Lightning in a Bottle is like a 4 Michelin Star restaurant. It's probably on par with French Laundry and Alinea if they had a baby, but the restaurant only served House and Bass music, which we know the latter is an acquired taste (for me at least). I think the most important part of my year, is arguing about the Lake water. I tend to make sure it's brought up around the dinner table during Thanksgiving and Christmas, if I feel like we aren't debating the lake Buena Vista water quality enough, the lake water is always top of mind in my house hence why I married an ecologist. Also, I really enjoy totems. So much so, I've made an LED Parasol totem that gives off random light commands since I never took the time to learn how to truly code while working in Trad. Fi. All in, I rate Lightning in a Bottle 13/5. Lucky 13 for the amount of times me and my friends had to troubleshoot my RV or Trailer rental, and that has allowed me to successfully escape the dust and eventually drive home on the 5 (what up Moo Moos on the road, respect). My favorite stage remains Woogie, that's why I named my dog(s) Woo and Gie, with their powers combined they arf arf arf into the night as one dog, in unison like the biggest baddest dog named Al Capone. Last, it's imperative that we all spend ample time in a Porto by the end of the trip, for it was Seneca that said setting aside a few days to wear rough clothing, eat meager food, and ask oneself: "Is this the condition that I feared?" read more

Probably the absolute best music festival I've ever attended! Lots of fun stages and mini mobile DJs which were all playing excellent music. The crowd was chill and welcoming. Not like other music festivals where people are over the top and on their phones the whole time. I made so many friends and will definitely be returning next year! However, they need to do something about the holes in the ground. I tripped a few times and saw a girl break her ankle. Also the camping situation can be a little rough so prepare for that! read more

LOVE THIS COMMUNITY AND THE WHILE VIBE ITS AMAZING! The atmosphere is so comforting and elevating. This is so incredibly beautiful and the most wonderful and magical event i love coming here and it's my fourth year. read more

This festival is amazing and I'm so impressed with the food- especially at Food Hall area! Temaki Time has the best hand rolls. The tacos at Mexican delight are just that- delightful. Space fruit's smoothies saved my life in the dead of heat. Look out for Dal E Mama for vegan meals and if you need a good solid base to party all night check out Chris N Eddy's smash burgers and Sankofa's Ghanaian dishes. I've never been so well fed at a festival! read more

Although I had some very beautiful moments and met some amazing people, Lightning in a Bottle was overall a very disappointing experience. It has become apparent to me that Dolab (the creators of LIB) care more about their bottom line than they do about the people that attend their festival. There are a number of issues I had with the way this festival was managed, however, for times sake, I am narrowing my list to the top 4 shortcomings of this festival and its management. 1. No trash cans in the camping areas. This creates a situation where even the best people feel pressure to throw their trash on the ground. Which is evident in the photos. 2. Charging your attendees to take trash.This encourages bad behavior and again creates a situation where people are just piling trash up. 3. Full porter potties / No toilet paper This is completely unacceptable. 4. Inconsistent hand washing stations (No soap, No water, No hand sanitizer) . Aren't we in the middle of a pandemic??? Gross. The photos above represent what LIB stands for and it's not something I subscribe to. Until this festival starts caring about the environment and the people that attend it, I will not be coming back. If you attended LIB and feel the way I do, I encourage you to write your own post, share this post or fill out the LIB feedback form. I have already contacted DoLab regarding my concerns and Kern County public health services. DoLab management will only change if we, as a collective, expect more from them. LIB feedback form https://forms.gle/oFwHR3siRyZWC8dCA Kern County Public Health service complaint form https://kernpublichealth.com/complaints/?fl_builder read more

