Joe Giuliano on June 4th, 2022

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Approaching their 20th anniversary next year, the annual art, music and culture festival Lightning in a Bottle returned to Buena Vista Lake outside of Bakersfield this year with a vengeance after two long years off due to COVID-19. As expected from a crew that has quite literally created a road map for burgeoning festival upstarts, the DoLaB proved why they are some of the best in the game. They overstuffed the festival grounds with so much to do, see and experience that sleep was something left for those rare blips between living in the surreal present moment.

Walking around the LiB grounds felt like a dual hallucination of either trying to take stock of reality after a neon explosive alien invasion or being transported to another extraterrestrial world entirely. In the carefully curated psychedelic playground that the DoLaB created, either scenario seems possible and both are certainly welcomed. The earthly reminders were so few and far between that the absolute hyperbolic creativity that spilled out from the seams could send festival-goers into an out-of-body experience or mass hallucination. This festival-as-a-way-of-life team pulls you into an existence that seemingly touches upon Maslow’s top-tier need for self-actualization more than any primal need for sustenance. This is what the world could look like if art was incentivized and glorified for the transformational beauty it offers.

Of course, necessary sustenance was also plentiful, with hybrid fusion eccentricities abounding. It doesn’t get much more alien than eating African food with our neighbors and now friends-for-life from Santa Cruz, Ukraine, Iran, Mexico, Armenia and Turkey while being offered ice cream served off of the sexy asses of the Fungineers puppeteers, serenaded by the sounds of the splendiferous stages’ sirens, and bathed in the light of the Electric Dandelions’ art installations by Liquid PXL.

LiB, once a boutique event, this year cemented the fact that no other event so closely mirrors Burning Man in its artistic reach, to the point that you can’t just call it a music festival. Burning Man is famously successful by catalyzing thousands of camps and their themes. While the campgrounds are certainly a sight to behold at LiB, the DoLaB doesn’t have that same luxury. Their magic is in the careful micromanagement of every element from beginning to end, much of which happens months before and after the actual event.

With massive main stages like Lightning, Thunder and Woogie hosting incredible international talent like Glass Animals, Purity Ring, Monolink, Clozee, Seth Troxler, WhoMadeWho, Four Tet and Black Coffee, it would have been easy to miss the secondary staples like the Beacon, the Grand Artique, the Stacks and our beloved Junkyard (formerly known as Favela). The Junkyard in particular deserves massive praise amidst its transition this year. The talent that Patricio Motta brought included Favela alumni along with the likes of Marques Wyatt, Dead-Tones, SAAND, and G-Dubbs, just to name a few. Special recognition should also be granted this year to the tertiary stages/experiences like Crossroads, Playa Relampago, Martian Circus, Unicorn Palace, Frick Frack and the Mixtape. And impossible to ignore were the uber-impressive art cars and installations like the aforementioned Fungineers, the Giving Tree, the Vibeapple and newcomer BYTE.

This year’s LiB offered Wednesday arrival without the extra cost, but what clearly stood out in particular is a relentless devotion to art for art’s sake. I’ve never seen so much eye candy stimuli in such a relatively small footprint. If your schedule allowed you the privilege of arriving on Wednesday, you might’ve been able to get the choicest locations, take stock of the countless offerings and maybe even catch an early arrival set by some of my personal favorites Spirits + Soundwaves and Brutus. The non-music programming at LiB has also always been top-notch and this year was no different. Particular highlights were DeeDee Hopkins’ GooDDeeds Camping Confections class at the Learning Kitchen, Amy Kells’ and Benedigital’s workshops at the Artclave, as well as Riley Bee’s Yin/Yang Mandala Flow & Visualization and Shawni’s multiple meditations at Yoga Sol.

Of course, the elements conspired to diminish the experience — 105-degree heat at the beginning and a Wizard of Oz windstorm that leveled many on Sunday night. Shade and reprieve from the elements were too lacking. While the DoLaB can’t control the weather, they can better equip attendees for these hardships. Suggestions: Bring back the massive shade structures that were some of the first art installations during the early renditions of the festival. The eight-hour Desert Hearts Lakeside Launch Party certainly needs it if it’s going to set the tone for the long weekend. Does anyone remember the Dirtybird bandanas from Irvine? LiB should include a unique one with every ticket purchase. Give the people something special that also protects against the dust. It might not be Burning Man, but those windstorms and the five-day schedule certainly made it feel like it.

Musical Highlights in chronological order:

Desert Hearts Lakeside Launch on Thursday

With pristine sound provided by Anton Tumas of Subtract, the temporary Desert Hearts oasis mirage that appeared lakeside for eight-plus hours on Thursday morning was a spectacle. After being stuck in the car line for the entirety of the party in 2019, I was sure to arrive the night before this year. Fresh off their 10-year anniversary festival, the Desert Hearts crew gave attendees a small glimpse of their beachside bacchanal via LiB. Mikey Lion, Marbs, Porky and friends threw down for hours in the 100-plus-degree sun and baked the waterside weirdos into a healthy dose of hypnosis, setting the tone for the weekend. Adding Desert Hearts to the beginning of Lightning in a Bottle is like putting an acid-spiked tequila sidecar into your casual day spa mojito.

