With headliners Pearl Jam, Ed Sheeran, Stevie Nicks, Megan Thee Stallion, and Maná, the 11th annual BottleRock fest was in full force in picturesque Napa, California, where about 40,000 rock fans enjoyed good food, adult beverages and a variety of veteran musicians.
Due to it being held in the "Wine Country" of Northern California, one thing that stands out about this festival over the countless ones held around the world is approximately 40 local wineries are on the grounds for attendees to sample from.
Some claim access to the bubbly is worth the price of admission alone.
Here are a few moments from this year's BottleRock that make the people smile.
Bradley Cooper joined Eddie Vedder for "Maybe It's Time"
In 2018 Bradley Cooper took a few giant risks when he decided to direct, star, and co-write the remake of the beloved A Star Is Born.
But maybe the biggest stretch he took was singing in the film as well, including on "Maybe It's Time." Cooper, who is friends with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder leaned on the actual rock star for advice in portraying the fictional musician.
“We just hung out for a couple days. He just asked me a few questions and I told him things like, ‘Make sure your guitar covers your balls at all times,’” Vedder told Howard Stern in 2020. “I think sometimes when the guitar gets a little bit high it looks like a bib. And then punk-rock is, like, super-low, but that wouldn’t be his character. That way, if the crowd throws anything, let’s say an orange or a tennis ball, you’ll be covered.”
Cooper did not play guitar Saturday night during the Jason Isbell cover, that was the job of Vedder who sported a Walter Payton Chicago Bears jersey beneath a long sleeve shirt.
Cooper joined PJ at the end of their set to cover Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World."
Pearl Jam heads to Seattle for a pair of shows before traveling to Europe. Get your tickets on the Pearl Jam website.
The day before turning 76, Stevie Nicks covered Buffalo Springfield
The Witchy Woman is no stranger to covers. In concert she has been opening her sets with Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll," reminding the kids how vital she was to Fleetwood Mac, and even covering tunes from her dearly departed pal Tom Petty.
But covering "For What It's Worth," penned by Stephen Stills in the wake of LA's Sunset Strip curfew riots in late 1966, couldn't be more timely. Recently at UCLA (just a few miles from the Sunset Strip), students were arrested for breaking a campus-wide curfew during protests over the US involvement in the horrors happening in the Middle East.
She's reminding us that even though the song is nearly 60 years old, we are still living in an era where it's correct to say: Stop, children, what's that sound / Everybody look, what's going down?
Stevie's tour continues. Her next stop is at the Ball Arena in Denver tickets available on her website. The Ball brand might have become famous due to their iconic mason jars, but can a company sell that many jars to afford the sponsorship of a NBA arena? Don't tell Stevie but a while back Ball started partnering with the US military on things like antennas for missiles.
Everybody look, what's going down.
Update:
Stevie has fallen ill so the Denver show is being pushed back just a few days. Mark your calendars and tell your friends who live in the Mile High City and who are attending the show.
Ed Sheeran helped The Offspring on "Million Miles Away"
One of the greatest romantic films about Los Angeles in the early 1980s was Valley Girl, Nicolas Cage's first starring role. The movie was about a punker from Hollywood falling for a preppy high school girl from The Valley and how different their worlds were across the Hollywood Hills.
The Plimsouls' "A Million Miles Away" was the ideal song to exemplify the chasm between the two parts of LA, specifically the house party scene of the Valley and the dingy Viper Room of the Sunset Strip.
When The Offspring wrote and recorded "Million Miles Away," the chorus sounded faintly familiar to what some might consider its inspiration; and though it wasn't the same, it made many wonder, "what's going on here?"
It was quickly dismissed. Even by the band. Of the songs they play live, it's just #50. With that said, Ed Sheeran made it better last weekend. As he often does.
Ed is heading to Europe, so get your tickets on his website while they last.
The Alive covered Mötörhead
Is rock dead? Not as long as longhaired young people keep covering Lemmy and Motorhead's biggest song, "Ace of Spades" and film it on a Drum Cam.
The decidedly grunge The Alive from Laguna Beach, CA, made headlines in 2022 when they were just in high school and opened Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival. Vedder was so into the teens he jumped on stage and raged with them.
The band became friends with Chevy Metal and have been opening for them recently. Currently The Alive is on tour around the US appearing in festivals like BottleRock and June 2nd's Let's Go Music. Tickets available on their website.
The day after BottleRock ended, it announced the dates for next year's festival.
Tickets are now available on the BottleRock website.
