over at the edges. The sheer size of the festival was truly felt while trying to get somewhere near the middle for Flume. Much like Coachella, people seemed to rudely stand their ground and prevent entry, a serious difference from the hugging and welcoming characteristic of years past. The feeling that something important had changed was only calmed later on the bridge by the impossibly happy high-fiving of hundreds of passers-by.

This dichotomy of old and new wasn’t evident anywhere more than at the new Thunder Stage, which has replaced the now-retired, beloved Bamboo Stage. The enclosed structure, nicknamed Big Fish, might have served its purpose well at Coachella where the Do LaB crowd is a fraction of the size of the other stages and even the tents, but here it was difficult to see how it could sustain itself as the secondary stage. Upon approach, it felt more like people were excluded, forced to dance on the dusty outskirts and guess what was happening inside the neon belly of the Fish. As shocking as this was at first glance, it is merely evidence of just how large LIB has grown in the past few years. The kids bouncing ecstatically along the edges to the ever-present trap music actually didn’t seem to mind.

To many, though, the true heart of Lightning in a Bottle will always be the Woogie Stage, a hyper-psychedelic organ beating amongst the trees over the crowd. The Lightning in a Bottle experience can be simplified as dancing under the beating sun during the day or the glimmering stars at night within this Dr. Seuss-inspired playground to underground favorites like Mikey Lion, Atish, Thomas Jack, Lee Curtiss, Wolf + Lamb and Fur Coat. Together with the all-night bangers at the Favela and Pagoda Bars, those that cared to could forget the massive crowds of the other two stages altogether. (Looking ahead to you, Woogie Weekend.)

Major highlights of the weekend were plentiful, but the spontaneous dance circle we were lucky to be in the middle of at Random Rab at the Lightning Stage on Sunday night, prior to a not-so-minor technical difficulty that resulted in a brief sound blackout, sticks out the most. Another important highlight and necessary shoutout was the Desert Hearts crew’s complete takeover of the Favela Bar on Friday night. Marbs, Deep Jesus, brothers Mikey Lion and Porkchop, and granddaddy Lee Reynolds brought so much deep house groove to the Favela Bar, that it was hard for us to leave, even for the Woogie. Lucky for us we were able to catch a couple of them at the Silent Disco and even more of them when we stumbled upon their after-hours sets. I’m still not sure these really happened. Which brings us to our final highlight: blind exploration and its unexpected rewards. No matter where on the massive grounds we found ourselves, there was something to surprise us. Whether it was finding Reid Godshaw for trippy Harmonic Light portraits, haphazardly joining active morning disco yoga still in our sweat-soaked gear from the night before, sharing an intimate tantric moment with a stranger at a workshop, climbing into a giant teapot or in the belly of a towering creepy wooden Russian nesting doll, or being lured across a ravine by Cameron St. Denis’ renegade sets, everything happened exactly like it was supposed to happen: together in the dirt with 20,000 entranced brothers and sisters.

While many things have changed in the decade and a half since Lighting in a Bottle has been around, one thing has not: the outpouring of love and appreciation. Long-time veterans can sometimes forget what these festivals can provide. Thankfully, we had a handful of LIB virgins with us this year, their novel experiences providing them with nothing but positive things to say. The constant embracing, endless dancing, and unbelievable appreciation can only be felt in person. We threw sunset parties on the edges of ravines, danced with strangers, made new festival friends, and forgot about the default world. It is moments like these that give us hope that Lightning in a Bottle can continue to grow up without losing its childlike innocence. And for now we’ll pretend that the new bros, the growing crowds, and the insane exodus of cars never happened. Until next year, Woogie on.