Lightning in a Bottle announces 2025 festival setlist
Shake out your tarps and dust off your wub wub wubs, because Lightning in a Bottle (LiB) is back for 2025. Taking place just outside Bakersfield from May 21 to 25, the festival has announced this year’s set list featuring a broad array of artists, DJs, and bands. Tickets are currently on sale for the event, as well as other opportunities to get involved. Here are some of the artists and performers you won’t want to miss.
Shygirl
Shygirl is coming off an impressive year, opening for Charli XCX and Troye Sivan on the SWEAT tour. Since dropping her experimental and boundary-pushing hyperpop album “Nymph” in 2022, Shygirl has had the time and experience to refine her performing abilities across various sorts of crowds. Playing in a space like Lightning in a Bottle is the musical equivalent of having a home-field advantage, which will be to her benefit when she reveals content from her upcoming EP. Mixing EDM production with pop sensibilities, this set promises to be one of the most diverse of the festival.
Channel Tres
Before we even get to the music, we need to talk about how well this guy can dance. Tres is a performer’s performer, with his music taking a backseat to the surreal dance moves and elaborate choreography that dominate his live shows. I saw him perform at Wonderfront Festival in 2024, and his pink kilt and dedicated dance team crafted one of the most memorable sets of that weekend. And when you’re not busy staring at the inhuman feats of rhythm and contortion, the music’s a real vibe, too. The house-centric music has the laid-back aura of fellow DJ Kaytranada, with the sensuality and personality of R&B like Jodeci or D’Angelo; a potent combination that is absolutely hypnotic.
Magdalena Bay
Fresh off of dropping one of the best albums of 2024, indie-pop darling Magdalena Bay is one of the stars of this year’s lineup. With every track of their new album “Imaginal Disk” acting as a top hit, they’re going to serve as the climax we all need after a 45-minute dubstep set without a drop. Their euphoric choruses and dynamic instrumentals carry their listeners across waves of space and time better than any DMT pen ever could, and they bring just the kind of optimistic energy to help you rebound for that 4 am techno set.
Peekaboo
Peekaboo is the Chief Operating Officer of BASS. He ended 2024 on top with an outstanding performance at ISOKNOCK’s SD 4EVR festival, where he displayed a hype-fueled set powered by rich bass and outstanding sampling. With a sound adjacent to Skrillex and G Jones, his bass-inspired brand of dubstep is intergalactic in proportion and mixed with the finesse of a fine-toothed comb. If you’re looking for a set that combines spectacular sound quality with bass that will knock you off your feet, PEEKABOO! Here it is!
The Return of Claude Vonstroke
The king of House is back. After taking a detour into bass music under his given name, Barclay Crenshaw, the DJ has returned to his Vonstroke moniker for a 2025 tour that’s making a stop at LiB. Vonstroke’s blend of house and experimental tones creates a barely lucid atmosphere that feels more at home on an alien planet. Combining elements of synth-wave and drone, Vonstroke paints a picture of another world that, under the canopy of LiB, will become like a spaceship traveling to a distant land of eternal rapture.
Underworld
Living legends Underworld are hitting LiB this year with their unique brand of psychedelic house and techno. The group’s long and improvisational tracks have an atmospheric quality that could make the first Moog sound just as new as the day it came out. Propelled by ingenious ideas rather than trendy gimmicks, the group has continued to thrive since the late 80s because of how they can make repetition feel uncannily dynamic. They have gone on to score award-winning films like Trainspotting and performed at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. It’s hard to anticipate what they will do for their LiB set, except for that it will probably blow your mind.
