In a summerly tradition unlike any other, yuppies of all ages conquer the Napa Valley Expo for the North Bay’s premier festival: BottleRock.
The quirkiest BottleRock act is the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage. No matter what, this experience always felt slopped together. In a bizarre yet mandatory humiliation ritual, nobody on the crowded stage could move about, nor did they understand what they had to do and in what order. The earliest life chef demonstration was held with 49ers stars “The People’s Tight End” George Kittle and fullback Kyle “Juice” Juszczyk. Their backup was the “Pasta Queen” Nadia Caterina Munno, George Kontos and Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach. The epitome of millennial humor, this segment of the day is always messy, slapstick, awkward and offers you a chance to see if your favorite celeb can really hang.
Nothing better captures the carefree yet elevated atmosphere BottleRock is angling for than the cooking demos. A place where people of all ages, abilities and walks of life can get together with their friends for a full day of music paired with local food and local alcohol. Many of the booths at BottleRock are from local restaurants serving a handful of their best dishes. Ausiello’s Homeslice pizzeria in Santa Rosa appeared alongside Boon Fly Cafe, Hog Oyster Company and a myriad of Napa branded restaurants.
The atmosphere of BottleRock cannot be replicated. Nobody in attendance could seem to agree as to what the uniform is for this event. Festival emos in Demonias strode alongside Luchese cowboy boots. Pioneer-chic dresses stood side by side with topless men in raver gear. Soccer jerseys, sardonic t-shirts and lace almost-outfits intermingled freely. More pashminas than you would ever desire. A quarter of the young men looked like they went fishing before stopping by the festival. As a result, this was one of the few festivals I’ve seen where there was no discernable visual difference between the VIP crowd and us plebeians in GA. If it weren’t for the concrete and metal barriers between the crowds and the duplicitous VIP seating, there’d be no way of knowing who spent $150 and who spent $1,500.
The cost barrier to entry and thoughtfully patrolled premises create the environment BottleRock needs to function. Not just three days of music and debauchery, but a controlled setting for all ages to relax in the sun and enjoy an eclectic mix of whoever could be booked and was deemed popular enough.
The prominence of strollers, middle-school and younger children, and young families was impossible to ignore. This is the ideal and maybe only festival for large millennial families and those parents who’re either biologically fused to their strollers or who’ve grown a björn. These young parents are ready to let loose and have no quibbles with the gently wafting odor of undoubtedly medical marijuana on the breeze.
Make no mistake: BottleRock is a maximally positive environment. Stand still in the crowd for longer than a minute and you can start to hear kindnesses and compliments traded freely in all directions. Everyone’s hair, outfit and energy are somehow on-point and worthy of praise.
It’s the only place in the world where you can listen to hits you forgot while a housewife foments infidelity four feet from you. The only place you’ll ever see a soccer mom smoke a blunt. One of the only places where high school girls and comfortably employed Gen Xers will ever watch the same show side-by-side.
Botox solutions, Aviator Nation, Sunglass hut and a Land Rover display attempted to corral wine moms into their next big purchase. Hats with charms and plain hoodies at extortionate prices (though aren’t memories priceless?) The epitome of the festival’s dichotomous vibe is the Martini activation, which sat right beside the White Claw activation. Just around the corner Miracle Gro (yes, the fertilizer and soil company) jockeyed with Lagunitas for your attention. Prominently next to the Miracle Gro area was something called “The Club,” a 21+ area presumably for people who are afraid of the actual club.
Natasha Bedingfield of “Unwritten” fame started the day. (Can you feel the rain on your skin? No one else can feel it for you. Only you can let it in.) Even her lesser known tracks had the crowd swaying, and her stage presence was constantly engaging. She lightly derailed her set for a 6-7 bit with the crowd. She then invited her brother onto the stage, wearing a Judy Hopps graphic polo with matching sweatpants. They sang an unreleased duet together and their collective vocal chops had crowd members next to me saying, “People have such talented families.” Bedingfield herself drew the eyes of everyone around with young women near me remarking, “She’s so beautiful. The hair. Oh my god.” When she got around to her biggest hit, the entire crowd sang along as if awoken from a standing slumber. Everyone was moved to sway side to side and release their inhibitions.
Chaka Khan can start as late as she wants because she is undeniable. She owned the Prudential Stage regardless of whose name is on the marquee. Her voice still has the same magic that made her an icon in the 70s. Not a single note escaped her range, and she was more lively at 73 than most of the younger performers combined. Her prepared graphics were polished and added to her allure and she stunned in an outfit made mostly of sequins. She serenaded the crowd with hits like, “I’m Every Woman” and “Sweet Thing.” She crested every high note and bellowed every low tone smoothly. Her tank-topped guitarist helped provide the physicality Ms. Khan might’ve lacked and their chemistry together made for a fabulous show.
