BottleRock Napa fires it up

NAPA - The two big musical dilemmas leading into Day 1 of BottleRock Napa Valley were:

1. Could two concert promoter newbies - Gabe Meyers and Bog Vogt, who had never staged a music festival together - pull it off?

2. And would Grateful Dead fans, who paid $139 a ticket to see headliner Further (before Further canceled due to Bob Weir's fall on stage in New York two weeks ago) - still be satisfied?

Here's the answer:

It seemed a long hill to climb as Mark Fox, 52, of Sacramento, stood in front of the WillPower stage, where Further would have performed. In his tie-dyed Grateful Dead shirt, he shook his head, "I'm just trying to make the most of it. What can you do?"

At the beginning of the day, replacement rumors were still swirling, the latest claiming that the Rolling Stones were slated to fill the Further gap.

"I heard it was Pearl Jam," said volunteer Nicole Grimes, 33, of Sonoma.

BottleRock talent buyer Sheila Groves-Tracy put it to rest.

"I wish it were true, but it's not gonna happen," Groves-Tracy said. "We were really close to getting Prince, he sounded really interested but he never committed."

At least 9,000 fans came out for the first day of the inaugural four-day festival taking over the 26-acre Napa Expo, said Groves-Tracy. The single-day capacity is around 35,000.

"This is the biggest thing that's every happened in Napa. It's like a mini-Woodstock," said local Napan Dave Jackson, 56, who was looking forward to seeing Richard

Thompson on the Miner stage.

Jeff Maeda, 22, and Ariel Lando, 22, flew in from Toronto to see Primus, The Flaming Lips and Jane's Addiction.

"Really, this is the first year?" said Maeda. "It feels like it's here for the people. I don't know how they're making money with these big-name acts."

Linda Stevenson drove down from Redding to listen to BottleRock loud and clear on the front porch of her father Vern Thibaut's house on Silverado Trail, across the street from the festival. "I'm looking forward to the Zac Brown Band on Sunday," she said.

The first band to really get the crowd moving was X, the seminal L.A. punk band lead by John Doe and Exene Cervenka. Delta Spirit had the crowd singing along to "Just Tear It Up" on the shady, intimate Miner Stage. Moonalice singer Roger McNamee tried his best to channel Jerry Garcia. And Joan Jett reached way back for "You Drive Me Wild" - the first song she ever wrote, for the Runaways.

"I don't know how old Joan Jett is, but she looks amazing," said James Brown, who drove up from Concord with his wife, Sadie, and their 9-month-old daughter decked out in noise-canceling headphones.

By 5 p.m., the Black Crowes had drawn the biggest crowd of the day to the WillPower stage. Kicking it off with "Seeing Things," singer Chris Robinson swayed and shimmied across the stage, raising his hands up like a preacher leading a Southern gospel choir. The addition of Bay Area guitarist Jackie Greene, who wandered off on a series of heartfelt solos, made perfect sense.

But Further was never far from the minds of the Deadheads who still attended despite the cancellation. Two songs into the Black Crowes set, Kevin Winters, 41, who flew in from Los Angeles for the weekend, was already yelling "Shakedown" for the Grateful Dead classic "Shakedown Street."

"The Black Crowes are sounding good," he said. "But it would be nice if they did a few Further songs."

By default, the two headliners were Primus and The Avett Brothers, offering a study in contrast at sunset. The Avett Brothers stirred up a front-porch hoedown fueled by banjo and stand-up bass. And Primus stirred the crowd into a frenzy with electric bass-slapping punk funk.

"Look at all you BottleRockers out there!" said Primus front man Les Claypool of Sebastopol.

"What is a BottleRock anyway? Were you frightened when they said they were gonna bring in a s---load of bands to Napa to clog up your streets?"

The crowd roared "Noooooo!" in unison.

"I'm excited about this. It means we've got a little something here we can share with the world."

Bay Area freelancer John Beck writes about entertainment for The Press Democrat. You can reach him at 280-8014, john@sideshowvideo.com and follow BottleRock on Twitter @becksay.