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Attended LiB 2017 and still had a fantastic time! I am SO impressive with how much this festival has grown and their organizational skills. I feel like entering the venue was a lot easier but that's probably because my crew purchased 3 car camping passes. Though we did arrive Thursday evening at 5PM (which is "late" in comparison to people that had the Early Arrive Pass that allows you to come on Wednesday), we had to camp in 'the sticks' which is the camping area closest to the entrance. I definitely do not remember having to camp this far out when I went in 2015! The area actually was a pick up location for the shuttles to transport people over to the other camping area. So things have totally changed for the better at this festival! They switched out the Woogie :'( But they're definitely making great changes to this festival and I still love it! LiB still has the same positive vibes and I cannot wait to attend next year! read more

LiB 2022 was hands-down the best festival I've ever attended. What made it so special for me this year was a place my gf and I called "Retro Row." The whole area was a cast of theater actors that created an immersive and very funny world that seemed to be out of the 1980s. Kathleen and Gerie at the Travel Agency were incredibly funny and always on point for every situation, especially when people would try to get into the VIP lounge. They gave tasks to do around the festival that got us to explore and enjoy every detail. I want to give a very special thanks to Kathleen who was incredibly understanding and accommodating after we'd had a challenging night at medical. We became Paramount Executive Exclusive Ambassadors! Video Hot Spot, The Sweat Box, the Prom, the jazz club, and the post office were all fantastically entertaining. VHS and The Sweat Box had such fun activities that we visited every night, sometimes more than once a day. We can't thank them enough for making our LiB so special and fun, we'll never forget those memories. Can't wait for next year! read more

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This review is for LIB 2015 & 2016. This has to be my #2 favorite festival. It's conveniently located. Just far away enough from the city and light pollution. The Do Lab does their best organizing everything. My first year was life changing to say the least. It was my first camping festival. I was spoiled by going with friends in their RV. We all dressed up to express ourselves. Nothing was too weird or unacceptable. The people were beyond loving and kind. I lowered expectations and was met with happy circumstances. There was a lot of soul searching and discovering in 4-5 days. There's a little bit of everything for everyone. Art, dance, community, food, and all the self-discovery you could ask for! Lib will always give whatever it is you're seeking. The only con is overcrowding. Lib has grown in popularity so entry and exit could take up to 3-8 hrs. Plan ahead. Either leave early or later. Don't travel when the masses do, you'll just be in a parking lot for hours. Also, hydrate!!!! It can get up to 90s during the day. There's free water fountain. I can't wait to return this year! :) read more

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This creative festival assembles truly the best musical talent year after year (Tycho, Jamie XX, Chet Faker, Flume, Odesza, AlunaGeorge). It's a can't miss if this is your style of music. All the DJ sets you have heard online will come to life in a mind-blowingly artistic stage on the edge of a dried up lake bed. Not only is the main stage impressive, but the sets on it are predominantly live (band) sets. Beyond the music, LIB really has something to offer everyone. If you're a yogi, dancer, painter, maybe even runner... you can find your niche here. This is a great place for absolute creative expression with free face-painting, hammocking, dress up and more. If you aren't a big camper, you should be comfortable with the setting. The dried up lakebed means lots of bugs (including big big spiders), dirt, grass, and rocks to walk on. Five stars would be awarded except that it is a HUGE challenge to get out of here. It takes some people over 8 hours if you don't leave early enough on Monday (Memorial Day). Beware of this exit time! read more

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Don't get VIP tickets. You get nothing special. If the amount is worth a little shade and a couch, then have at it. All the food and drink inside VIP cost more. The advertised Brunches, are not included, not free. A waiste of money. It's not a brunch, it's a food truck. Only 1 stage has back stage, the others are side stage. read more

