It’s shaping up to be another big year at BottleRock Napa Valley, which is offering up stadium-headliner Ed Sheeran, two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Stevie Nicks, the amazingly popular Pearl Jam, acclaimed Latin music act Maná, powerful rock band Queens of the Stone Age and red hot hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion atop the 2024 lineup.
And that’s just scratching the surface. Further down the bill you’ll find platinum-selling rapper Nelly, Bay Area funk favorites Tower of Power, Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett and dozens of other cool acts who are set to perform during the three-day event, May 24-26, at the Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa.
Seriously, there is just so much to see and do — as well as, of course, eat and drink — that you might just end up missing some of the best stuff if you’re not prepared.
Fortunately, you’re not in this alone — we’re here to help.
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So, continue on and soak up all the recommendations in our hourly guide to the festival. Here’s where you should be and what you should be listening to during each hour of the 2024 BottleRock. Are you ready? We sure are. So, let’s do this.
And, of course, the debut of the big Latin music festival, La Onda, comes to the same venue one week later. (We have picks for that, too.)
For more information, visit bottlerocknapa.com.
Day 1 (Friday, May 24)
Noon-2 p.m.: The music starts at noon, so that means that you should be parked right up close to the Prudential Stage by 11:45 a.m. and ready to enjoy the cool vocal work of Naima, a 14-year-old Oakland-based singer-songwriter who’s been the lead vocalist for the Oaktown Jazz performance group and a soloist with Oakland School of the Arts Encore Choir.
Stick with Naima for 25 minutes and then quickly move on over to see Grace Bowers, who opens up the big JaM Cellars Stage at 12:30 p.m. We expect that Bowers — a teenage blues-rock guitar phenom who relocated to Nashville from the Bay Area — will be one of Day One’s big highlights, so stick around and catch her entire hour-long set.
As the applause following Bower’s last number begins to fade, make your way over to see Sage Bava, a soulful jazz-pop artist who should still have about 10-15 minutes left in her set on the Truly Stage.
Then it’s time to fuel up and we recommend going with a true Bay Area original — the Burgerdog. It’s just a burger shaped (somewhat) like a hot dog. But we love it.
2-4 p.m.: Having conquered the Burgerdog, wipe that mustard off your chin and head back to the Truly Stage for 10 minutes or so of Alexsucks, a L.A. garage-rock act that definitely doesn’t live up to the second part of its name.
But don’t stick around too long with Alexsucks because you’ve got to go experience one of the big buzz acts of this year’s festival — BoyWithUke — who hits the Verizon Stage at 2:30 p.m. He hides his face behind a mask, which is an approach that has worked for everyone from Slipknot to Deadmau5, but he definitely doesn’t hide his folksy singer-songwriter talent on the breakthrough single “Toxic,” which has been streamed over 1.5 billion times.
Give Boywithuke his full ukulele-fueled 45 minutes, which still gives you plenty of time to find a spot near the front of the JaM Cellars Stage at 3:30 p.m. for Jessie Murph, the Alabama country-pop artist who scored a platinum hit — “Wild Ones” — with the help of Jelly Roll.
4-6 p.m.: Murph is worth a full hour, but we’re only allotting her 30 minutes because we want to be catch pretty much the whole Chris Shiflett set. So, head on over to see the Foo Fighters guitarist strut his solo stuff at the Prudential Stage from 4 to 5 p.m.
Right when Shiflett is finishing up, make a path to the Truly Stage and spend a good half-hour with Royel Otis, a groovy alt-pop duo from Australia. Then it’s back over to the Prudential Stage for Chevy Metal, the crazy-fun classic rock cover act that once featured Foo Fighter Taylor Hawkins (who died in 2022) and now includes his son Shane on drums.
6-8 p.m.: Enjoy all of the Chevy set — which hopefully includes more Black Sabbath than Van Halen — and then make the hard decision between grooving with Nelly on the Verizon Stage or soaking up the many wonders of St. Vincent at JaM Cellars. Hmm … . Well, let’s start with St. Vincent at 6:30 p.m. and then, after about 20 minutes, move over to Nelly in hopes that he hasn’t yet played “Hot in Herre.”
But as soon as he does that one, grab something to eat — maybe from Gerard’s Paella — and go see the enticing disco-pop trio Say She She on the Truly Stage.
8-9:45 p.m.: Say She She winds up around 8:15, bringing us to right to — ack! — the choice between Megan Thee Stallion on the Verizon Stage and Stevie Nicks at JaM Cellars. That’s just too tough, so let’s split it up and spend the first half with Megan and then close out the night with two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Nicks.
