BottleRock Napa Valley kicks off 1st day with local acts and headliners

By the time the opening day of the BottleRock Napa Valley music festival ended Friday night, with almost simultaneous concerts on four different stages, the happy throng rejoiced as the clouds finally began to part after a long gray day.

Overcast skies and scattered drizzle couldn’t keep music fans from streaming in the gates of the Napa Valley Expo grounds Friday morning for the sixth annual festival.

Fans had their choice of live sets, starting every 15 minutes, by English rockers Muse, blue-eyed Southern soul band St. Paul & the Broken Bones, longtime Bay Area favorite Moonalice and the New York DJ duo The Chainsmokers, also known as Alex Pall and Andrew Taggart.

As Muse pounded through “Hysteria” under a rising moon, with fans singing along, walking space through the crowd began to disappear.

With giant screens at each stage projecting the performers’ images, The Chainsmokers, shown in close-ups, were particularly powerful, looming over their cheering fans like twin Goliaths.

And that’s just a sample of the 80 acts scheduled during the three days of BottleRock.

With a broad range of music, from folksy blues by Pony Bradshaw to the electronic rock trio LANY - out touring the festival circuit in support of their new single, “Super Far” - BottleRock drew music lovers from all over Friday, including younger fans from Southern California.

Reilly O’Brien, 22, of Los Angeles came up to spend the day at BottleRock with her brother Nick, 19, who lives in Modesto.

“I’ve been looking forward to seeing Muse and The Chainsmokers. Earth Wind & Fire is good, too, but we weren’t born in their time,” Nick O’Brien said. “I think this a good venue with a very relaxed atmosphere, not like the normal rock festival, more like an upscale fair.”

Earth Wind & Fire, still going strong after a decadeslong and musically varied history, drew a big crowd with its late-afternoon set on the festival’s big JaM Cellars Stage, followed by California rockers Incubus.

Anna Garcia, 23, and Holly Shose, 24, both servers at a San Diego sushi restaurant, enjoyed the festival not only for the musical atmosphere, but also for its wide array of sophisticated food - including oysters, lobster, paella and handmade dumplings - as well as wine, craft brews and cocktails.

“I’m just here for alcohol and music,” Shose said with a sly grin.

While the sky was overcast, a festive mood prevailed. Lead singer Luke Spiller of the English rock band The Struts, led the crowd in a raucous sing-along of the group’s “Put Your Money on Me.”

Over at the outdoor silent disco area, presented by Kaiser Permanente, dancers wearing headphones moved and even sang along to music only they could hear.

On the festival’s culinary stage, celebrity chef Duff Goldman and Olympic Gold Medal snowboarder Shaun White, in a playful mood, threw giant cotton candy balls out into the audience, which returned fire by throwing them back.

Zach Grace, lead singer, guitarist and keyboardist with the Portland rock quartet Flor, lamented the damp weather’s effect on his brilliant mane of thick red hair.

“I decided I’d condition my hair today,” Grace said from the stage. “Never again!”

Early in the day, the party got off to a solid start with bands starting promptly at noon, including Sebastopol’s popular America singer-songwriter David Luning and RIVVRS, aka Brandon Zahursky, a Los Angeles singer and songwriter who lived and worked in Napa Valley for several years.

Big names scheduled for today include Snoop Dogg and The Killers. The festival closes Sunday night with Bruno Mars.

The weather is expected to get increasingly warmer during the three-day festival, with highs in the 80s by Sunday.

Attendance is expected to rival last year’s count of 40,000 a day.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.