We’re hardly ever invited to pursue actual self-expression. Even when provided, the invitation normally comes with high-quality print.
However for one weekend in Lake Perris, no masks was wanted. Similar Similar However Totally different made house for individuals to be simply that.
Spun from a handshake between childlike marvel and grownup ingenuity, Lake Perris was reworked right into a bountiful, imaginative playground. A scorching air balloon drifted over the water. Festivalgoers mounted a big dragon and a UFO. A dresser door opened to disclose two clowns in a secret room. Close by, birds manufactured from drones gathered behind an deserted college bus. Most weird of all? An old-timey TV aired movies of shirtless individuals shucking and buttering corn, in a small shack affected by popcorn and Playboy magazines known as “The Corn Hub.”
The expansive scope of SSBD’s environments underscores its creed: there aren’t any limitations or boundaries to artistic self-expression. The night time brings hearth dancers and folks browsing on a cell LED sofa. Mounted guitars, drums, and pianos implore strangers to jam collectively. Raised platforms on the Coconut Cove dancefloor let company showcase their strikes and change into a part of the present.
It’s troublesome to tell apart performers from attendees. That’s the purpose. The pageant is a collaborative undertaking, the place you’re inspired to run wild collectively in collective creativity. There’s an intentionality to every thing SSBD does. It’s a sandbox, a large playground for adults and households, however one fastidiously curated to assist creativeness.
SSBD’s holistic philosophy and dedication to amount over high quality are most plainly offered via its set instances. So many festivals drive ticket gross sales by cramming large names on a poster, inevitably cornering company with conflicting schedules and difficult decisions.
SSBD doesn’t abide by such tropes. The 2 main levels, appropriately named “Similar Stage” and “Totally different Stage,” by no means conflict. As a substitute, artists alternate between the 2. It’s a refreshing method that advantages the rave ecosystem. Performers are handled to the largest viewers obtainable, crowds are uncovered to musicians they’d in any other case miss, and the one factor left behind is FOMO.
SSBD shaped a top quality lineup, a formidable feat contemplating its standing as a comparatively new impartial pageant. Zeds Useless, LSZEE, and Dr. Fresch headlined this yr’s present with assist from Know Good, Opiou, and EDM.com Class of 2025 artist ALLEYCVT.
In an period the place memes run rampant via digital music, Zeds Useless reminded us that idiosyncrasies mustn’t come on the expense of the music. They’re longtime purveyors of weaving popular culture right into a musical fever dream, they usually nonetheless do it higher than anybody else. Each piece of their set was a cohesive expertise, from their “Actual Slim Shady”-inspired intro to the emotional excessive notes of “One Of These Mornings.”
LSZEE deserve a standing ovation for the load they bore over the weekend. The collaborative duo of LSDREAM and CloZee, finest pals who will cut up on the yr’s finish to renew their solo endeavors, carried out their penultimate set as LSZEE.
If feelings weren’t excessive sufficient, CloZee additionally carried out her first solo set of the yr, a surprising dawn set towards the Lake Perris backdrop. LSDREAM shocked everybody with an unannounced funk set on Thursday, then spiritually healed them with a LIGHTCODES sound bathtub.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be shocking how concerned LSDREAM was with SSBD. Tangibly, they search to perform the identical objectives. When discussing his musical initiatives, he touched on most of the identical beliefs that information the pageant.
“It’s about making a container for the viewers to be happy,” LSDREAM informed EDM.com. “To really feel prefer it’s secure to be themselves and to enter into a tough house. To specific themselves and join with like-minded individuals. It’s a container for that increased vibration, love, and vitality.”
Elsewhere, Know Good’s profile continues to blow up in 2025. These aware of what the cousins provide have been rewarded for his or her consciousness. The uninitiated have been blown away by a dwell set that includes experimental bass bangers infused with dwell guitar, drums, violins, and vocals.
ALLEYCVT set herself aside from her contemporaries this yr, highlighted by her frenetic tempo and aptitude for music choice. She’s had nothing however standout units all yr. If there’s one small modification she might make, it’s letting large moments breathe. Her transition from M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” to Wooli’s “Subsequent Episode” flip had each jaw on the ground, however there wasn’t sufficient time to soak it in.
SSBD has expanded remarkably from a few hundred attendees in 2018 to a capped 7,500 this yr. Because the pageant welcomes extra dreamers, its infrastructure should hold tempo. To not spoil the magic, however to protect it. SSBD’s largest areas for future enhancements are logistics, and in spite of everything, progress brings rising pains.
Security was by no means a priority, however organizers can enhance safety measures to make sure it stays true. The group was heat, and the gang hardly ever felt claustrophobic. Nonetheless, one unhealthy actor can destroy that. Strict safety on the live performance gates is probably not important, for the reason that pageant is unique to three-day campers. To guard the magic because the pageant scales, it’ll profit SSBD to have extra strong safety measures when automobiles arrive at camp, the primary level of entry.
The automotive tenting was immaculate. There are ample loos and showers within the state park, making it simple to remain clear and cozy via the recent days. The pageant grounds might use extra tender love and care. Sinks operating out of water and porta-potties with out rest room paper have been a typical prevalence. Fortuitously, these are simple fixes and minute within the grand scheme.
Similar Similar However Totally different is a treasure trove. To have such a visually spectacular and spiritually empowering house only a stone’s throw from San Diego is mind-boggling. For a lot of with whom we spoke, SSBD fell into one in every of two classes: their non-negotiable annual cease or the primary day of the remainder of their lives.
To that finish, the pageant is extra a co-creation. Each attendee is an element architect, half paintings, particularly throughout the paint celebration. It sounds lofty, however stroll via a to-scale recreation of a grandmother’s residence or share a dawn with strangers-turned-family, and it clicks.
The world exterior asks us to dim ourselves. SSBD fingers you a highlight. What you do with it’s completely, splendidly, as much as you.
You’ll find out extra about SSBD and buy tickets to the 2026 fest right here.
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