{"id":298,"date":"2026-05-23T17:38:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=298"},"modified":"2026-05-23T17:38:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:38:33","slug":"this-is-the-magic-bottlerock-napa-kicks-off-in-legendary-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=298","title":{"rendered":"‘This is the magic’: BottleRock Napa kicks off in legendary fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is shaping up to be one of the greatest BottleRock Napa Valley festivals on record.<\/p>\n

Read more New San Jose power hub could help fuel city\u2019s AI, data center ambitions<\/a><\/p>\n

The lineup is absolutely loaded \u2014 with a batch of headliners that includes top pop-star Lorde, alt-rock heroes Foo Fighters, hip-hop legend Lil Wayne, fantastic \u201cboy band\u201d Backstreet Boys and famed rapper Ludacris \u2014 overall showcasing such a wonderfully appealing and diverse mix of old and new artists.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something worth seeing basically on every hour of every day of this festival, from the moment the music kicks off at noon until the headliner closes the event each night right before the 10 p.m. curfew.<\/p>\n

And, often, there\u2019s almost too much worth seeing across BottleRock Napa Valley\u2019s half-dozen or so stages, resulting in the kind of scheduling conflicts that truly perplex\/delight music viewers. That was exemplified on BottleRock Day One (Friday, May 22) when Lorde, Lil Wayne and \u201980s faves Men at Work \u2014 three of the most enticing acts of the overall festival bill \u2014 were all on at the same time.<\/p>\n

Other Day One conflicts included Teddy Swims vs. Papa Roach vs. Treach of Naughty By Nature and Tash Sultana vs. Chevy Metal vs. Chaka Khan. And that\u2019s not even counting all of the fabulous foodie fun taking place on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage, where chefs, rockers, sports figures and other celebs deliver cooking demonstrations and other hijinks. You could pretty much camp out in front of that stage all day if you wanted \u2014 which, of course, further complicates the personal scheduling issues.<\/p>\n

Sure, those are problems. But they are really good problems, resulting in a festival with nary a dull moment.<\/p>\n

Also, the festival-goers just seemed so overjoyed and radiant to be back at this annual Memorial Day weekend event, which runs through Sunday (May 24) at the Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa.<\/p>\n

Despite all the headlines screaming out about a weakening economy, job losses and inflation woes, BottleRock posted one of its fastest sell outs in its 14-year history \u2014 with some 40,000-45,000 fans expected to stroll through the gates each day. And demand for tickets post-sell-out, I\u2019m being told, has never been higher.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Plus, the merch booths and food and drink vendors seem to be as busy as ever.<\/p>\n

Sure, our country may be heading into tougher economic times, but these music lovers plan to face them with brand new BottleRock hats on their heads, glasses of merlot in their hands and earfuls of the Backstreet Boys and Slightly Stoopid.<\/p>\n

Those are two of the acts set to close out the festival on Sunday. Others that will join them include Sombr, Mt. Joy, Kool and the Gang, Larkin Poe and Ludacris. See bottlerocknapavalley.com for more information.<\/p>\n

One of the coolest storylines from Day 1 is that Indy, a rising pop star (and massive New York Knicks fan) out of New Zealand, was making her festival debut as the opening act on the biggie Prudential Stage \u2014 where, some eight hours later, her sister Lorde would conduct her own headlining set.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

This younger Yelich-O\u2019Connor sister made good use of the opportunity, delighting the typically small \u2014 but steadily growing \u2014 early Day 1 crowd with a hourlong set that nicely showcased her indie-dance-pop tunes. She proved that talent definitely runs in the family as she waltzed through tunes from the 2025 EP \u201cFame Is a Bedroom\u201d and other material. It was definitely a strong showing for this festival rookie.<\/p>\n

Read more Silicon Valley to get its first two-year degree focused on AI<\/a><\/p>\n