Day 2 (Saturday, May 25)
Noon-2 p.m.: Kick off your Saturday at the Verizon Stage with a half-hour set, 12-12:30 p.m., from edgy electronic-rock artist Grace McKagan, who is the daughter of Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan. Then just flip over to the Prudential Stage for Mama Said, a NorCal act with a sound that should appeal to fans of ‘70s and ‘80s mainstream rock.
That brings us to lunchtime and a trip to Nash & Proper for a Nashville-style hot chicken sandwich, which we recommend chasing down with the ornate folk-rock sounds of Mondo Cozmo on the JaM Cellars Stage from 1:15 to 2 p.m.
2-4 p.m.: It’s definitely time to go see Momma, the L.A.-born dream-pop act — consisting of Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten — over on the Truly Stage.
As Momma comes to close, there are three enticing acts — John Cruz, T-Pain and Jack Kays — vying for your attention around the 3:30 time frame. So, let’s split it up, starting off with award-winning Hawaiian artist Cruz on the Prudential Stage, moving over around 4 p.m. to rising newcomer Kays on the Truly Stage, before ending up at the Verizon Stage hopefully in time to hear T-Pain do “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’).”
4-6 p.m.: T-Pain should take us right up to 4:45 p.m., at which point it’s time to mosey on over to see Celisse, a powerhouse vocalist from Oakland who is sure to wow fans with her set on the Prudential Stage. Stick with Celisse for 30 minutes and then — as difficult as it may be — pry yourself away and go check out the talented Vallejo rapper LaRussell do his thing over at the Truly Stage.
6-8 p.m.: Once LaRussell finishes up, hustle over to catch the last 40 minutes or so of Maná’s set on the JaM Cellars Stage. The incredibly popular Mexican rock act is also set to headline BottleRock’s brand new Latin music festival — La Onda — which takes place June 1-2 at the same site.
Mana takes you right up to 7 p.m., leaving you time to go fuel up — perhaps with a tasty dish from Osha Thai — and then get a good spot to take in every note of mighty Pearl Jam, which headlines the JaM Cellars Stage at 7:45 p.m.
8-9:45 p.m.: We did mention Pearl Jam is playing, right? So, with due respect to Kali Uchis and Tower of Power (who are playing during the same time frame), we’re sticking with Eddie Vedder and company.
Day 3 (Sunday, May 26)
Noon-2 p.m.: It’s the final day of BottleRock 2024, which means that’s there’s no need to conserve any of your energy. So, get up out of bed and make it down to the Verizon Stage right at noon to catch the soul-rock sounds of the East Bay’s own Forrest Day.
From there, let’s move over to the Prudential Stage for Napa Valley’s own Silverado Pickups, a country-rock act comprised of some esteemed winemakers who also happen to be fine musicians. Then go grab some lunch, with some ‘que from Stateline Road Smokehouse ranking high on our list of recommendations.
2-4 p.m.: Let’s start out this block over at JaM Cellars Stage with Beaches, the Canadian rock troupe that released its second studio album, “Blame My Ex,” in September. Rock with lead vocalist Jordan Miller and her band for about 30 minutes and then move to the equally intriguing Brittany Davis, who will turn up the funk on the Prudential Stage from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Then close out the block with some dreamy dancefloor tunes from L.A.’s superb Cannons on the Verizon Stage.
4-6 p.m.: We’ve been wanting to catch Bully and it’s finally time to do so. So, head over to Truly Stage and give this acclaimed Nashville rock act (which is the solo project from Alicia Bognanno) your undivided attention from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. Then spend about 40 minutes over at the JaM Cellars Stage soaking up the soothing sounds of Norah Jones, who hopefully will be playing plenty of songs from the one album that everyone wants to hear — the blockbuster 2002 debut “Come Away With Me.”
6-8 p.m.: Oh, yeah! It’s time for The Offspring, which is the No. 1 act we’re looking forward to seeing on Day 3 of the festival. So, get ready to bounce along with some of the best pop-punk tunes of all time at the Verizon Stage from 6 to 7 p.m.
You can be forgiven if you are a bit tired after rocking with The Offspring, so go grab one more quick meal — perhaps a wood-fired pizza from Di Filippo — before settling in at the Truly Stage for the catchy pop-rock songs from Dehd.
8-9:45 p.m.
Ed Sheeran, of course, will draw a huge crowd to his headlining gig on JaM Cellars. And Stephen Marley — true reggae royalty — will have plenty of folks grooving along at Prudential.
Yet, we think the best way to close out the 2024 BottleRock Napa Valley is by rocking with the mighty Queens of the Stone Age on the Verizon Stage.
