A week from now, one of the West Coast’s premiere festivals, Lightning in a Bottle, will have begun. Thousands will flock to Buena Vista Lake for one of the most incredible weekends of their lives. Even though the 2025 lineup is monumental, Lightning in a Bottle is more than just a festival, it’s a community campout. It’s a place to completely immerse yourself in everything it has to offer. From morning yoga, to workshops on sustainability and indigenous cultures, to exploring unique one of one art installations, there is so much to do and so much to see. There is no festival experience like it.
With this preview, we will be highlighting both sites and sets to check out. Offering a blend of both music and experiences to have while at Lightning in a Bottle because it is a reflection of the festival itself.
Photo Credit / Lightning in a Bottle
The New Thunder Stage
The Thunder stage is a staple of Lightning in a Bottle. Where the festival’s bass heavy acts perform all weekend. This year we are getting a brand new Thunder stage. A new place to headbang and kick dust and have the best time ever. Last year, the Do Lab debuted a new Woogie Stage, which was also the design seen at the Do Lab Stage at Coachella. And after seeing the Woogie stage last year, I have no doubt the team at the Do Lab will have knocked it out of the park with this new Thunder design. Will it be more open like recent years Thunder? Or will it go back to the giant open yet enclosed tent from LiB circa 2015-2019 (ish). Who’s to say. Grab your earplugs and go spend some quality time at the Thunder stage. Be sure to bring your bass face.
Photo Credit / Lightning in a Bottle
The Mixtape
The Mixtape is Lightning in a Bottle’s onsite 80’s house party. In a new location this year on the lake near the Grand Artique, The Mixtape is where you are free to go listen to music on cassette tapes of your choosing, sit on the couch on the patio outside and watch a movie on a tv box set, and where you can go spend some quality time after the afters. Also, if you’re up for it, there is an 80s Prom on Saturday night from 8-11 PM where you can go dressed to the nines. Or you can go and observe, both are equally fun.
Jamie xx Saturday Night At Lightning Stage
Photo Credit / Lightning in a Bottle
It wouldn’t be a good preview without suggesting a set at the main main stage. There are few peak festival experiences like seeing a headliner at the Lightning Stage. The energy and aura around a headline set there is truly special. All the headliners and biggest acts will be performing here, as well as a few bands. Saturday night offers a very special main stage act and atmosphere this year with Jamie xx set to shut the stage down from 12:30 to 2 AM. After the release of his highly acclaimed sophomore album In Waves, Jamie xx has been touring the globe and playing out his music new and old. I had the pleasure of seeing Jamie xx at the Lightning Stage in 2016, and if memory serves it was a match made in heaven. Get ready to hear newbies like “Baddy On The Floor” and “All You Children” as well as oldies like “Loud Places” and “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)”
The Stacks Surprise Sets After 2 AM
Lightning in a Bottle is unique in the sense that the festival never sleeps. The venue is open 24/7 to be your playground. At other festivals the venue closes and patrons migrate to their campsites for the after party. At LiB there is just the next party. So when the main stages in Lightning, Thunder and Woogie close at 2 AM, their sister stages in the Junkyard and the Stacks, which serve as more intimate community spaces, keep going for another couple hours. The Stacks specifically is one I’d like to highlight because of the stage’s consistent soul stirring surprise sets year after year. Last year we saw Skrillex and Justin Jay throw down in the afterhours. Will we see some surprise b2b’s and huge acts do the same this year? Definitely. The only question is who. Could Tape B or Sammy Virji make their way over there Friday night? Could Subtronics and John Summit reignite SUBJOHNICS Saturday before they play or Sunday after their set? Could Do Lab family friend Four Tet make his way there? The possibilities are endless.
Photo Credit / Lightning in a Bottle
Wherever you are
Lastly, the place to be at Lightning in a Bottle is wherever you are. You are the headliner. You are the vibe. This place is magical and breeds magical experiences left and right. There are so many artists to see, so many experiences to have, that you might feel like you didn’t go to the right place or were at the right stage at the right time. Throw those emotions out of the window. There is no fomo here. Only excitement of what you’re doing and what you’re doing next. So go make new friends, explore with your old ones, tell these friends that you’re going on a sidequest and get lost in the wonders of Lightning in a Bottle. You never know who you might meet or what you might find.
Be safe and have an incredible Lightning in a Bottle!
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