A guide to the big Lightning in a Bottle music and lifestyle festival in little Bradley.

If Burning Man and the Electric Daisy Carnival conceived a love child – perhaps while submerged in Esalen’s hot springs – it would look something like the Lightning in a Bottle Festival.

Its 75-plus music acts include Moby, Phantogram, Little Dragon, Beats Antique, Cashmere Cat, Tokimonsta, Maxxi Soundsystem and Claude Vonstroke. Camping fans will fill up Lake San Antonio Recreation Area in Bradley starting today and remain through Memorial Day, basking in a circus for the senses well beyond sound.

Each day is filled with dozens of yoga and movement classes like hoop dance, meditation and intuitive flow. Workshops like “Psychedelic Harm Reduction,” “Path of Red Tantra” and “The Science and Mysticism of Water” happen from 10am-9:30pm daily. A massive roster of speakers – from YouTube co-founder and former CEO Chad Hurley to Native Foods Executive Officer Tanya Petrovna – appear at the Temple of Consciousness. There are also a slew of panels with topics ranging from “Understanding How Your Teeth Affect the Energy Body” to “Animal Instincts: The Will to Live and Love.”

There’s something to do every second of every day. Here’s a brief guide highlighting a half-dozen stellar musical offerings that could get lost in the seemingly endless schedule now posted online.

Jeffertitti’s Nile (7:30pm Friday; Grand Artique stage)

On more than one occasion, the psych-garage rockers have mesmerized audiences in Big Sur with fluid jams served with a side of punk. The SoCal outfit’s long-awaited full-length debut, The Electric Hour, was recorded mostly at Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ Ojai studio and features guest spots from Crystal Antlers’ Jonny Bell on sax and Father John Misty’s J. Tillman – frontman Jeffertitti FJM’s Touring bassist – on drums.

Silent Frisco (12:30-5:45am Thu-Sun)

For those who aren’t in the know, this scene, featuring thousands dancing in complete silence, may look like something out of a David Lynch nightmare. At a closer look, the dancers are wearing Silent Frisco’s 3,000 custom-designed two-channel, festival-optimized, long-range-feed wireless headphones so they can keep the music going all night without waking up neighbors. The thoughtfully curated DJ sessions include Talking Heads and Radiohead sets from Motion Potion, an LCD Soundsystem set from Aaron Castle, The Gentleman Callers of L.A. and a Daft Punk set from Matt Haze. Sleep is for quitters.

The Lucent Dossier Experience (11:15pm-12:15am Friday; Lightning Stage)

This L.A.-based collective, whose name translates to “a collection of glowing light,” is a walking, jamming, pulsing identity crisis: They’re a band (a fusion of electronica, dubstep and breakbeat), Bohemian circus, experimental dance troupe skilled in aerial arts, and a fire performance and steampunk vaudeville outfit all rolled into one interactive explosion. Custom body airbrush tattooing juxtaposed with costumes made from bones, teeth and feathers only add to the esoteric allure of this haute couture acid test.

Restavrant (2-3am Friday; Grand Artique)

Techno beats make love to a weathered acoustic guitar, bottleneck slide, a foundation of Muddy Waters country blues and Bo Diddley-era rock. South Texas’ Troy Murrah assembled a tasty conglomeration of influences to achieve the sound he was going for. He invented the rest, using a Hohner Green Bullet harmonica mic taped to the side of a retro, stainless steel 1950s mic. On top of that, his vocals run through effects pedals enabling his voice to sound like a 1929 Mississippi John Hurt recording produced by Beck. In January 2013, Restavrant performed at East Village in Monterey, and it’s something well worth staying up late for.

Quest Crew (12:40-12:50am Saturday; Lightning Stage)

A lot can happen in 10 minutes, at least in the case of hip-hop dance outfit Quest Crew. The 10-piece ensemble, who won season three of MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, merges B-boying, hip-hop and breakdancing in an innovative, tightly-choreographed dance set that may even inspire some breakdancing in the audience.

Tropo (6-7:15pm Saturday; Lightning Stage and 3:30-4:30am Sunday; Grand Artique)

San Luis Obispo’s electronica pioneers took Pacific Grove by storm in 2012, when they rocked Chautauqua Hall. Tropo’s live shows are spectacles involving wirelessly syncing four computers to deliver prerecorded loops simultaneously. On top of pre-recorded looping come all the instrumental parts – drums, violin, rhythmic sounds and synthesizers – created live.

The psychedelic otherworldliness often inspires full immersion: “Robot Music” centers on a violin riff and a wall of synths that feel as if they’re opening a dimension where HAL and Wall-E are learning to feel their dance feet. 


As suddenly as Lightning in a Bottle appears in South County, it will fade into the surrounding landscape with its “Leave it Better, Leave it Beautiful” policy. But its impression will remain.

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE happens Thursday, May 22 through Monday, May 26 at San Antonio Recreation Area, 2091 New Pleyto Road, Bradley. $260/weekend pass.lightninginabottle.org/info