They just released the first set of 2016 tickets and I experienced some major withdrawals. What better way to relive it then by writing a review?! Lightning in a Bottle was unlike any music festival that I have ever experienced. It is more than just music...it's a "transformational" festival, because many go there and experience a cleansing of the spirit and the mind. I go to many events where there is just a party mentality, and this was a refreshing change -- not that I didn't party, but it was different. My friend described it as a stepping stone to Burning Man, and though I've never been, I can definitely see it. Lightning in a Bottle blends music, art, and spirituality into a beautiful five day event that will leave you seeing the world in a much more different light. Unlike other festivals where the main attraction is the music, you can do many other activities. There is so much going on that your experience can easily be tailored to fit your interests! There are a ton of yoga classes, workshops on how to better yourself, talks, and ohhh so much more. It's great to just walk around during the day and discover new things. I wandered into a tea house, and I spent a good time there chatting to friendly people while enjoying delicious tea. There was also a "sound bath" that I really wanted to experience, but alas...the line was too long. The amount of acceptance and friendliness here is unparalleled to any rave or concert you'll go to. There is definitely a sense that we have built a small, self-sustainable community on these campgrounds for a few days. Talk to anybody and they will have something interesting to tell you. It was especially fun to walk along the bridges connecting the campgrounds to other parts of the festival, and high-fiving the incoming traffic. You don't have to be a hippy to enjoy yourself, but it does help if you leave your comfort zone and let go of any pre-conceived notions you have about...anything. I wouldn't consider myself a hippy, but I definitely felt like my chakras were aligned after I left, haha. VOLUNTEERING: If you would rather not pay (though it's cheap for so long of a festival), they have volunteer opportunities. I decided to do that, and committed to a few day shifts during 4 of the 5 days. You can also choose to go there a week before and get all the work done pre-festival so you have the whole day free. It was extremely tiring since I tried to party all night and had to wake up at 7 am, so I'd rather get it over with before. PHONES: Yes, I got service most of the time. There are charging stations, but I strongly advise you to bring your own external battery because there were too many people crowding the area. WATER: Plentiful water stations around the campsites, which are not to be used for bathing! FOOD: There are many delicious offerings, most of which are vegetarian friendly, locally sourced, etc etc. Expect to pay a bit more for the convenience, but it's not too crazy. I even found a booth that gave me a free sandwich and smoothie in exchange for some labor! TOILETS: Port-a-potties at festivals are always gross. Bring your own toilet paper and hand sanitizer, because there is no guarantee they will have either. Also a HEADLAMP so you can see where you're going at night. Sanitation was pretty good with washing them out every morning though, so try to save your worst until you see them freshly cleaned. SHOWERS: I was lucky enough to get shower tickets with each of my shifts (go Green Team!), but otherwise you have to pay a whopping $8 or something for a shower. Their reasoning is that we are trying to be sustainable in a drought, so baby wipe/sponge bath away! PARKING: Horrendous! We bought car camping but the camp we were trying to get to had filled up, so we were stuck parking all the way on the other side of the grounds. That meant we lugged all our camping gear all the way across! Luckily, we discovered there was a shuttle going to our camp...but it was extremely disorganized. Going back, the shuttle was again disorganized and dropped us off in a completely different parking area that was miles away from our car. Cue me, waiting with our stuff while my friend walked to the car and took an hour to get back because of the line to go out of the campgrounds. Definitely could have done without that. There needs to be a more reliable shuttle next time around. If I missed any points, feel free to message me and ask! I wholeheartedly recommend this festival to anyone looking for an eye opening experience. read more

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First off, I do have to agree with Amber P about the horrible situation with everyone exiting the festival through 2 lanes of traffic. Open the damn north gate already!!! I do believe we (everyone attending) created a prime example of the term clusterf**k. We waited for over 4 hours to get out, I got rear ended by another car, we saw people cutting out of sheer frustration, which caused several fights. The event was so amazing and then turned so ugly so fast. It did put a sour end to an otherwise stellar time. That being said, I'm still giving it 5 stars because SOOOOO much preparation went into every detail of this event, creating a world of magic that was both safe and adventurous. I'm not a fan of electronic music, nor do I consider myself a very "spiritually open" person, but I come here specifically to get out of my comfort zone and connect with awesome people, which is something this festival facilitates like no other. I would recommend coming with a good group of friends, but not being afraid to break away from the herd to explore on your own. Some highlights for me: -Sound bath meditation -Smaller stages like the Grand Artique and the Campfire pickup bands -The food (I try going vegan for the weekend) -Sunset fire shows on Saturday and Sunday nights on the main stages -Intimate talks with "spiritual professionals" where open dialogue is encouraged -So much art and beauty -Being in an environment that encourages you to come out of your shell I highly recommend this festival to EVERYONE, not just those into electronic music or modern hippy culture. It's a fun introduction to new things, and a great place to let go of your mundane habits and inhibitions. read more

