Lightning in a Bottle ’24 Review: A Playground For The Soul

The Stacks

📷: Syn Gaspar @Blissfullydrifting.media

BAKERSFIELD, CA – Lightning In a Bottle (LiB) returned to Buena Vista Lake, California, for its 2024 edition. This year LIB captivated attendees with a spectacular blend of music, art, and transformative experiences. For 5 days, around 27,000 festival-goers immersed themselves in a world of creativity and connection, surrounded by the beautiful California desert. With the festival being 5 days, and in sweltering California desert, LiB isn’t the easiest camping festival. Luckily, this was my first festival with my new Shiftpod, and I have to say, it definitely helps.

In addition to the amazing lineup of music, LiB showcased stunning art installations that served as focal points throughout the festival grounds. From interactive sculptures to vibrant murals, mutant art cars and theme camps, every corner of the festival was a feast for the eyes. There were truly immersive areas that took you to other worlds ranging between an old western town and a New York “Brodega.”

Attendees were also encouraged to engage in workshops and activities promoting sustainability and mindfulness. From permaculture classes to discussions on social justice, environmental activism, cooking pizza and so much more, LiB offered a wealth of opportunities for personal growth and community engagement, which makes this festival a truly transformational and unique festival experience. 

The Woogie

📷: Syn Gaspar @Blissfullydrifting.media

Music 

Lighting in a Bottle above everything is a music festival, and this year’s lineup definitely delivered. There were a plethora of stages to choose from offering a wide range of music from the underground to the mainstream. There were amazing acts to choose from, and even if I didn’t know the artist, the stages were well catered to.

All of the stages had great sound systems and they all had a great vibe catering to make them all feel unique from each other.  The two stages I found myself at the most were The Junkyard and The Woogie. I could find house music at all hours of the day, and that’s a huge win for me. The Junkyard embodies the festival’s commitment to environmental stewardship and showcases the transformative power of creativity where you can groove to the beats of upcycled percussion or marvel at larger-than-life sculptures crafted from salvaged materials.

The Junkyard

📷: Syn Gaspar @Blissfullydrifting.media

My most repeated sentence all weekend was “Meet me at The Woogie.” This stage has and will always hold a special place in my heart out of any stage at any festival, so it’s easy to write fondly about it. The festival created a new layout this year, removing some structures and adding cool psychedelic art pieces that flowed with the wind.

The artists I was able to catch on these stages were: Fleetmac Wood, Miss Dre, Honey Dijon, DJ Holographic, Galen, Sacha Roboti, Nora En Pure, Shermanology, RaeCola, and Bob Moses. My favorite sets from these stages were, Fatboy Slim, Justin Martin and It’s Murph, all on The Woogie. However I think the biggest highlight at these stages, and likely for everyone who caught their set, was Rüfüs Du Sol who did a surprise secret sunset set at The Junkyard on Sunday. These were all great sets for the househead in me, and I have nothing but good things to say about these stages! 

Lightning Stage

📷: Juliana Bernstein @gettiny

When I wasn’t listening to house music, I found myself getting down with the bass music at The Stacks, or one of the 2 main stages, Thunder & Lighting. Although the main stages did have a wide selection of music if you’re not as into the bass music as me, and I heard from my friends that those acts were great, I just didn’t see as much.

The sets that I caught on these stages were G-Space, Maddy O’Neal, Mura Masa, Elephant Heart, Barclay Crenshaw, Toadface, Lane 8. My absolute favorite sets were Tipper, Clozee, Of The Trees on the Thunder. But the set that I have to mention was that amazing closing out to the festival from the legend Skrillex. I also found myself at some of the secret sets at The Stacks every night, but my favorite secret set was Justin Jay.

There was a secret bonus 3AM Skrillex set at The Stacks. I think seeing two Skrillex sets in one weekend will always be memorable. He is truly a remarkable producer, with a unique style of DJing that will always be iconic. The vibe was always right at these stages. and there were so many talented artists that I caught but didn’t remember to write down.

The kuker art car

📷: Syn Gaspar @Blissfullydrifting.media

If you weren’t there for the more hyped artists,  there were other smaller stages offering experiences and different styles of music that really set this festival apart. Stages like The Grand Artique hosted live bands, and I caught interesting styles of music playing like the Futuresexuals or High Step Society, a Talent Show, and even the Strawberry Disco Circus that entertained a tightly packed in crowd at 3am.

There were stages like The Crossroads and Lighthouse where they had classes and workshops in the day and music at night. Even Burning Man mutant art cars like The Kuker or The Bee Here Now and the iconic Vibeapple that I see so consistently on the festival circuit. All hosting parties and renegades to keep this festival alive at all hours of the weekend.

The Unicorn Palace was where you could see Circus Cabaret and live performances. There were also a couple nooks and crannies that I found at 3 AM that were just open buildings in the day and at night turned into a little rave closet at night. There was so much music here that even if you didn’t go to any of the main stages, you could still be thoroughly entertained by the music at Lib. 

Art Workshop

📷: Syn Gaspar @Blissfullydrifting.media

Art

I’ve been to a lot of festivals at this point in my life, and they all have music, but what really defines festivals is their experiences. Between art, workshops, vendors, food, amenities, the people who go, the weather, there is so much to consider when deciding on going to a festival. LiB provides a unique experience so let me tell you what sets it apart. 

The art at Lib is a huge part of the LiB experience, and you will see something you will not forget, guaranteed. There were multiple painters out, sculptures, and massive art pieces of all kinds. There were plenty of psychedelic murals to get lost in. There were even massive fully immersive sets reminiscent of Burning Man. There was an RV park that had Karaoke at night.

