BottleRock in California’s scenic Napa Valley has kicked off for its 12th year. This Bay Area music, food, and wine festival lasts for the entire Memorial Day weekend, beginning on Friday, May 23 and ending on Sunday, May 25. Nearly 80 musicians will perform over the weekend and over 35 chef and celebrity guests will mingle on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage. The weather and the vibes were perfect to kick of Day 1.
In the early afternoon, Ultra Q rocked out on the JaM Cellars Stage. The band is composed of Jakob Armstrong on guitar and vocals, Enzo Malaspina on guitar, Chris Malaspina on drums, and Kevin Judd on bass. Armstrong is the youngest son of Green Day’s vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong. Their music got the crowd moving, finding a niche space between post-punk shoegaze, and rock. Jakob’s vocals bear a striking resemblance to his famous father’s and if you closed your eyes you might believe they were the same person.
Rock band Beach Bunny brought out quite the crowd at the Verizon Stage. The band found their fame when their song “Prom Queen” went viral on TikTok in 2019. Lead vocalist Lili Trifilio strummed on her glittery pink electric guitar as she sang and kept the crowd involved. The opening song was their hit tune “Cloud 9” that is currently their most streamed song.
Ethiopian-Swedish chef Marcus Samuelsson teamed up with Sophie and Tucker of musical group Sofi Tukker for some delicious bites on the Culinary Stage. The team went with a bread and butter theme based on their new album butter that came out just last week.
California native rapper E-40 disappointed guests as he arrived nearly 40 minutes late to his set. DJ KMP performed to fill up the lost time until E-40 finally arrived, launching into “Tell Me When to Go.” The crowd didn’t seem to mind that he was late once he got into his hits like “Choices (Yup)” and “Sprinkle me.” E-40 ended his performance with a special west coast hip-hop song for the locals – “Yay Area.”
Aarón Sánchez, Flavor Flav, and E-40 teamed up together for a culinary demo of fried chicken and tacos. Sánchez talked about being a huge Flavor Flav fan and how special it was to cook with him after growing up in New York City. Flav made crispy fried chicken with his special blends od flavor crystals and el pastor tacos. The meal was topped off with Aarón’s new Love Sauce line with Williams Sonoma.
On the JaM Cellars Stage, Remi Wolf brought the party with her individualistic take on pop music. She wore a black and white striped t-shirt, a black tie, and a flowy light purple skirt as she danced around the stage, motioning to the crowd to keep their energy up. Her many dance moves made her the center of attention as the crowd sang along and fed off her contagious vibes.
Influential Hip-hop group Public Enemy brought the crowd together with their messages of togetherness and powerful lyrics. Fans rattled off the words to politically powered songs “Fight The Power,” “Public Enemy No. 1,” and “Terminator X to the Edge of Panic.” Flavor Flav delivered a heartfelt message of peace and unity to the crowd to close out the set, asking everyone to raise a peace sign in the air.
Country singer Trisha Yearwood and Grand Slam winning tennis player Serena Williams cooked up double stack chicken nachos together. Williams welcomed her daughter Olympia out onto the stage as their sous-chef, rating the nachos a “10 out of 10” as she took bites throughout the whole demo. Serena talked about how she makes tacos every Tuesday with her family.
Ska punk band Sublime regrouped in 2023 with Jakob Nowell, son of the late Bradley Nowell, taking the role of main vocalist alongside founding members Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson. The band stayed true to their psychedelic roots with colorful images and album art covering the screen behind them. A huge blow up of Lou Dog, Nowell’s late pet dalmation, stood as a lasting tribute to the band’s foundation in the 1980’s as the band powered through their hits like “Santeria.”
GRAMMY-nominated musical duo Sofi Tukker composed of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern delivered their electronic dance music to an energetic crowd at the Verizon Stage. The duo had a successful first performance at BottleRock, filling their set with fan-favorite songs that had the huge crowd dancing and singing.
Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto and chef Andrew Zimmern partnered up with rapper Chuck D to prepare a 200lb tuna for baseball players Evan Longoria, Curtis Granderson, and George Kontos. It was a wild scene onstage as Zimmern gave insightful commentary on the prep and cooking. Chuck D was drawing cartoons of the whole cooking scene. Former outfielder Ken Griffey Jr was onstage taking pictures of the demo. Iron Chef Morimoto, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, proved he is unmatched with his knife skills cutting the tuna into serving pieces for the athletes.
Check back tomorrow for our exclusive look into the second day at BottleRock 2025.