DoLab’s Lightning in a Bottle fosters community, art, immersive experiences, and wellbeing for attendees

Last week, I attended DoLab’s Lightning in a Bottle (LIB) festival. The festival was located at Buena Vista Lake, California and spanned a whole five days from May 22-27, 2024. Dubbed “mini-Burning Man,” the festival met and even exceeded every one of my expectations.

I never thought a 5 day camping festival would feel so easy. But thanks to the kind and loving crowds at Lightning in a Bottle, walking around the festival was rejuvenating all day long. If every festival’s crowds were like Lightning in a Bottle, I’m not sure I would ever need a break. Embodying the rave community’s PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect), I found that you will leave LIB with countless new friends and a smile from ear-to-ear. As you walk through the festival, all you see is smiles, laughter, hugs, color, and art.

While I expected to spend all day at my campground in the shade to minimize the time spent in 95 degree heat, the daytime at LIB cannot be missed. Everyday my mornings consisted of waking up at 8am in our overheated tent, changing into a swimsuit, grabbing a floaty, and running to the lake. There you’ll find chatty new friends, hop on other attendees’ floats, and cool off in the lake. During all of this lively activity, you’d hear a fantastic set from The Junkyard, the stage positioned directly on the shoreline. During my experience at LIB it was evident that nothing can beat the mornings in the lake.

Then after a few hours at the lake, I would take a lap around the festival to appreciate the art installations, roller skating, and immersive stores and experiences.

At around 3pm every day, I would make my way back to our campground to get ready for the afternoon. With completely free-form camping, the campgrounds felt wholly communal, allowing friendships to form across campsites. In fact, my group campsite was composed of multiple smaller groups who had met the prior year. And, just like last year, this year we made great friends with our neighbors as well.

After getting ready at the campsite, we headed back into the festival grounds. Across stages, the festival’s genres ranged from deep house to bass house to techno, even to pop and rock at a couple of stages. Personally, I spent most of my time listening to deep house at Thunder Stage and bass house at The Stacks. Thunder Stage had a lighthearted feel and a tent-like stage. It was filled with ribbon dancers and relaxed crowds. The Stacks, on the other hand, was filled with energetic bass-lovers, and was often slightly more packed than Thunder. However, I would not have appreciated the stages as much as I did without breaks at my personal favorite stage, The Mixtape. The Mixtape was a breath of fresh air compared to the vibrating bass at most LIB sets. At The Mixtape, you’d enter a room with walls lined with tapes and a live DJ, mixing using tapes handed to her by attendees. The oldies played, alongside the homey feel of the room, created the best atmosphere for fun-loving dancing and mingling. Whenever I switched between sets, the Mixtape was the perfect palette cleanser.

Finally, as the music winded down at the main stages, I would make my way to the Art Cars. The Art Cars are an experience I’ve never had at a festival before. With traveling performances on top of larger-than-life bananas, caterpillars, and monsters, there was never a lull in energy at the Art Cars. The energy after the main stages closed was among the best throughout the day as people let go and roamed the Art Cars.

After going to Lightning in a Bottle, you won’t see festivals the same way every again. LIB is a must-see experience, whether you are an EDM fan or not. The emphasis on community, art, and immersive experiences makes LIB unlike any other large festival. I’ll leave you with two pieces of advice for newcomers: first, come with an open mind and excitement to see everything that LIB offers. Second, don’t forget your earplugs!

Article and Photos by: Eliza Scheer