Jon Bellion’s music has a carefree vibe and he made for the essential “BottleRock music” of the day. Anyone who isn’t already a star or represented by a major label falls into a groovy niche of soft rock and pop-adjacent music that’s easy to listen to. Before his final song, Bellion said, “I wrote this song at 20, now I’m 35.” Far from just a self-deprecating comment on his age, Bellion was revelling in his career as a newly independent artist performing on a main stage at BottleRock. The T-Mobile Stage is an accessible stage with an ASL interpreter rocking out alongside the band.
Each stage has a new, non-local, corporate sponsor. This is the first year in recent memory wherein Jam Cellars hasn’t sponsored the entire event and named each stage.
Teddy Swims sings pop-rock with the country bravado and grit that sent Jellyroll to the stratosphere. He played his hits and gave it all the gravel his voice had with fantastic renditions of “Some Things I Never Know,” “Not Your Man” and a cover of Illenium’s “All That Really Matters” to boot. Swims preached good vibes and positivity like every BottleRock performer, making a special note of his song “Black and White.” Swims made sure to alert every fan that he believed in love above any and all else, regardless of race, gender, sexuality or creed.
Papa Roach walked a tightrope between nostalgia and their own future. Half the show was the hits you know and love, and the other half was an appeal for mental health resources and donations to fight suicide. The balance felt apt for a band started in 1992, now at a crossroads in 2026. His BottleRock set discussed his recent turn to god, and fans were asked to donate if they were able to anti-suicide efforts. In their words, Papa Roach’s music has always tackled and dealt directly with mental health and this felt like the natural next step for them. Amidst the hardcore rock and roll was a somber reckoning with our own faults, and how we can better ourselves for those around us.
“I am BØRNS. You are BØRNS. We Are BØRNS,” was the departing message from BØRNS, the mind behind “Electric Love.” This hit was left to the very end of his set, and the mesh-clad magician opted to introduce everyone to the rest of his catalogue. No song disappointed, and his vocal talent was clearly on another level, with higher notes, more clarity and more wit than anyone performing Friday. 10/10 songs, 5/10 balloon animals. BØRNS began crafting a dog as an accessory to a wandering anecdote, stopped, started again, and finally gave up without completing his balloon critter. But that anecdote was the glue that allowed the audience to move between songs. Is your life story necessary for everyone to hear? Who cares! It’s your stage. Own it.
Lorde. Lorde is a bona-fide star and she handles herself on the stage as such. No stage had more involved design, moving set pieces and more intensity than Lorde. It took her only a handful of songs before she stripped her pants off in order to display her silver-painted knees and perform the rest of her set in her boxer briefs. She kneeled, bounced, crawled and clawed her way across the stage, making appeals to the audience from flat on the floor and belting her heart out in a supine position. Her set had a temporary treadmill for several visual moments and unique live filming techniques. She clung to her guitarist for a verse and took control of a camera for another. The best stage presence bar-none.
Men at Work rocked the latest, staying up til 10 p.m. playing all of their hits. With such an iconic group, it’s hard to find a song that isn’t a gem. They ended the evening with a deadly duo of “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Land Down Under” which brought scores of sudden fans rushing to the stage. Their sign-off song was “Love is the Sweetest Thing.” A packed audience shouted every word back to the Men at Work loud enough to be heard down under. Each of the night’s final performers enjoyed a packed house.
However, it was abundantly clear that many fans were waiting all day for Wheezy. Lil Wayne of Young Money Records would’ve blown the roof off of BottleRock if it had one. The live instruments meshed flawlessly with the classic rap beats, and this new spin on Tunechi had something for everyone. He played all of the hits. “Comfortable,” “Ms Officer” and “Six foot Seven foot” gave everyone something to sing along to. For lovers of the “No Ceilings” mixtape, he played several tracks off the compilation, including “Surf Swag.” And if you’ve ever wondered, “Loyal” is officially a Lil Wayne song. Every track was concluded with a sincere thank you, an appeal to the “beautiful people” in the audience and a swift transition into the next hit. He ended the show with “A Milli” and played Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” to send fans home for the night.
The long walk back to the car was a fitting end to a day mostly composed of standing and walking. Throngs of people flowed toward the exit under street lamp lights. The silence following the crescendo of music and energy barely sufficed as a cooldown. A fast-food-filled debrief following a full festival day is mandatory, much to the benefit of the Napa In-n-Out. A monument to the North Bay lifestyle, all of its quirks and contradictions included, BottleRock stands alone.