Lightning in a Bottle - Keepin' it Classy! - Festivals Near Me - Bakersfield, California

A "transformative" festival. This is the term that was said to me by a lot of my friends before I went and of course I was like, "oh sure yea" in mild disbelief. I figured it would just be like any other festival which everyone for the most part enjoys: fun with a bit of messiness, but largely the same. I was wrong. Here are my highlights. 1. The Community A button on my pants broke day 2 and this guy I just met fixed it for me right away. Everyday at sunset the entire campgrounds would start howling like wolves. Highfives 5ever on every walkway. Laughter. Crying. Connection. And a lot of love. 2. Yoga Om This yoga tent seriously is a healing place. I explored many of the healing practices at the festival such as sound healing, shamanic meditation, as well as others but definitely yoga om was what really resonated for me. I got to try out acro yoga so yes I actually got to FLY during this festival (I may have crashed a few times). 3. Tea House I could go on and on about this tea house. I spent a lot of time here drinking yummy tea and sharing stories with so many people. My tea pourer also let me color in her coloring book which was a fantastic combination with the tea. For some reason drinking tea here reminded me a lot of General Iroh's tea house from Avatar the Last Air bender. Very zen and this place has inspired me to look into the tea community in LA. 4. Environmental Consciousness They have tons of workshops on how to cook healthy and live a healthier lifestyle in addition to promoting a eco friendly festival by having a policy which states that any trash you bring into the festival to take it out with you. 5 stars for being so eco friendly! 5. Great music all throughout the entire day They have three different main stages (lightning, thunder, and the woogie) in addition to a few smaller stages that bump awesome music all throughout the day. What's there to complain about? Very pleased with my first time at LiB and I look forward to coming back next year! read more

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LIGHTNING IN A F****** BOTTLE... being a major Coachella person, this threw me off so much, but in a AMAZING way! We bought the early arrival pass, because it was our first year attending. I absolutely loved every moment of LIB. The live art throughout the venue was amazing, the tents where absolutely stunning, and every body we talked to where SO friendly and in such a good mood. I love that once you get here, you can wear what ever you like and all you will get is complements. The lake was really clean of trash and felt so amazing. I love that you don't have designated camp spots, and can use as much room as you need, (get there early because it goes QUICK!) Already can't wait for next year! The Green Team where so cool and on it with the trash that was left behind. ALSO, The BLACK BOX was extremely cool but entering was so weird! read more

