After attending Lightning in the Bottle (LIB) music festival in Bradley, California this past May 25-30, It’s clear to me why all of these interesting folks seldom take off their face bandanas and ridiculous looking goggles while they’re out and about. Similar to Burning Man, LIB sets its attendees out into a desert abyss, where the fun of the music and people outweighs the woes of the heat and the dust. The people you encounter at Lightning In a Bottle have to be some of the most interesting personalities you could ever come across. It definitely seems like people let down their hair just a little bit longer here at LIB.
I can’t lie, the vehicle line to get into the festival was the longest I have ever been a part of. Considering that everyone entered a day before the music started, it would have made a lot more sense to have entered later that evening, rather in the morning. When it’s around 100 degrees outside, everyone’s pretty damn antsy to get inside to set-up their EZ-ups for some shade. It seems like most people tried to stay in the shady areas for the morning and early afternoon. I know I wasn’t the only person who wished there was a stage you could swim up to.
One thing that has always amazed me about LIB, is the fact that the camping exists inside the festivals grounds, near the stages. Any other festival will have patrons staying outside of the concert area, forcing you to exit and re-enter the show through a fairly long security line. This comes as a great convenience for festival-goers as it also allows the ability to enter with your own alcohol. This is not the norm for all festivals and is a rather enjoyable amenity.
I’m the kind of person who strays away from my original group, to meet new people, when I attend events like this. As expected, the crowd here was filled with a very memorable bundle of personalities. It’s good to be constantly entertained by the hired talent, as well as, the fellow attendees, which there are plenty to be found around LIB. One could easily spend an entire day in the workshop areas, without seeing a single bit of music. There are some amazing folks doing talks over in these areas. I would urge anyone who attends, to at least see one or two of the presentations!
The dust may have been a little much for some, but that element, mixed in with the sunset, creates one of the special moments that thousands of attendees get to enjoy simultaneously. You can expect a very wide applause roaring through the valley during the sun’s setting, a great way to say goodbye to the heat, and welcome in the night’s festivities. And it is definitely the night time when this festival truly comes alive. Glowing art installations, stage lights and bodies adorned with lights of their own, pave the way for an electrifying evening of energy, spirit and music. The night is when the pulse of Lighting In a Bottle reaches it’s peak and pumps life into every nook of this magical place.
By the morning of the last day, I had my fill and was ready to hit the road early to avoid anymore heat, sand and/or traffic. We got into our car around 7am to vacate the premises; there was no way in hell I was gonna wait around to sit through that line, again. As we slowly waved goodbye to the festival, I felt an underwhelming sense of victory driving out of there, with hardly anyone holding us up.
Despite having such an immersive musical lineup featuring the likes of Chet Faker, The Polish Ambassador, Lee Burridge, Four Tet, Big Gigantic, GRIMES, Emancipator Ensemble, Minnesota B2B G Jones, Mr. Carmack, Mija and many others, calling Lightning in a Bottle a “music festival” definitely get’s a fire lit under a few people. Combining such strong presences with music, art and culture, surely makes LIB one of the more special ones, to say the least. The vendors they allow to attend have some of the most amazing things to purchase (I can almost guarantee I’ll spend hundreds of dollars that I don’t have over in that area next at LIB 2017). There’s also a sense of community that I saw there that you don’t find everywhere else. Honestly, when you attend a festival in California, many often think they’ll be overwhelmed with frat kids, who are simply just trying to “rage, bro!” That just isn’t the case at LIB. It was definitely a refreshing take on the festival scene for me, and, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t go back!
