Lightning in a Bottle is a music and arts event that has always seemed, at least to me, like the bridge between mainstream and underground festival cultures. For those who are familiar with the West Coast festival circuit, the ‘transformative’ event has long been renowned for its Coachella-leveled production value but with the vibes of Symbiosis. For the first time in DoLaB’s impressive 14 year career, Lightning in a Bottle finally had a swimmable lake. And with this immense change from just teasing festival goers with a body of water, the 4 year run at its current location at Lake San Antonio included new developments in layout, brand new structures, and and a considerable quantity of what is considered questionably social acceptable Hippie-culture nudity.
That aside, Lightning in a Bottle has always been known for its top-notch production, performers and artists, as well as their lax, friendly vibes amongst attendees. Although some remained sulky with the Woogie’s new location, our respect for House Music was far too great to remain pessimistic. We spent pretty much our entire time buzzing between LiB’s House stages — Favela & Woogie — 2-stepping to the everlasting groove. So, here were our top picks for the weekend.
– Guy J B2B Hernan Cattaneo – Although these two were scheduled individually, Israeli Tech House legend and South American House head, resepectively, decided it was best to just straight up assault the unsuspecting Woogie crowd with a barrage of Latin grooves and Synthy blasts for a surprise 4 hr B2B set Saturday night.
– MASHA – MASHA’s Dig Deeper party, which she runs with her good friend Alison Swing, is a huge staple in Los Angeles’s warehouse scene. So when we heard that she was be opening up the Woogie Stage on Saturday at noon, of course we had to be there. MASHA came out smooth with some Deep House numbers before dropping tunes from the likes of Floorplan and Todd Terje leading up to a perfect early afternoon. Spot on programming from DoLaB on this one.
– Marques Wyatt – The couple of days out on Lake San Antonio were shrouded by some unexpected cloudy weather. When Marques stepped onto the decks to drop some Summer time jams ranging from Disco to Tech, it felt as though he had brought the sun out with him. Although the weekend’s gloomy start, Marques has an uncanny ability to shift moods with impeccable musical taste and a ceaseless ear-to-ear grin.
– Patricio and Kraddys 80s Prom Night – As an American, I hated Prom night, maybe because I didn’t experience it in the 80s. These guys kind of made me think I was born in the wrong time after seeing them open up the Favela Bar on Thursday night. Adorned in cheap wigs and sequined blazers, Pat and Krad covered an entire decade of cringe-worthy, 80s pop tunes into 4 hours of nostalgic jamming to a packed crowd.
– Monolink – Berlin-based, Sol Selectas artist, Monolink, swooned with smooth guitar riffs, mellifluous vocal lines, and undemanding house beats to a Golden Hour Crowd on Sunday. His set was a fitting parallel between the music and the sunset that closed out the weekend.
[All photos by Eric Jon De Leon]