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Lightning in a Bottle is hands down my favorite music festival. To be able to leave a festival weekend feeling refresh rather than drained is incredible. It being a "transformation festival" means it expands beyond the music to include other elements of art, yoga, workshops, and awareness. Unlike some festivals that are about escaping and leaving responsibility behind, Lightning in a Bottle is about the opposite - bringing yourself closer to reality, a oneness with yourself and the world around you, as well as being responsible for the environment/yourself. One of the greatest examples of this for me is how spotless the stages are at the end of the night. Once the music is done a silly, cheesy little "clean-up, everybody clean-up" song plays - and as the crowd fades, you see an absolutely clean dance floor. A party where people actually pick up their OWN trash like responsible humans? If you've seen how absolutely disgusting dance floors are like after events like EDC, it's pretty incredible to see how clean they look after the night ends at LIB. Camping festivals are awesome in general, you create a temporary home and community. Your neighbors quickly become your friends, your friends build into even more of a family. During the day various workshops are offered on subject matters ranging from sustainable farming, to essential oils, to hip-hop in the Middle East, to being able to lucid dream. Yoga is happening all the time, as well as music. My group all divided during the day to go to workshops and explore what we individually needed, then all returned to camp around dinner. After dinner we would head up to the Meditation Look-out, a hill top designed for reflection and meditation, where we would watch the sunset with a crowd of others to usher in another night. After everyone broke into cheers and hugs as we watched the sun fade over the horizon, we'd all head out to dance for the rest of the night. This transition is one of my favorite parts of the festival. During the day we restored ourselves, educated ourselves, and explored new ideas. It made the dancing/partying at night so much more worth it. Some logistics: If you don't get car camping prepare for a major work-out setting up camp. The hills of dirt in the hot sun prove to be a challenge, especially since your little dolly wheels don't stand a chance with the sand. BUT, this whole escapade does almost make the camping experience more worthwhile. As you make the trek random passerby's will stop to help you up the hills or to cheer you on, and it's definitely a huge bonding/team building experience for your camp group. BUT GET THE PARKING PASS, seriously. Also, try to aim to get their earlier if you wanted a better camping spot. Getting up close makes it easy to come back to camp for meet-ups, additional layers of clothes, and food - otherwise you'll need to stock up for the night unless you want to make the trek back to the campsite. The parking situation sucks, but as does at every festival/event at literally every venue. I sat there getting frustrated sitting in three hour lines trying to leave but then try to think of what solution I could create for getting 20,000 people out of a dirt desert parking lot and can't think of any. If you stay calm and make a strategy for your exit (do some maze running out of the lines) you can get out in fair time. Make sure you save up some of your snacks for that car ride out! read more

Lightning in a Bottle - Gathered on the hillside of Meditation Lookout to watch the sunset. - Festivals Near Me - Bakersfield, California

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If I could give this festival less than 1 star I would. They have thought of everything, except an exit strategy. The nightmare that is trying to leave out weighs all the fun you may have had at the festival. Which is a great time! But not worth the 5 plus hours you will spend sitting trapped in your car running out of water and gas...Maybe you even aren't running the A/C to save such resources, making the stagnant sweat box of suffering even more unbearable. If someone tells you to take the "High Road" don't do it! It's a lie. I am currently watching traffic slowly crawl on the main road while I waste away on "the fastest route out". I currently regret every decision in my life that has lead me to this insufferable moment. Thank god for the people in the van that cut in front of us, whom I was about to lose my shit on, but quickly redeemed themselves with frosty Tecate's. I may live to see another day after all. Don't drink and drive. read more

Being a lover of music that is mostly indie, the lineups of LiB don't typically appeal to me, and it is always difficult to justify spending hundreds on a wristband to see electronic acts that I am not particularly into, at a festival that is not curated by a company like Insomniac. The reason I say this is because insomniac festivals have more to them than *just* the lineup, and the people who attend those festivals are people I can more closely identify with than the people who attend festivals like LiB. LiB is definitely a festival you should attend once. The beautiful location, the interesting designs and activities, and the wonderful mentality of the festival-goers, who truly make an effort to leave the place cleaner than it was when they arrived, are unique to solely this festival. Never before had I been to a festival where everyone was so respectful of each other and of the land, and it is seriously something everyone who attends festivals should experience, learn from, and contribute to. I went in 2015 when Flume was on the lineup, and there was a reasonable amount of acts I had liked/heard of. My boyfriend and I were not aware of how far the parking was from the tent camping, so we had mistakenly not purchased the car camping pass. Lugging our stuff there and back was really horrible, so I suggest buying a car camping pass. Overall, I had a really good time, but I doubt I will come back because I am only expecting to live in California for two more years, and this festival always falls on the same weekend two other festivals I want to attend fall on. Otherwise, I would! read more

My favorite festival of music/art/yoga. A great community of friendly people and great vibes. I'm glad the exodus was much better this year. I waited until 1 pm to leave and it only took 1.5 hours. Though this year, there was a 2.5 hour car line to enter the gate on Thursday at 10:30am. Great music! Great way to discover new acts. read more

This was an unforgettable experience; that showed me how beautifully mankind would coexist if good vibes where all that is welcome.

