BottleRock Napa Valley Festival 2023 Recap

01.06.2023

BottleRock Napa Valley is the festival known to kick off the summer in the Bay Area, as it annually takes place over Memorial Day Weekend, and this year it celebrates its 10-year anniversary, as the first Bottlerock was held in May 2013. This is the perfect time of year for a Music Festival as the weather starts to warm up for the summer.

BottleRock 2023 was held on Memorial Day Weekend from Friday to Sunday, May 26-28, the three-day festival drew an estimated 40,000 music, food, and wine lovers each day and was held at the Napa Valley Expo near downtown Napa.

Although this is the biggest music festival in Napa Valley, the food and wine are also considered the headliners and main attractions as Napa Valley is world-renowned for its amazing wine and culinary cuisine.

The Line-up

Bottlerock Napa Valley’s headliners include live performances by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran, The Smashing Pumpkins, Post Malone, Lizzo, and Lil Nas X. Other musical guests include Leon Bridges, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tove Lo, Paris Jackson, Wu-Tang Clan, and Bay Area local Keanu Reeves and his band Dogstar, and other local bands and artists.

The Venue

The Napa Valley Expo has been the home and venue for BottleRock for the last half decade. Conveniently located next to down town Napa, you can get a hotel, AirBnB or just drive to the event, as there was street parking and parking lots available for those who drove to the event.

Not many people know, but there is also a camping option at Camp Carneros at Skyline Wilderness that can also provide shuttles that only take 15 minutes to get to the venue. The Napa Valley Expo host many other events, but non bigger than BottleRock Napa Valley Festival, and over the years they have installed VIP Skydecks, raised platforms for better viewing, more shade to stay cool, and kept the grass green and soft to sit on with your blankets.

They have also created LCD video stages so that from even the back, you can see the artist play on their big LCD screens. The stages, according to attendance size are JaM Cellars Stage, Verizon Stage, Allianz Stage, and Truly Stage.

The Food

Food lovers will often mistake BottleRock for a food festival, as they are offered so many choices from popular local Napa Valley Restaurants and food trucks.

Some popular restaurants that had food stands in the culinary garden include; Napa Yard, Ristorante Allegria, Bounty Hunter Smokin’ BBQ, Cole’s Chop Shop, Mo’s Hot Dogs, Mustards Grill, Osha Thai, just to name a few.

There are also special restaurant accommodations in the VIP village, where you can sit down at a table, eat, drink and relax.

The Wine

Wine lovers will refer to BottleRock as their favorite wine festival because Napa Valley is world-famous for its beautiful rolling hill vineyards and an amazing selection of wines for all wine enthusiasts.

Popular Wineries that were represented at Bottlerock include; Silverado Vineyards, Mumms Napa, JaM Cellars, Caymus Vineyards, Butter, Duckhorn, and many others. With all the wine offerings, it’ll feel like a girl’s weekend in wine country.

If you’re not really into wine, that’s OK too, because there are many beer options with local craft beers and national breweries, and if you just need that hard liquor, they have that too.

The Experience

Bottlerock is not your typical music festival, because there’s so much to experience that doesn’t require you to stand in front of the stage and dance to your favorite artists. There’s a food garden, a wine garden, VIP bottle service, Art Exhibits, and even a cooking stage where chefs will share some of their recipes or secrets to make any meal better.

If you’re lucky, you might just stumble into a porta potty that will lead you to the only speakeasy bar at BottleRock. A nice change of pace is checking out the silent disco that has 2 channels for 2 different DJs that will mix it up from Hip Hop to EDM, and from classic rock to punk rock. And they even made a club room with a disco ball and strobe lights and lasers for all the youngsters that just wanna dance with others in the crowd.

The GA wristband will get you into the venue and into all the main public areas, but if you went all out and got a VIP wristband, you’ll appreciate the faster VIP entrance line, along with the ample space that comes with the VIP area next to each stage. And every VIP knows that the bathrooms are also much nicer and cleaner.

The VIP also has raised platform areas to see above the crowd and there is a VIP Skydeck for those who like getting bottle service with their friends. Bottlerock is a great festival to attend with your friends, your lover, or if you just want to venture out and experience something new and elegant and well put together on your own.

This festival draws an older and more mature crowd, so you don’t have to worry too much about young adults knocking drinks onto your nice dress, or puking on your new shoes, it’s a festival where you’ll enjoy being an adult, and enjoying the finer things in life, such as good company, great music, and amazing wine!