Bus Stop Installation

📷: Syn Gaspar @Blissfullydrifting.media

The Grand Artique was surrounded by an entire western town with people in character. My favorite immersive set was “The Brodega” offering a unique spin on a New York Bodega experience. Late at night, If you passed the vibe check, they would let you into the back. And if you got into the back you got to see a, well, how should I phrase this, fight? I’ll just say, if you know, you know.

If you wanted to join in on making art, there was the Artclave where you could even do some art yourself with one of the many art based group activities, like skateboard deck-orating. Whatever type of art forms you’re into, you will find it at LiB.  

Learning Kitchen

📷: Syn Gaspar @Blissfullydrifting.media

Workshops

A big part of the LiB experience is its transformative nature. At LiB attendees are encouraged to try to learn new things about themselves and the world around them. Normally, I am on the dancefloor as much as I can be, but I did make an effort to go to more of these types of classes than I normally do for the review. I watched food classes at the Learning Kitchen, like the people at Happy Cat Pizza as they delighted attendees with slices of joy while teaching them about the ancient art of fermentation and the rich history behind this cheesy delight.

They even made me a vegan pizza for me. I watched bits and pieces of classes on growing mushrooms, on designing sustainable futures. There was a Festi Speed Dating event, courses on non-monogamy, astrology, and smoothie making. In addition to the workshops there were plenty of spaces to do yoga, guided meditations, and sound healing, and discover a new way to gain balance. It’s widely encouraged at LiB to try to learn new skills and discover things about yourself. 

Couples matching

📷: Syn Gaspar @Blissfullydrifting.media

Vendors

The vendors and food were another well done part of the experience.  I had to refrain from spending all my money here. I did however buy food from a few places, you know, as research. Being vegan for the last 10 years, I am generally let down by the options at music festivals, but LiB had maybe the best Vegan food options at a festival that I’ve seen to date. With sustainability being such a big part of the festival, I love that vegan food was so widely available.

I want to shout out the food I had because it was all amazing. NotCho Fish Tacos, Veggie Bomb, Vurger Guyz, The Bob, Dough Lab, and Killa Dilla were all given my money because I never have this many vegan options, so definitely a big plus in that regard. The merchant vendors were also all great here, with some favorite shops of mine like Warrior Within, Kimono Dave, and Flowtoys, to festival circuit classics like Kritter Klips Third Eye Pinecones. There was a great selection of shops here to really curate your future festi vibe.

Banana installations

📷: Syn Gaspar @Blissfullydrifting.media

Amenities & Sustainability

The lack of the amenities here might be one thing to keep in mind. Now for myself, I’ve been doing this for a while, and it wasn’t my first LiB. I try to practice ideas like, “don’t leave behind moop” “pack in pack out” and “radical self reliance.” So I think this is something to consider when considering this festival that you may have to be responsible for your trash. I was upset at the amount of Moop (matter out of place) after the festival ended.

LiB was charging per trash bag that people brought at the end, and a lot of people decided to leave their trash behind rather than taking it with them or paying for it. This is not something I love seeing, so please be aware of this when you go. If you don’t want to pay to dispose of trash, pack it out. This isn’t necessarily the festival’s fault, and LiB does pride itself on sustainability, so I think something better could be done here. I also think a future attendee should keep this in mind, we can all do better. 

The bathrooms are also, well, not my favorite. Festival porta potties get bad, sure, but I don’t know what it is about LiB. All of my biggest horror stories for porta potties are all at LiB experiences. With its focus on sustainability, it would be nice to see some composting toilets like the ones previously seen at Global Eclipse Gathering or Envision Festival.

I also found there to be a lack of shade, which can make portapotties extremely hot during the day. I prepared for this, but I could see how some attendees were not having such a good time with it. This festival is fairly difficult, which is why many say it’s a good test run to see if you want to do Burning Man in the future. So again just keep it in mind, I don’t think you should let this stop you from going, but these would be the concerns I would think about when buying a ticket. 

Unicorn Palace

📷: Juliana Bernstein @gettiny

Overall Experience

There was so much going on at the festival, between the mutant cars, the skating rink, and the elaborate fire flow and led flow arts. I really enjoyed all the super creative totems, the elaborate desert fashion and the renegades in the camping areas. The festival was full of amazing people, helpful staff, and even the security was great! There’s just a component of something here for everyone, no matter what you value in a music festival.

Overall, I think everything about this festival is generally above average for the festival circuit. Putting my own personal bias aside, I generally prefer festivals that are smaller and more intimate, and with 27,000 people in 2024, LiB is a big experience with a lot of people. Personally,I can get a little overwhelmed sometimes, but I would still give this festival a very respectable 4.5/5.

Everyone was generally nice and willing to help if you needed it. Plenty of people spreading Peace, Love, Unity and Respect. The sound at all the stages is incredible. There is so much to do that even with 5 days it won’t be enough time to do it all. With its vibrant atmosphere, diverse lineup, well curated arts and vendors, and a commitment to sustainability, Lightning In a Bottle once again proved why it’s one of the most anticipated festivals of the year. As the sun set over Buena Vista Lake, attendees danced, laughed, cried, hugged and connected, creating memories that will surely last a lifetime. 

Aerial View of Lightning in a Bottle ’24

📷: Jamal Eid @jamal.eid

Don’t miss out on next year’s Lightning In a Bottle experience! GA and VIP tickets for the 2025 edition will be on sale soon.

Written by Josh Peak @sporeaddict510