The third and final day of BottleRock Napa on Sunday, May 26 went on with a picture-perfect end to a wonderful festival. An estimated 120,000 people attended this year’s music, wine, and food fest, and thousands more are looking forward to what next year will have in store. Let’s take a look back at our last day at BottleRock 2024.
Over on the Verizon Stage we watched Colony House, a four-piece indie rock band from Tennessee. Lead singer Caleb Chapman in a navy blue sweat suit took turns between chanting out his songs and strumming along on his electric guitar. The band had a really great presence that started the day off on the right foot. We first saw this band almost 10 years ago and we always love to catch them live at festivals.
Chef Andrew Zimmern and rapper Action Bronson teamed up on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage for a cooking demonstration of shawarma. The pair are friends outside of their professional lives and shared their “bald man greeting” with the audience before starting their demonstration. Andrew also did a demo using a tabletop meat cooker so that anyone can make the dish at home.
Heartthrob Stephen Sanchez took to the JaM Cellar Stage around 3:30pm for his set. The artist’s name laid the backdrop in all red, playful letters with a flirty heart at the end. The Nashville native and pop artist showed off his moves and his musical talent as he danced around the stage and played his guitar to songs from his debut EP, What Was, Not Now. Sanchez even channeled Roy Orbison with a hip swinging version of “Pretty Woman” for the crowd screaming his name.
TV personality and cook Alton Brown joined up with musicians Dexter Holland and Noodles from The Offspring, wheeling out a large makeshift frying machine on to the Culinary Stage. After Alton told the crowd all the reason he hates air fryers, the group jet-fried some chicken wings while they playfully danced to Alicia Keys’ “Fire,” spinning the jet-frier. The Offspring helped out by making a spicy sauce for the wings. Alton Brown seemed to be just as fun live as his TV personality.
Singer, songwriter, and pianist Norah Jones added a kaleidoscope pop of color to our day at BottleRock with her matching backdrop and outfit – an array of colorful lines. The artist has such a soft presence that slowed down the energy of the day and gave festival goers the chance to just sit back and relax. Jones sang “Running” at the piano and strapped on a guitar for “Queen of the Sea,” playing out her jazzy tunes. He smooth vocals never ever go out of style.
The 1980’s punk rock band The Offspring held a crowd-pleasing show on the Verizon Stage where they rocked out to many of their hits. The group played 11 songs starting with “Come Out And Play,” followed by a few more of their songs and a great cover of the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop.” After their original set, they performed an encore of two songs: “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” and fan-favorite “Self Esteem” which thousands of fans sang along to.
Ed Sheeran joined the band on stage in the middle of their set, wearing an Offspring band t-shirt and played a song with the group. Frontman Dexter Holland told the story of how Ed Sheeran became a fan, stating that the first CD Sheeran bought as a kid was an Offspring album, so he wanted to play “Million Miles Away,” which the band hadn’t played since 2016. After the performance, Sheeran shared on his Instagram: “I used to pretend to be in their band in the mirror and sing along to the album when I was 9.”
After such an amazing performance, we had to go get our foodie on and check out the last show of the weekend on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage with Chef Melissa King and all girl band, The Beaches. Chef King shared on Instagram that her culinary ideas for the evening were inspired by “The Beaches music and their rockstar down-for-anything energy.” The group was joined by Drag Queen Starya and Burlesque star Frankie Fictitious as the pair played with fire, turning up Chef King’s take on a flambéed Peking duck.
The last band of BottleRock 2024 that we saw was Queens of the Stone Age who closed out the Verizon Stage. The rock band, formed in Seattle, put on a spectacular performance playing a whopping 17 songs. Their layered guitar sounds and raucous drums closed out the night on a strong note. They played some of their hit songs like “No One Knows” and “I Sat by the Ocean.” The band finished strong with an incredible finale of “Go With The Flow” and “Song for the Dead,” two of their harder but popular songs.
The stage was perfectly picturesque as the sun went down, capturing the silhouettes of the band with red, green and blue lights. Frontman Josh Homme effortlessly jammed out on his guitar during the set in a casual brown button-down and black jeans. Between sips of wine and drags off a cigarette, Homme told the crowd “I’m on mushrooms so I could love anyone right now.”
BottleRock Napa 2024 came to a blissful end, but not without pleased and full-bellied fans. Though the festival line-up had many up and coming artists or lesser known artists supporting the headliners, this festival still knocked it out of the park with talent and creativity. We absolutely loved watching all of the culinary demonstrations and getting to see what celebrity would show up next.
Tickets for BottleRock 2025 are already on sale, and you bet you’ll find us there next year! Keep an eye on the BottleRock website to see who next years’ performers may be.
Words by Emily Cigan @emily.cigan and Amy Harris @thetraveladdictig