Bottlerock Napa 2017 - 3 Amazing days of music, dancing, wine, food and fun!

Bottlerock 2017
Napa Valley, CA
Memorial Day Weekend, May 26-28
The above picture is actually from last year when Florence and the Machine were on stage. We are in that crowd, towards the front, left of center. Can you see us? haha!!

I don't know if it's possible for someone to be more excited about a music festival than I was about Bottlerock. Last year was fun and now that I know more about how this festival works, I'm even more excited about going this year! We've made playlists for the artists we want to see and have been listening to them in anticipation of this day finally getting here. Finally we are on our way to Bottlerock!!

We arrived just after 1pm on Friday and people are just starting to trickle in. It was a welcome sight to see this entire main stage area covered in fresh sod! Last year was old, worn grass and lots of bark. There will be some lawn chillin' happening this time! That is if we stop dancing around long enough to even lay on it! We have a lot of bands to see and a lot of dancing to do! Oh, and don't forget the wine. They have a wine garden this year that even has Silver Oak!

We filled up our packs with some adult beverages, salami, cheese, hummus and protein bars, which were all hidden amongst blankets or in Chris' secret compartment in his backpack and we were through security in a flash!

We were able to snack on that food most of the day and between free KIND bars and Bai drinks, we only bought food once each day.

LOVE

Day 1

Wild

Hirie

Saint motel

Fitz and the Tantrums

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Maroon 5

We caught a little of the set from Wild, then made it over to the stage for Hirie. She has a cool reggae vibe.

We then made our way to see Saint Motel for only a few songs and off to Fitz and the Tantrums.

More and more people continue to arrive...
All I'm thinking about is Maroon 5!
Patience, we have to get through the whole day, they are the headliner for Day 1 and even though we just saw them in October, I'm super excited about being able to push close to the stage and dance! I'm finding I'm much more of a festival girl where I can dance and sing without the confines of a big concert venue and assigned seating.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were on both of our lists, but I wasn't super excited after their set. It got a little too hardcore rap and not terribly dancy enough for me. You can see in this pic that many people are just standing around. I want to get up and dance!

I do like this song though...

Time to get some food and get ready for....
Maroon 5!
But first, let's eat! The food court is loaded with all kinds of great local eats. Many are farm to fork.

I'm ready for Maroon 5 and feeling the Love from this handsome guy. Gotta love a photobomber in the background. The place is getting packed!

I would probably have fought my way through all of the 20 somethings to get to the front of the stage, but I'm pretty sure Chris doesn't share in my Adam Levine crush, so we got within screaming distance and got a great show up close!

What a great way to close out day 1. We are beat tired and ready to head to our hotel.
Hotels can be hard to come by because this festival is getting to big. Chris has us set up at the Ramada Inn in Vallejo. It's a Ramada, a national chain, what could be wrong with that? LOTS

We parked in a nearby neighborhood, so getting out of Napa wasn't too bad. We made our way to Vallejo and found the hotel. Looked fine from outside, but inside the doors to the lobby, the next chapter in this story started to unfold. I had been using porta potties all day and was looking forward to using a fresh bathroom with running water and flushing toilets. I wouldn't find it here. The bathroom was horrible and dirty. Ewwww. Almost made the porta potties a better option, almost.

But hey, it's a music festival weekend, we are both tired and it's just a place to shower and sleep. We have a full day of dancing and singing to do tomorrow. We get the key to our room and head up to what was supposed to be a 2 bed room with a kitchenette. The elevator is dirty and somewhat functional, the exterior is worn and dirty, but I still have hopes of just having a warm bed to lay my tired body in. OMG, I wish I had pictures.
The so-called kitchenette was the tiniest fridge you've ever seen and so over-frozen with ice from the tiny freezer, you couldn't get a soda can to fit inside. But still, we are just hear to sleep, so let it go.
I just wanted to shower. So, I got in the shower and was surprised to find out that no matter what you did with the water regulator, the water was going to be intermittent scorching hot and freezing cold!
Brrrrr, Ouch, Brrrrr, Ouch. Seriously?

