It’s always good to confuse people a little bit. Raise your hand if you are surprised that I am really looking forward to Metallica as the headliner tonight. We arrived last night and it was a surprisingly chilly evening during our dinner at „Allegria“ in downtown Napa
We decided to start Friday easy with a brunch at the Waterfront Grill. We can hear the first acts across the river. I think it’s “Mama Said” from the Verizon stage. Could be the Allianz stage too, but that would be Peter Collins and it sounds more aggressive from here 😉
We really loved their Ceviche and Ahi Poke. Our theory is that the Linguine & Clams (fantastic!) and the Lobster roll will carry us though most of the day. And then there is a fantastic rhubarb desert, done just right. She’s like “stay away from my side of the desert, but have some more fruit, honey.” Nap anyone?
The side entrance was fastest again, literally no line for VIP entry. Didn’t make it past the merchandise and went to the VIP Village stage, starting with “Fantastic Negrito” from Oakland. “the story of life after destruction”. Life’s highs and lows. “Songs born from a long hard life channeled through black roots music.”
The next up SAINt JHN. Hmm. Between Spoon and Djo this seemed to be like the best alternative. Energetic. “I don’t know how to describe the music I make, don’t know what genre it belongs to and I don’t exactly care” from his bio sums it up pretty well. Kudos – somebody passed out on the front and he immediately stopped and called the medics. „Too close to the edge now“
Hmm. He is delivering his „Don‘t stop message“ right after he abruptly stops his songs. Oh Well. Really like his most recent song though. Here‘s the video:
The closing prayer did go wrong at the end – OTT cursing for my taste overall. Off to the VIP Village stage, catching a cool part of the „MisterWives“ set. Fun. Good atmosphere!
Next up „Greta Van Fleet“. Really fun! From their bio: „So many have been positioned as the future, we’ve forgotten how to recognize the real thing. Expectations may run high, but Greta Van Fleet is indifferent to opinion. The band doesn’t have to say a certain thing or act a certain way to convince anyone of their capacity. All they have to do is play.“
They didn’t disappoint – I loved it!
The Garden. An all weed area. Yeah. Not me. Most comfy benches of the day though. We looked at some Cannabis infused drinks at „Pamos.“ We tried to pick some up across the street but somehow they weren’t open as long as promised. Oh well, switching to shipping.
And off to the headliner for tonight. First time for me to see them live. Really looking forward to it! Can’t believe how fast the day went by!
Opening lead up with AC/DCs „Long Way to the Top.“ I got worried there for a minute during an Senio Morricone Western Intro because the monitors were heavily flickering even into the the first song „Hardwired.“ By „Memory Remains“ everything was perfect. „Wherever I May Roam,“ „Seek & Destroy,“ „Fuel,“ and „One Were Next“. Great set.
The awesome thing about Bottlerock is that there are various venues in parallel. We decided to skip over to the Verizon Stage – sniff, I apparently missed „Nothing Else Matters“ and „Enter Sandman“ that were in Metallica‘s encore.
But Kygo was well worth it. Per bio „the Norwegian musician born Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll first introduced himself in 2013 and quietly became one of the most ubiquitous hitmakers in the world.“ Very fun and the crowd was dancing! Really as DJ alone on stage, his act relied heavily on beautiful visuals, of which there were plenty!
We closed the night at Morimoto‘s with Martinis and great Japanese food with impeccable presentation. This was still at the existing location, and Chef Morimoto seems to have taken what I remember being „Salt“ right off the bridge when you are walking back to downtown. I am really looking forward to that opening!
What an awesome day! Can’t wait for Day 2 🙂
StageAficionado 