A few hours later on that same stage, Chaka Khan delivered one of the top sets of the day as she rolled into the legendary likes of \u201cI\u2019m Every Woman\u201d and \u201cI Feel for You.\u201d \u201cThe Queen of Funk\u201d \u2014 who, after way too many years of unsuccessful nominations, finally made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023 \u2014 sounded strong on the microphone as she had folks dancing and singing along to one memorable tune after another.<\/p>\n

Georgia R&B\/soul\/pop man Teddy Swims was easily one of the most highly anticipated acts of the day and he drew a huge crowd to the Prudential Stage for his performance, which consisted of such hits as \u201cThe Door\u201d and \u201cBad Dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

After completing his own set, Swims then raced over to take the T-Mobile Stage to join Papa Roach on the Vacaville band\u2019s famed nu-metal power ballad \u201cScars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then it was time for Lorde. And time for one last performance of the star\u2019s highly successful Ultrasound tour in support of the artist\u2019s fourth full-length, \u201cVirgin,\u201d a work that topped our list of the best albums of 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod, this is beautiful. I am starstruck\u201d Lorde remarked as she looked out upon the setting and the tens of thousands of fans gathered in front of her. \u201cThis is the very last time we will do this show. We are building a new show that we will take us all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that in mind, Lorde instructed us to live in the moment \u2014 to try not to think about tomorrow, at least not yet \u2014 and to enjoy this last final Ultrasound Tour performance. She wanted us to be present, to there for each other, and to have fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake this in,\u201d she instructed. \u201cThis is the magic. This is what we will remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lorde was absolutely stellar throughout her 90-minute set, powerfully swinging the \u201cHammer\u201d \u2014 one of a half-dozen memorable \u201cVirgin\u201d tracks performed on this night\u201d \u2014 and then following up with the deliriously good \u201cRoyals\u201d that first transformed a 16-year-old New Zealander into a global pop star seemingly overnight.<\/p>\n

Lorde brought the show to the close \u2014 like she\u2019s been doing at each of the Ultrasound Tour stops \u2014 out on a small stage temporarily erected by the soundboard.<\/p>\n

From that perch, and surrounded by fans who were going absolutely out of their minds to be suddenly in such close proximity to the famed vocalist, Lorde delivered one more lasting moment from Day 1 of BottleRock Napa Valley as she poured herself into a powerful take on the fan favorite \u201cRibs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lorde setlist:<\/strong>
\n1) \u201cHammer\u201d
\n2) \u201cRoyals\u201d
\n3) \u201cBroken Glass\u201d
\n4) \u201cBuzzcut Season\u201d
\n5) \u201cFavourite Daughter\u201d
\n6) \u201cPerfect Places\u201d
\n7) \u201cShapeshifter\u201d
\n8) \u201cCurrent Affairs\u201d
\n9) \u201cSupercut\u201d
\n10) \u201cMan of the Year\u201d
\n11) \u201cTeam\u201d
\n12) \u201cGreen Light\u201d
\n13) \u201cA World Alone\u201d
\n14) \u201cRibs\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Affordable homes project near San Jose BART station gets boost from real estate deal<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review: BottleRock Napa Valley features Lorde, Foo Fighters, Backstreet Boys, Papa Roach, more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\n‘This is the magic’: BottleRock Napa kicks off in legendary fashion - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=298\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"‘This is the magic’: BottleRock Napa kicks off in legendary fashion - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Review: BottleRock Napa Valley features Lorde, Foo Fighters, Backstreet Boys, Papa Roach, more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=298\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-23T17:38:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=298#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=298\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"‘This is the magic’: BottleRock Napa kicks off in legendary fashion\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T17:38:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=298\"},\"wordCount\":1084,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=298#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e140ba392eb4b8d773a14cc9d3acf9a0.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Things To Do\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=298#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=298\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=298\",\"name\":\"‘This is the magic’: BottleRock Napa kicks off in legendary fashion - 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