BottleRock jump starts Bay Area’s attempt to return to normal

BY HELEN LAME’ AND RICK D. PORCARO

The eighth annual BottleRock Napa Valley Music Festival concluded Sunday night with headlining sets by Foo Fighers, Megan Thee Stallion and Village People bringing the Labor Day weekend event to a close with over 120,000 fans attending the three day celebration. As usual, the diverse mix of music, wine and culinary delicacies seemingly had something to offer for everyone.

Twice delayed by the worldwide pandemic, the 2021 version of BottleRock made a triumphant return to the Napa Valley Expo over the holiday weekend. The festival marked an ambitious attempt to regain a sense of normalcy for many whom were attending a live performance for first time since the outbreak of the Covid virus 18 months ago. Vigorous mandatory protocols were in place for attendees, with either proof of vaccination or documentation of a negative test result within the past 72 hours required at the gate by security.

Most concert-goers were easily able to overcome the slow start to the festival after two separate headliners were forced to cancel their Friday evening performances, but any lingering disappointments quickly faded as a deep and diverse lineup of musicians took to stages on Saturday and Sunday as temperatures soared into the 90’s. More than a few fans in attendance were overheard sharing their excitement stating that it was their first concert in nearly two years, while a young father-son duo made the trip from London just to see the Foo Fighters.

Saturday co-headliner Guns N’ Roses revived a BottleRock tradition by having the plug pulled on their set at precisely 10PM in response to the Napa neighborhood’s strict noise curfew, but it didn’t deter lead singer Axl Rose and company as they continued to perform a raucous version of Paradise City – with unexpected guest Dave Grohl – to it’s conclusion well after the power was shut down.

Unlike their well earned reputation for never beginning their set anywhere near their scheduled curtain time for well over two decades, the band was punctual Saturday, starting right on time for a set that stretched two and a quarter hours. While the band has been known recently to play well beyond that length, they still managed to provide a generous set that also included old favorites that included Welcome to the Jungle, Live and Let Die, Sweet Child o’ Mine, November Rain, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, and Patience among others.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the grounds Miley Cyrus was playing just her second festival of the summer to an overflow audience of exuberant fans. Touring in support of her latest album “Plastic Hearts,” Cyrus satisfied the music starved throng with a 90-minute set that included her hits Midnight Sky, Wrecking Ball and Party in the USA along with a handful of covers including Cher’s Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), Blondie’s Heart of Glass and Maybe by Janis Joplin. Additional Saturday performers included Run The Jewels, Portugal. The Man, Young The Giant and The North Mississippi All-Stars.

The diverse line-up on Sunday was just as good, if not better. Artists ranging from Stephen Colbert’s sidekick Jon Batiste, Jimmy Eat World, Cage The Elephant and the delightful Black Pumas bore the brunt of the scorching Napa temperatures. If you’re not familiar with the Austin-based Pumas featuring one-time Santa Monica singer and songwriter Eric Burton, you’re missing out as they’ve evolved from street corner buskers to Grammy nominees for Best New Artist and Album of the Year.

That set the stage for the festivals final headliners: Village People, Megan Thee Stallion and Foo Fighters. Surprisingly, Grohl and the Foo’s didn’t tempt fate and repeat their own 2017 curfew buster, watching the clock all night and finishing their set about six minutes prior to the witching hour.

Scheduled to be inducted into the Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame on October 30th in their first year of eligibility, the Foo’s surprisingly decided to play just three cuts off their superb recently released 11th studio album “Medicine at Midnight,” sticking to their best known classics that have seen them mature into one of the best received live bands on the planet, and well-deservedly so.

Opening their set with Times Like These off 2002’s “One by One,” Grohl and the incredibly tight band featuring his lieutenant Taylor Hawkins on drums, Pat Smear on rhythm guitar, Rami Jaffee manning the organ, Chris Shiflett on lead guitar and Nate Mendel on bass proceeded to rip thru a consistently joyous 18-song set spanning the groups catalog going back to their self-titled 1995 debut album.

Featuring numerous crowd sing-a-long’s initiated by the seemingly always positive Grohl, highlights included Breakout, My Hero, Best of You, Monkey Wrench and their curfew beating traditional closer Everlong. Always known to enliven their already dynamic sets with mid-show cover versions, the Foo Fighters once again failed to disappoint expectations Sunday.

Looking for some hard to find fun during lockdown, the group decided to develop an alternate persona as a Bee Gees cover band. This led to them transitioning into the “Dee Gees,” a play on Dave Grohl’s initials, for a performance of You Should Be Dancing, one of five Bee Gees cuts the band recently recorded, as disco era graphics from the “Saturday Night Fever” era flashed behind the band. That was followed by a stellar rendition of Freddie Mercury and Queen’s timeless Somebody To Love with the always colorful Hawkins taking over lead vocals as he pranced across the stage while Grohl returned to his Nirvana generation perch on the drum kit.

Another attraction throughout the weekend was the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage, which featured cooking demonstrations which paired many well-know chefs with several musicians and celebrities, including Ayesha Curry, Guy Fieri, Maren Morris and Hunter Pence.

With crowds approaching 40,000 people per day, there were few signs of altercations outside of a few brief instances where immaturity or inability to handle one’s alcohol consumption got in the way. Napa P.D. described the festival as a “public safety success” for a crowd of this magnitude aside from three misdemeanor arrests and one reported grand theft of camera equipment. An overwhelming sense of a positive atmosphere with great vibes in the air throughout the weekend was intact.

Yet again, ongoing health crisis and all, BottleRock presented one of the finest festival line-ups of the year in just it’s eighth year of existence. The dates for 2022’s BottleRock Festival have yet to be finalized, but a safe bet would be to expect it to take place May 27-29 on the same Memorial Day holiday weekend as it occupied from it’s inception thru 2019.