Same Same But Different Festival: A DMNW Review

We’re finally back home after an amazing time running around Same Same But Different Festival in Lake Perris, CA. This fest was jam packed with things to do, we did our absolute best to experience as much as possible throughout the weekend. Even though this is a smaller festival, we were just as busy as we would be at a bigger one.

The Music

The way this festival aligns a set list makes seeing all your top picks a lot easier, as they have set break periods on the main stage that give you time to hit the smaller stages before another big main stage set begins. The main stage build was just as grand as any other festival, and the smaller stages each hosted their own kind of vibes to keep us grooving through the main stage breaks.

Our favorite set of the fest has to be none other than Tape B. He hit us with banger after banger and to finish off a momentus main stage set, he brought out our favorite Seattle-born vocalist, Dani King, to perform their collab song Underneath Your Skin. Dani’s live vocals were completely on point and made for a super special close to one heck of a set.

Photo Credit: Philip Einstein Photography

Some of our other highlight sets were Vincent Antone, who blew us away with mixing in his live electric guitar skills with his talent for the decks. Steller also brought her big girl game and knocked it out of the park with one of her biggest main stage sets of her career. A pair we haven’t had the treat of seeing in years took the main stage by storm, Gramatik came on strong and kept the vibes high throughout their set.

SSBD has a special place in the heart of LSDream, he takes a lot of time and care to curate more than just a headliner set for the weekend. His main stage presence was as positive as ever, LightCode had us in all the feels, and his workshop warmed our hearts. You can see how much love LSDream has for the SSBD family, it’s admirable to watch his dedication.

Photo Credit: Dance Music NW

We had a lot of stand out sets, the music at this fest was above and beyond. Effin kicked it off with the coolest intro made specifically for SSBD and had us reeling for his new album that dropped this week, Heartbeat, giving us preview after preview of what ID’s were to come. Of The Trees had us floating with the full moon, even having the crowd howl in unison for its glow.

Photo Credit: Sam Stofko – samshootsshows

Nakey Island

This island takeover had energy of its own, hosting more of a house music vibe while the mainland stages were more bass focused throughout the weekend. We were lucky enough to take the quick boat trip over to the island and hang out on the less crowded beaches over there during the hotter parts of the day.

We’ve heard from the more veteran attendees that the weather is usually a bit cooler, especially at night, than this year. It was a sweltering year, with temperatures not dropping much even after the sun went down, so having access to the island was a huge help with more places to stay cool.

Photo Credit: Dance Music NW

Activities

This fest had non-stop stuff to do, we could hardly keep up with all the options. We took advantage of a handful of different yoga classes, soundbathes and guided meditations. There was a ton of focus on wellness at this festival, it was quite refreshing and aided in maintaining our energy levels all weekend long.

In addition to all the amazing ways to recharge, we enjoyed how alive the artistry is at SSBD. The Creation Station hosted many different artists all in one place, and the live painters were stationed right in front of it. With so much talent all in one place, we were able to admire more art than ever.

We met up with a couple of our favorite artists we met at Lightning in a Bottle, and were more than glad to see them given a great platform at another fest. Seeds of Life Crystals had a gorgeous set up for her handmade jewelry within the Creation Station, and live painter Miriam Jade was only a short walk away. All of the talent at this fest is awesome to see, but these two women stood out to us most with how beautifully their passions are portrayed.

Photo Credit: Dance Music NW

The Food

Despite being a smaller festival, the food vendors packed a punch and made meals feel like we were eating fresh home cooking. Though there wasn’t as many options as you would be used to at bigger festivals, there were still more than enough places to be able to choose something different for pretty much every meal.

One thing that always makes a difference at hotter weather festivals is the access to hydration, and while we found many good options for cold, refreshing drinks amongst the vendors, we were disappointed to find a lack in water stations. We didn’t find many throughout the main areas of the fest, and relied heavily on the access we had in VIP. This is something we notice a little extra when the security entrance to the main festival venue is going to have everyone pour out any liquids they are bringing with them from camp.

The Extras

We were lucky enough to have the Limitless level of VIP access and it made a huge difference in how we were able to experience the weekend. The Limitless Lounge to the side of the main stage was one of the best seats in the house and the ability to get off our feet in comfort was a big plus. We also thought the ability to obtain free ice for our drinking water was a nice perk to help us survive the hot days.

Our favorite VIP perk had to be the cold plunges, with 95+ degree weather, these ended up being a daily stop. There were also some sauna stations, but we were sweaty enough already to have any desire to try them out. The air conditioned bathroom trailers ended up being our go to restrooms, hard to beat a break in the AC in bathrooms that were always clean and stocked.

Photo Credit: Katelyn Berberich Photography

Unlike most festivals, this venue had access to real plumbing, both inside the fest and in the campgrounds. It was a total game changer to not have to rely entirely on the use of porta-potties and to have outdoor beach showers and stalled indoor showers with plenty of hot water.

SSBD is one of the only festivals left that still allows fire performers to express themselves freely and create burn circles on the beach once the sun dips behind the hills. Just in front of the SSBD sign on the beach, they lit up the shores under a sparkling night sky and we spent each night in awe of their heat.

Photo Credit: Ty Mullins – TyFoxPhoto

The Struggles

Every festival has areas to be improved, and we know it can be a little more tricky to do so when a festival is smaller and independent. We did feel like the access to water refill stations and trash receptacles were somewhat sparse. Despite the trash cans being somewhat difficult to find, the festival grounds remained pretty clean during the course of the festival.

Something we, as press, specifically struggled with was the cell service being almost non-existent, and our wifi access being mostly unusable the entirety of the fest. We were unable to access our media socials they way we would have liked to and still had close to no coverage in the media HQ.

Our biggest worry about this festival came down to just one area: Medical. We observed and attempted getting more info on the abilities of the medical tent within the festival grounds, but overall it seemed to be lacking in comparison to other festivals of similar capacities. The tent did not appear to be heavily staffed, and the services seemed to be able to provide were a narrow selection of over the counter medications and an ambulance on standby if more medical care than taking an ibuprofen was necessary.

Medical access is something we always want to see invested in more, and we hope as SSBD gains their traction, this will be something they focus on in the future.

The Crowds

We were pleased to see how much room remained in the pit areas throughout each set. Main stage never felt too crowded, there was always room to dance no matter how close to the front you ended up being. The attitude of the crowd was uplifting and courteous, lots of the attendees were vocal about being yearly SSBD festival goers and they uphold a very friendly and welcoming culture.

This is an all ages festival, so it was great to see the youth have the opportunities to learn about the EDM community and all the love that lives within it. While it’s no fault of the festival organizers, we did stumble upon a few kiddos that were missing any kind of hearing protection, which does get concerning. Overall, most of the under 18 crowd were earplugged up and boogying just as hard as the adults.

Photo Credit: Ty Mullins – TyFoxPhoto

Overall we thought SSBD was a tight-knit and heartwarming festival, even if some of the infrastructure factors could use some expansion. SSBD goers stay loyal to this festival and come back year after year, the vibe is full of joy as soon as you arrive. We had a blast meeting tons of festival organizers that help to bring together this quaint annual fest and can’t wait to see how they keep advancing it each year.

Tickets for next year are already on sale, with SSBD creating its own ticket sales platform in an effort to keep ticket fees as low as possible. Take a look at next year’s options and we hope to see you at SSBD 2027!