Ok, we are just here to sleep....
So, I get my pj's on and am getting ready to get in bed. Chris is not experiencing the arctic freeze and burning lava temps of the shower. I turn around to find a HUGE bug on the wall. I quickly get some tissue and squish, then flush it, but I'm seriously getting grossed out.

I'm still going to just ignore it. Block it out of my mind. Please don't even get the thought of bedbugs in your head. Too late!! Which Chris is finishing in the shower, I am lifting up every corner of the mattress to see if there is any trace of bedbugs. So far at least that checks out. However, I do see lots of towels shoved in between the mattress and box spring. That's odd... but what about this room is normal? Ok, I'm just going to get in bed anyway. Well, that didn't go so well either. It was like laying down in a canoe. But ok, I'm still just going to try to sleep.
Chris gets out of the shower and goes to lay down in bed too. With the added weight, we can really tell now that something is terribly wrong with this bed.

We quickly discover that the box spring is broken!! The wood is even sticking out of the cover. The next thing I expect to see if crime scene tape of blood spatter on the wall. Seriously?

We both look at each other and after recapping all of the craziness of this room, just start laughing. What else can you do at 1am when you're dog tired and have the clown room from the carnival.

We decide that neither of us are going to be able to sleep if we stay here. He calls to the front desk and they are sold out. So, we both get on our phones and start searching. I hit on a hotel in Benicia. Make a call and boom, we have a new hotel! We quickly gather our things, check out and are on our way to stay in Benicia at the Best Western. This was a nice hotel with clean beds and a buffet breakfast. We stayed the second night there as well. Whew!

What an adventure. What else can you do but laugh about it, get some sleep and get ready for day 2 of Bottlerock!! Bring it on!

Day 2

James Hersey
Judah & The Lion
Andra Day
(A nap) while listening to Mavis Staples
Silent disco #silentdisco
Aluna George
Largest ever silent disco with guest DJ's Big Boi from Outkast and The White Panda. Awesome!!

Judah and the Lion had a great set. He has amazing energy and is all over the place. Lots of fun.

Andra Day

I had been looking forward to seeing her. I would say her concert was "meh".

So, on to the next...

Next thing is a nap. We laid out by the stage while Mavis Staples sang in the background and rested for a bit.

We also needed a little silent disco!

Silent disco is the best invention ever. No audible music to anyone not wearing headphones and we can be listening and dancing to different music. Brilliant! There were 2 DJ's and people just come and go and dance on/off all day long.

We watched a little bit of Aluna George. She appeals to a very young crowd and we were ready to just chill out and relax until later.... The world's largest silent disco. YES!

Big Boi from Outkast and white panda DJ's were providing the music for this epic event.

One of the funnest things ever!

Thousands turned out for this huge night of silent dancing!

So much fun!!

This would be totally boring to watch if you weren't wearing headphones. The DJ's were starting to compete with each other because they can see through the colors on the headphones, how many people are listening to each one. The music kept getting better and better.

But finally we had to call it a day. We left a little bit before it all ended to beat the traffic and head to Benicia for what we already know is going to be a good nights sleep.

Day 3

Arizona
Cobi
Gavin DeGraw
Strumbellas
St. Lucia

Bring on day 3! I'm excited about day 3, but also sad that it's about to be over until next year. We started out the day bringing more booty inside the venue and again right through security. We've discovered Smirnoff makes a great, refreshing watermelon drink that I can sip on all day and Chris has been enjoying the Lagunitas beer on tap. I will enjoy my final glass of Silver Oak later this afternoon.

Arizona was awesome. They really put on a great show.

I would see Arizona again. They seem like they'd be cool to see at a small venue. Although they are quickly gaining popularity, a small venue may be hard to come by.

Up next was Gavin DeGraw. Second to Maroon 5, I was really looking forward to seeing him. I listen to his music all the time and know all of his songs. Chris stayed for the early part of the set, then left to go and see Strumbella's on another stage. I then proceeded to make my way ALL the way to the front of the stage. Yep, I'm 29 and acting like 19!