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BottleRock's first day fills Napa air with music
from: timesheraldonline.com.com
by Rich Freedman Times-Herald staff writer | Photo by Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
NAPA -- The upstart BottleRock Music Festival proved Thursday it isn't your grandmother's music festival -- especially if your grandmother's from Texas. Not with free packets of granola and samples of veggie burgers handed out like blessings at a baptism.
Featuring JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, The Black Crowes, Primus and the Avett Brothers, the first of four 10-hour days of music went off without a major hitch.
A few minor hitches, yes, especially for those among the roughly 20,000 on hand paying some high-end dough to see Further, the original Thursday headliner.
It's been known for two weeks that the band's Bob Weir canceled because of illness, but it still turned the event into a whine festival for some fans.
"Further was the huge draw for me," said Elizabeth Davis, in the week from Vail, Co. "But there are some other bands."
Davis, possessing a VIP four-day pass, said the perks weren't up to snuff.
"In Vail, you get free beverages and some food and you're not getting that here," Davis said. "VIP should come with at least a beer."
Pete Cavaretta, a Brooklyn native who was at Woodstock, got the four-day pass to BottleRock because he and his wife, Ann, hoped to catch Further. Still, they were happy the Black Keys were on tonight's menu.
The couple heard about BottleRock "when our daughter called us from Thailand. We found out long enough ago to get hotel rooms no problem."
As for festival admission, "I think the price is too expensive," Pete Cavaretta said. "But what do I know? I think everything is too expensive."
He was happy with the free shuttle service from his American Canyon hotel room.
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"You can drink your way in and drink on the way out," he said.
Bodega Bay's Cheryl Adam, also dealing with Further's absence, said she was happy the Alabama Shakes were performing.
Still, the event lacked a little something, Adam said.
"It feels like a county fair because there's cops everywhere," Adam said. "It doesn't have the feel of other festivals which have more varied vendors. Other places have massage and yoga, which I thought was cool."
Tyler and Jenny Birkley of Dublin were thrilled to stay at a Napa hotel to catch four days of BottleRock.
"I heard about it in the dentist's chair from the radio," Jenny Birkley said. "They were playing Ben Harper, one of Tyler's favorite entertainers."
Harper performs Saturday.
Tyler Birkley said he's looking forward to the Black Keys "because some friends have seen them live and said they're the best show. The Kings of Leon will also be good. There are a lot of good bands here."
Though there were rumors some major acts such as The Rolling Stones were possible, promoters couldn't snag the big fish.
"Not enough time to arrange everything that needs to happen for a big name act," said event publicist Tom Fuller, defending the elevation of the Avett Brothers to the top-capacity WillPower Stage "as a big name rising. They were a good fit since they were already on the schedule."
There were issues at the entry gate, with confusion about in-and-out privileges. Nobody who entered was allowed to return if they left the venue.
Friday on, however, locals and those with a VIP badge are granted leave-and-return privileges, Fuller said.
And, as it turned out, parking at promoter-endorsed lots for $20 and shuttling for free to the Napa Valley Expo was the cheapest option.
Various merchants and residents often precious property for vehicles around downtown, some demanding $100. The International House of Pancakes a mile or so from the venue charged $60 to park.
Talk about getting battered.
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