Miss Javi at the Junkyard on Thursday

While taking a break from the scalding sun at the Desert Hearts Lakeside Launch, I was summoned to the Junkyard by the Chilean siren Miss Javi. With subtle sounds and sexy grooves, she provided a nice reprieve from the chaos across the water. Despite some production issues, Miss Javi expertly continued on while the technicians replaced speakers in real time without missing a beat. Rather than detract from the experience, the immediacy and efficacy of it all actually accentuated the experience. Miss Javi blissfully played on with her never-ending smile.

Shamiran at the Junkyard on Thursday

Like a celestial seductress, Shamiran whipped the dirt floor into a frenzy with her tantric tunes. She may have a history of playing desert raves, but this was like none other. All those years of Persian sunrises and Burning Man experiences brought her to this point. If you needed another alternative to the Desert Hearts Launch Party, her dusty serenade across the sands of time via the Junkyard artcar was the place to be. The sultry vibes that this petite powerhouse threw down were reminiscent of the dustiest of playa parties. No other soul can tame the storm like Shamiran can.

Ben Annand at the Junkyard on Thursday

Ben Annand, the Tropical and Moontribe DJ and party curator, has traveled the world over and might just be able to find you your next festival location courtesy of his new Bridge to Paradise “music-friendly venue booking” agency, but more importantly, his dreamy and atmospheric vibes will pull you into a deep well of sound that you won’t want to leave. After years of seeing Annand play the circuit, I felt like this set truly exemplified his particular skill set. Years of curation, incredible attention to detail, and the ability to ride the vibe until the space-wheels fall off … Annand and the Junkyard are an easy match.

Borak at Junkyard on Friday

Seeing Borak throw down on the Junkyard stage felt a lot like watching Monolink at Beacon in 2019. This guy is going places. Quickly. The energy, drive, passion and sheer exuberance is off the charts. The hybrid talents of live guitar mixed with incredible DJ selection is a niche that only a few have been able to pull off, but Borak has absolutely nailed it. To witness Borak is to be gifted true art in the making. I predict he’ll be on the Lightning stage soon enough. If you don’t already follow his Ukiyo radio show, do yourself a favor and start now. He already sounds like the next generation’s Pete Tong.

Joe Pea / MD / Ali Farhani / Evan Hatfield / Patrik Khach / Henry Pope at Junkyard on Friday

The raw talent overflowing on Friday alone was next level. What happens when you put Joe Pea of Dance Klassique with Eddie Vela & Rolando Murdoch aka MD of Dialogue with Ali Farahani of Pipe & Pochet with Patrik Khach of SBCLTR with Henry Pope of Genius Loci plus a little bit of Evan Hatfield on that live sitar jam sesh down in the dirt….. all in one day?! It’s a veritable smorgasbord of SoCal’s best party promoters, producers, musicians and DJs back-to-back-to-back. It was impossible to leave the Junkyard on Friday. No other place on the grounds could compete with this insane lineup.

Maya Jane Coles at Woogie on Friday

British-Japanese queen of the electronic underground Maya Jane Coles has proven herself internationally time and time again, but to have her grace the sacred grounds of the Woogie stage was a special occasion. Her famous first Essential Mix set the electronic world ablaze all those years ago, and Friday night was a reminder of why she still deserves all of the hype. Watching her orchestrate the neon trees amidst the evening Woogie fog was a sight to behold. It was as if the fabric of existence was ripped apart before our eyes and repurposed into a better, more perfect electric world– a world where Maya Jane Coles is our leader and we have no qualms with following her into the dankest corners of the music-sphere.

Dirtwire’s Psychedelic Hoedown at Grand Artique on Friday

An LiB without Lucent Dossier Experience or Beats Antique will always feel weird to me, but at least Dirtwire brings some of those OG vibes to the table that make us feel like the history is still relevant. Dirtwire is down-home Americana mixed with world-beat percussion and a splash of electronic soundscapes. Together, David Satori of Beats Antique and Evan Fraser of Hamsa Lila & Stallamara are the perfect psychedelic hoedown to close out a night at the Grand Artique when everyone is still trying to figure out how deep into their trip they’ve already gone.

Antoinette Van Dewark at Junkyard on Saturday

There may be no better explanation of capturing lightning in a bottle than watching DJ/producer/sound engineer extraordinaire Antoinette Van Dewark throw down “Do It Again” by Steely Dan in the daytime sun at Junkyard while Itai sets up his sax-driven groove session in the dirt in front of the artcar. It’s a song I’d never expect to be sampled and yet it fit so perfectly in that moment in time. Catch her playing this weekend at the boutique festival The Gathering, founded by none other than soundman of that very stage, Todd “Chino” Anisman.