AWESOME Festival!! Tips: The extra money for car camping is worth it or getting the already set up for you nice tents! Otherwise you have to lug your stuff LONG distances to camp sites over some STEEP terrain. Cell coverage not great-poor, Walkie talkies! If u separate from friends very hard to find again with spotty cell coverage. Very dusty - bring buff/bandana for face. Sunglasses and hat a must. Food expensive!! Showers $8. Good walking shoes, tons of walking, high boots keep feet from getting super dirty. Wear ear plugs all the time otherwise go deaf from sound systems. The shuttle on Fri is super limited, supposedly no shuttle Sun - no strict shuttle schedule, don't rely on it. You will drink tons of water, a 3L water pack was a must for me. Lots of water stations to fill up. Crowd almost all 20 something's. Awesome people watching! Cool outfits, awesome tent set-ups in camping areas. All the architecture looks better at night, take pics then. Dance, meditate, yoga, workshops! read more

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I volunteered with the dough lab and the managers were miserable. I hated my life & my experience was ruined thus I will never be back. They are rude and don't care about anyone except themselves and the people who are actually employed (I volunteered). They treat their volunteers like grunts and make them do their bitch work. They're completely unprofessional and hateful. After thinking about it I'm mad I actually let them get ME this mad but it's okay, hopefully they can find an occupation that they enjoy rather than treating others like shit cause they hate their lives. read more

Lightning in a Bottle is a well rounded festival with Music, shows, activities, bars and food! Camping with your closest friends in the heat is tons of fun and will definitely be back again! read more

I've only met one person who didn't enjoy Lightning in a Bottle and he turned out to be a pedophile and then later I found out he was my biological father after eating some mushrooms together which helped him open up to me about abandoning me at birth and it helped me open up to him about how much I dislike people who order pineapple on the pizza knowing that they're the only person who like pineapple on their pizza I mean c'mon take a bite out of a tomato and then a pineapple and a slice of bread and then shove a handful of cheese in your mouth and tell me that tastes good after you finish chewing please don't chew with your mouth open I take that as an invitation to throw up with my mouth open and if I aim for your mouth then that's your fault for making it such an easy target I mean defend your mouth that's just basic martial arts read more

This was my first time coming and it was hands down one of the best experiences of my life. Everyone we ran into was incredibly kind and helpful. The only thing I wish we would have planned better would be to bring more shade. If you come to this event, be ready to walk/hike everywhere. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to coming back and doing it up again! read more

Great experience, the event was perfect but the parking and traffic on way in and mosty out was so bad I most likely won't be coming back next year due to this. Once we parked our car We carried out stuff on the bus to the camp sites and the bus didn't even make stops at different camps like they said they would so they dropped us all the way off at the Woogie camp which was the total other side of where we were camping and wanted dropped off so we had to carry all of our shit that kept falling off and was so heavy all the way across the venue in the heat and they wouldn't even roll Cuz all the dirt and rocks, we finally got to our camp after 2 hours of hell. But the people around us were so encouraging and nice and alot were also struggling with the same problem. Also Took us almost 5 hours to get out of the venue which was very poorly executed and we left early, the parking was a huge clump and is the worst parking and traffic experience I've been in, and I bet it was worse for other people too, I tried talking and asking the people working it and they seemed like none of them even knew what was going on...wish they had a better system for this. read more

Best experience of my life! So raw and true and real. Everyone told me that people don't go to LIB for the music, but the music still blew me away. My boyfriend and I grew so much while we were there, met the coolest people, vendors and even artists. YES, artistes. LIB is pretty chill and you can catch the artists, speakers etc enjoying the festival as well over the week. I would say LIB is a happy balance between burning man and Coachella. It's defiantly not for the faint of heart and by the end it all, it felt more like a marathon than a festival overall, great atmosphere filled with so many opportunities to grow and have fun! read more