From Coachella To Lightning In A Bottle: Do LaB’s Busy Season Is Now

Brothers Josh and Jesse Flemming sit on the floor beside their build for Coachella’s Do LaB stage. The Flemming brothers, along with other brother Dede, are less than two weeks out from stepping foot onto the Coachella grounds to finish their build. Shortly after the second weekend of the mega festival ends, the siblings and their team will travel 237.7 miles away to Buena Vista Lake, California, for their own festival, Lightning in a Bottle, held May 22-27.

“It’s a lot of long days and long nights,” Jesse Flemming says. “We’re trying to finish this project here. We leave to go build on site in 10 days. We’ll be at Coachella for a month, and we have five days off between Coachella and when we start building LiB. From March until mid-June, we’re in it every year. That’s our cycle. After that, things slow down and you can recuperate.”

Josh, Jesse and Dede have been collaborating together as Do LaB since the late ’90s, getting their start in renegade parties. In 2005, their friend was working as an art curator at a newer festival. He asked them if they’d be interested in coming in and building something on site, thus creating the Do LaB stage at Coachella, which has remained a festival favorite over the last 19 years.

This year, weekend one of Coachella features performances from Chase & Status, Channel Tres, Hudson Mohawke back-to-back Nikki Nair, Hamdi, Alesso, Mia Moretti and Anna Lunoe. Weekend two’s bill includes DJ Tennis, HoneyLuv, CocoRosie, HE.SHE.THEY. and more.

“We got a very tiny budget to come in and we set up a geodesic dome and an art piece,” Josh Flemming says, reminiscing about Do LaB’s inaugural year playing Coachella. “We misted the people and we gave out sliced orange peels because it was 107 degrees. And then, when the festival ended, we had some speakers and a friend of ours started DJing as the event ended. The police didn’t know we weren’t supposed to be doing that. The people at Coachella weren’t really paying attention, and we threw a brief but after-hours dance party in the middle of the field. Skip ahead 19 years, we’ve developed a relationship with (Goldenvoice CEO) Paul Tollett and the guys that were there. They really believed in us and trusted us.”

The Flemmings have done their best to keep ticket prices low while combating rising costs of materials, labor and talent. Do LaB can no longer rely on fans blindly purchasing tickets to LiB based on the experiences of past years, as many in the younger generation want to see a big lineup before committing to purchase.

This year, LiB boasts a larger lineup than in the past. Skrillex, Skream, Labrinth, Lane 8, M.I.A., Fatboy Slim, Nora En Pure, Tipper and others are all set to take the stage.

The Flemmings increased the talent budget this year to ensure fans felt they were getting value for their ticket money. With rampant competition in the festival space, they’ve been struggling as independent promoters over the last several years. While last year’s LiB went for a more throwback-rave sort of feel, the event didn’t sell as many tickets as hoped. This time around, organizers hoped a lineup dotted with artists currently hot in the dance music space would do the trick.

“It’s been a struggle,” Jesse Flemming says. “We’re fighting against Live Nation and AEG, all these other festivals. There’s radius clauses. Prices get driven up by festivals who can afford to pay a lot of money. Our whole strategy now is, if we want to be around for another 10, 15, 20 years, we need to level up and think about being a much larger festival; putting out a larger lineup that’s going to attract more people.”