We’re not often invited to pursue actual self-expression. Even when supplied, the invitation normally comes with wonderful print.
However for one weekend in Lake Perris, no masks was wanted. Identical Identical However Totally different made area for folks to be simply that.
Spun from a handshake between childlike surprise and grownup ingenuity, Lake Perris was reworked right into a bountiful, imaginative playground. A sizzling 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 at the back of an deserted college bus. Most weird of all? An old-timey TV aired movies of shirtless folks shucking and buttering corn, in a small shack suffering from popcorn and Playboy magazines known as “The Corn Hub.”
The expansive scope of SSBD’s environments underscores its creed: there are not any obstacles or boundaries to artistic self-expression. The evening brings fireplace 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 visitors showcase their strikes and develop into a part of the present.
It’s tough to tell apart performers from attendees. That’s the purpose. The pageant is a collaborative mission, the place you’re inspired to run wild collectively in collective creativity. There’s an intentionality to all the things SSBD does. It’s a sandbox, a large playground for adults and households, however one fastidiously curated to help creativeness.
SSBD’s holistic philosophy and dedication to amount over high quality are most plainly offered by means of its set instances. So many festivals drive ticket gross sales by cramming massive names on a poster, inevitably cornering visitors with conflicting schedules and difficult selections.
SSBD doesn’t abide by such tropes. The 2 major phases, appropriately named “Identical Stage” and “Totally different Stage,” by no means conflict. As an alternative, artists alternate between the 2. It’s a refreshing strategy that advantages the rave ecosystem. Performers are handled to the most important viewers accessible, crowds are uncovered to musicians they’d in any other case miss, and the one factor left behind is FOMO.
SSBD fashioned a high quality lineup, a powerful feat contemplating its standing as a comparatively new impartial pageant. Zeds Lifeless, LSZEE, and Dr. Fresch headlined this yr’s present with help from Know Good, Opiou, and EDM.com Class of 2025 artist ALLEYCVT.
In an period the place memes run rampant by means of digital music, Zeds Lifeless 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, and so they nonetheless do it higher than anybody else. Every bit 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 burden they bore over the weekend. The collaborative duo of LSDREAM and CloZee, finest pals who will break 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 shocking dawn set in opposition to the Lake Perris backdrop. LSDREAM shocked everybody with an unannounced funk set on Thursday, then spiritually healed them with a LIGHTCODES sound bathtub.
Possibly it shouldn’t be stunning how concerned LSDREAM was with SSBD. Tangibly, they search to perform the identical targets. When discussing his musical initiatives, he touched on lots of the identical beliefs that information the pageant.
“It’s about making a container for the viewers to be at liberty,” LSDREAM informed EDM.com. “To really feel prefer it’s protected to be themselves and to enter into a tough area. To precise themselves and join with like-minded folks. It’s a container for that larger vibration, love, and power.”
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 reside set that includes experimental bass bangers infused with reside 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 massive 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 preserve tempo. To not spoil the magic, however to protect it. SSBD’s greatest areas for future enhancements are logistics, and in any case, development 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 group not often felt claustrophobic. Nonetheless, one unhealthy actor can spoil 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 automobile tenting was immaculate. There are ample loos and showers within the state park, making it simple to remain clear and comfy by means of the recent days. The pageant grounds might use extra tender love and care. Sinks operating out of water and porta-potties with out bathroom paper have been a typical incidence. Fortuitously, these are simple fixes and minute within the grand scheme.
Identical Identical However Totally different is a treasure trove. To have such a visually spectacular and spiritually empowering area only a stone’s throw from San Diego is mind-boggling. For a lot of with whom we spoke, SSBD fell into considered one 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 social gathering. It sounds lofty, however stroll by means of a to-scale recreation of a grandmother’s residence or share a dawn with strangers-turned-family, and it clicks.
The world outdoors asks us to dim ourselves. SSBD fingers you a highlight. What you do with it’s fully, splendidly, as much as you.
You will discover out extra about SSBD and buy tickets to the 2026 fest right here.
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