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Lightning in a Bottle Festival Lights Up the Shores of Irvine Lake This Weekend
William & the Earth Harp, seen here at Lightning in a Bottle 2010, returns this year to wow the crowd on Friday and Saturday night. (Photo by Andy Sternberg for LAist)
If it's Memorial Day Weekend then it's time for The DoLab's Lightning in a Bottle. 10,000 people of all ages are expected to take over Oak Canyon Ranch at the eastern edge of Irvine Lake in Silverado Canyon this weekend.
Complete with three stages, live art, a kids stage, and a program of workshops and yoga in the "Temple of Consciousness," think of Lightning in a Bottle as a Burning Man teaser with an Alice in Wonderland feel (rabbit hole-entry optional). If you like what you saw at The DoLab tent at Coachella last month then you'll love the full-on Lightning in a Bottle experience (see our photos from last year and from past LIBs).
It's the festival's second year at Oak Canyon Ranch (Google map) and organizers have been on site since last Friday reinventing the landscape. We're really dialing it in this year," DoLab cofounder and festival organizer Jesse Flemming told us this week. "There's so much more art, installations, and creative people involved this year."
The family-friendly affair features a kids village with arts & crafts, a medicine doctor show, and a family campground to keep the families in a safe zone, i.e., distant from the all-night revelers.
"We've expanded the grounds to take over the whole valley... there will also be additional camping by the lake," Flemming said (see festival map), much to the relief of festival-goers who dreaded the trek from the music stages to the hilltop campgrounds last year. "There will also be shuttles running round-the-clock this year."
Musical highlights include DJ sets and performances from the likes of Thievery Corporation, Bonobo, Pretty Lights, Beats Antique and Fool's Gold. Expect nothing short of sensory overload at the festival, which this year features a roster of speakers, workshops, interactive art, a gallery with works for sale, yoga classes and more.
Single day tickets and multi-day overnight passes are still available online and at the festival, which starts Friday (full weekend pass-holders may enter anytime after 4 p.m. Thursday).
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