BottleRock set to shake up Napa

'Bottle Shock' is a 2008 movie about the 1976 'Judgment of Paris,' when California wine defeated French wine in a blind tasting – putting Napa officially on the world wine region map.

BottleRock is a different kind of event that has placed Napa on another map – the map of not-to-be-missed music festivals. The festival joins an exclusive list that includes the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza and Coachella.

BottleRock takes place at the Napa Valley Expo this weekend, May 24-26. Limited tickets are still available.

The tagline for BottleRock is 'the first taste of summer.' The website gives equal billing to 'food, wine, brew' as it does to the musical entertainment. They should have added 'you' to the tagline. While it may be the world-class music that gets you to buy the ticket, it is the ancillary activities that will get your jaw to drop.

Food and wine

In the 'wine and brew' department, 17 wineries will be pouring their latest releases. Thirty-four 'craft' breweries will set up shop and tap into their delicious suds. Five bourbon bars will be serving their popular brown blends. Twelve hard liquor brands will be offering their wares in 'craft cocktails.'

Then there's food. The Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage will be erected to shine a bright light on the delicious food that helps make Napa a major culinary destination. No fewer than 69 restaurants are slated to serve samples of their dishes to the well-heeled crowd. Famous bona fide foodies such as Masaharu Morimoto, Andrew Zimmern and Gail Simmons will make presentations. They will be joined by crossover foodies the likes of Marshawn Lynch, Jeff Goldblum and Alice Cooper.

The music

Alice Cooper? Isn't he a musician of some sort? At BottleRock, the music still takes center stage. A total of 86 musical acts will perform on six stages this year. The headliners are Neil Young, Imagine Dragons and Mumford and Sons.

Imagine Dragons is a four-piece band from Las Vegas, formed in 2008 when a couple of college buddies got together and began to play music. They have achieved tremendous popularity, and this is their second time headlining BottleRock. Their songs have topped the charts in the U.S. and the UK and can even be heard on college football broadcasts and in Disney movies. Imagine Dragons closes out the Friday show.

Neil Young is rock royalty. The Canadian-born rocker came up with Buffalo Springfield in the late '60s, jumped ship to team up with Crosby, Stills & Nash, and has been a major solo artist ever since. Young, with his ragged guitar style and even more ragged appearance is sometimes called the 'godfather of grunge rock.' Young also has written lovely, introspective songs, making him one of the most interesting rock artists of the last 50 years.

Young and his band the Promise of the Real, featuring Willie Nelson's son Lukas, closes out the Saturday program.

Mumford and Sons are another enormously popular band making their first headline appearance at BottleRock. Led by Marcus Mumford, the British band has released four albums, and will be focusing their set of songs from their new album called 'Delta.' They play last on Sunday.

Also appearing this year are many bands whose stars are rising, and some who may have already hit a high water mark. Gary Clark Jr. has recently appeared on 'Saturday Night Live' and plays right before Young takes the stage. Carlos Santana, 50 years into his career and still going strong, plays Sunday evening.

The Regrettes, Royal Jelly Jive and the Silverado Pickups are three of the other bands seeking to make a name for themselves at BottleRock.

The Regrettes storm the stage Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The L.A.-based band is led by Lydia Night, a fiery lead singer if there ever was one. The Regrettes have a punk temperament, but also a '60s pop thing, too.

Night apparently is well aware of social issues, further stoking her ire. The band has released a song and accompanying video called 'Poor Boy,' with lyrics aimed squarely at a recent U.S. Supreme Court appointee. After angry vocals and blistering guitar work, the video concludes with showing the phone number for a 24/7 confidential sexual-assault hotline.

Night is very excited about playing at BottleRock. She wants to show off her band's range of styles. She said, 'My parents were big musical nerds. My dad was into '50s rock 'n' roll, and my mom listened to stuff like Riot Grrrl. But our music shows a little bit of both of those influences.' Night, only 18, also said this about their playing at BottleRock: 'I would really like to meet Neil Young.'

Local bands make the cut

Royal Jelly Jive's two front members, Jesse Adams and Lauren Bjelde, are residents of Sonoma. Their band plays all over the region, and they make a stop at BottleRock on Saturday. They play two sets, one at noon, and again later at 2:45 p.m.

Reached by phone, Bjelde was positively giddy about playing BottleRock. 'We are so excited, can't wait… we are thrilled.' The band is set to release its third album, called 'Limited Preserve #3.'

'We will play a lot of new material,' said Bjelde. 'I've been working to apply movement to the songs, we are bringing in some backup dancers for the show.' She spoke of the noon start, early for a rock and roller. 'Morning gigs are our favorite gigs. We are delighted to play and play to help the crowd warm up to the excitement of the day.'

The Silverado Pickups take the stage Saturday at 12:45 p.m. The local band is comprised of winemakers from some of the premier houses in the Valley. Head decision makers from Cuvaison, Silver Trident, Robert Biale and Garguilo wineries are players in the Pickups. The merry band of fermenters got together over a six pack of wine and some guitars in 2010, and realized they could crush it musically, too.

Their very first gig was as the opening act for a Tim McGraw show at the Lincoln Theater in Yountville in 2011. Not too bad for a bunch of amateurs.

Singer and harmonica player David Duncan considers himself to be 'the backup singer of the band.' He is the winemaker at Silver Oak Cellars.

'We are the only band to play every BottleRock,' he said. 'In fact, we were the first band to play BottleRock.' The Pickups play upbeat country and some rock 'n' roll, according to Duncan. Their set list includes 'about half originals and one-half covers, played our way,' he said.

Artwork on display

In addition to the music, a slew of world-class artwork will decorate the ground of the Expo. Laura Kimpton's 'Love' sculpture, similar to the one we all became so familiar with when it was installed at the Plaza, will be on site. Murals, large metal works, and fountains will all serve at background for the requisite Instagram photos that are sure to be taken.

Keeping everyone safe

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the festival is its size and scope. Massive crowds will swarm the Expo.

'I have a long weekend in store for me, 11-11 each day,' said Brian Campagno of the Napa Police Department. 'We anticipate upward of 40,000 people every day.'

Sgt. Brad Bradshaw of the California Highway Patrol shared his professional viewpoint about the event. Bradshaw is in charge of traffic in and around the Napa Expo this coming weekend.

'The event basically doubles the population of the town,' he said. To deal with the heavy increase in vehicular traffic, CHP assigns an additional 20 officers to be on site during the day and adds 12 more at night to assist with the egress. 'Everybody arrives at different times, but everybody leaves at the same time,' Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw himself will be at BottleRock all three days, working 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. He estimated that the cost of the CHP involvement is $120,000 for the weekend. Ambulance teams also need to be at the ready. CalFire will have several crews on site.

'You need to bring in hundreds of people to get everybody into and out of the property,' he said. 'There is a lot that goes into this little music festival.'

Indeed, a festival like BottleRock is actually the short term creation of a medium sized city. The technicians, chefs, police officers, volunteers, and attendees all contribute to one big happy family – for three long days. One temporary medium-sized city with really, really good live entertainment.