BottleRock Napa Valley headliners announced

The BottleRock Napa Valley rock music festival will return in May for its third year, with headliners including Imagine Dragons, No Doubt and Led Zeppelin lead vocalist Robert Plant.

The lineup announced Tuesday also includes the Gipsy Kings, Los Lobos, the Avett Brothers, Capital Cities, American Authors, Lettuce, JJ Gray and Mofro, Trampled by Turtles, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Michael Franti and Spearhead, and rappers Public Enemy and Snoop Dogg.

The three-day festival, running May 29-31 at the Napa Valley Expo grounds in Napa, will feature more than 70 bands on four stages, said Dave Graham, CEO of Latitude 38, the company that produces the festival.

Festival passes, priced from $235 to $2,500, go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday at BottleRockNapaValley.com and Eventbrite.com.

The roster of musicians, ranging from hot current acts to old favorites and playing music that includes not only rock, but jazz, reggae and more, is designed to reach the broadest possible audience, Graham said.

“At other festivals, all you see is younger people. We’re open to all demographics,” Graham said. “We’re not trying to be like any other festival. It is so laid back that you’ll see whole families there.”

Last year's festival, the first produced by Graham and his partners, presented 68 bands and drew a total audience of 80,000 people, he said. Graham declined to disclose how much money the 2014 festival made.

The first BottleRock festival, in 2013, attracted more than 100,000 people, but ended with its producer, BR Festivals LLC, deep in debt. The company filed for bankruptcy last year, listing assets of $610,000, liabilities of $4.5 million and more than 160 creditors.

The difference between the first festival and the second, after Graham and company took over, has been “like night and day,” he said.

“We didn’t bite off more than we could chew,” Graham said. “We reassessed the way people navigate the festival, and how they arrive there, to create an enjoyable experience.”

After the 2014 festival, both the Napa community and the music industry, wary after the 2013 event, “realized we pulled it off,” he said.

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.