The Do LaB has grown hand in hand with Coachella to become a festival within a festival and an oasis of dance music in the desert.
In 2004, the Flemming brothers, Dede, Josh, and Jesse, along with Dream Rockwell, had a vision to create a space that was a departure from the typical festival stage. A place where imaginations ran free and underground festival culture had a place to grow and eventually thrive on a level never seen before. Enter, The Do LaB. The Flemming brothers aimed to highlight fresh names in electronic music and give festival-goers a reinvigorated outlet for dancing that many standardized festival stages did not provide at the time.
Throughout its journey, The Do LaB has honed the art of crafting unique dance spaces and immersive festival culture. While the music has remained the ethos of their inspiration, the Flemming brothers have always strived to provide a space that offers a respite from the often brutal desert sun. Since its formation, the beloved brand has ascended to the pinnacle of the festival scene through its partnership with Coachella and curating its flagship event, Lightning in a Bottle.
Coachella, in particular, serves as a platform for The Do LaB to test and perfect new stage designs, offering festival-goers a genuinely one-of-a-kind experience from the moment attendees lay eyes on their mind-bending creations. As the weekend unfolds, the stage continues to come to life before our eyes, becoming an oasis of water cannons, misters, and live painters during the scorching daylight hours. At night, otherworldly vibes of ariel performers, confetti, lasers, and a thumping high-fidelity sound system enrapture revelers of all kinds.
This year, fans can look forward to a fresh stage design that gets revamped every few years to keep fans on the edge of their seat and promises to deliver an incredibly unique experience time and time again. The lineup for both weekends has packed a punch, sparking anticipation and excitement among festival-goers, but before we get into the madness, let’s take a trip back in time.
Exploring Do LaB’s stages at Coachella over the years
2006: Lucent Dossier Domnation
From humble beginnings, The Do LaB rose from the sizzling desert heat as the Flemming brothers aimed to provide a comfortable respite from the relentless sun. Within the dome, DJs spun records beneath a massive cardboard tree as hundreds of vines covered the interior. They dished out orange slices, water, misty-cool shade, and bumping underground DJ sets. The combination was enough to win over the thousands of attendees, and The Do LaB at Coachella was born.
2010: Misting Oasis
The Do LaB Team had found its home for the foreseeable future in the middle of the festival. An A-list group of architects, designers, engineers, and builders set out to provide a place where attendees could find shade, hang out, dance, or chill from any direction. 2010 Artists included Random Rab, Stephan Jacobs, KRADDY, Lucent Dosier Experience, and more.
2012: Beating the heat at the heart of Coachella.
As temperatures soared well over 100 degrees over the inaugural year of Coachella introducing the two-weekend format, The Do LaB was the place to be. Their staff, armed with high-intensity water cannons, did what they could to keep festival-goers cool as artists by the likes of GRiZ, Minnesota, Pumpkin, Christian Martin, and many more kept the vibes high throughout the intensely hot weekend. the 2012 iteration of Do LaB also provided platforms within the middle of the stage for revelers to dance atop.
2014: “Nobody puts Do LaB in the corner!”
One of The Do LaB’s most amazing designs yet, this was the collective’s first departure from the circular stage design to a more open concept. It was also the year that Do LaB had grown so popular that the stage was moved out of the center of the festival and into the far corner past the terrace and food court. A move that dubbed die-hard fans to proclaim, “Nobody puts Do LaB in the corner!” it became one of the best stages ever, including sets by Moby, Little Dragon, Phantogram, Gramatik, and more!
2015-2016: Big Fish
As Do LaB continued to evolve year after year, things exploded for the humble collective when they put together Big Fish, the fish-tail-shaped stage that seemed to embrace attendees as they danced the weekend away within the confines of its three sides. Big Fish was captained by a soundboard ten feet off the ground in the marvelous Oak tree at its center. The ever-popular dance platforms flanked the fish and a wall of live painters along its outer sides. It was truly the place to be as Dr. Fresch, Tokimonsta, CloZee, and more took the stage over two weekends. This stage design was also reused for the 2016 iteration of Coachella.
2017-2018: Beacon
One of Do LaB’s true masterworks to date, The Beacon, was exactly that. It could be seen from almost anywhere within the festival, and its geometric design and pineapple-like top beamed in the desert sun as well as late into the night. While one of the worst wind storms in Coachella Festival history nearly wiped out the entirety of the fabric in between weekends with sustained guests of 50mph, the Do LaB team got to work and completely restored just hours before doors on Friday of the second weekend.
This was Do LaB’s collaboration with Heather Shaw from Vita Modus Studios, who is also producing The Quasar Stage at this year’s festival. 2017’s soundtrack was provided by none other than Mr. Carmack, Justin Martin, Haywyre, Yotto, and more.
2019 – Present: Warrior One
Since 2019, Warrior One has become our steadfast home at Do LaB. Named after the structure inspired by the sacred Egyptian Scarab Beetle, Warrior One has been their most ambitious project to date, and the design has been taken to the next level of keeping up with the festival’s scale. As the Coachella grounds have expanded more and more over the years, so has Do Lab.
Warrior One commands energy when you approach it from any side. Its roof is adorned with a kaleidoscope of colorful panels, providing ample shade and warm desert breezes that can sweep through. Notable artists that have played the stage over the years include Skream, Rinzen, Vintage Culture, The Glitch Mob, and beyond.
We are now only days away from Coachella this year, and we can’t wait to see what the Do LaB has in store.
With a new structure on the horizon, the bar has been set higher than ever for the festival within the festival. As America’s greatest weekend in live music continues to improve with time, so does the Do LaB. Take a look at their teaser video for this year’s stage design, and we can’t wait to see you in the desert. Always remember, when in doubt, Do LaB.
