This year’s BottleRock was one for the books. The Napa Valley, CA, music festival celebrated its 10th anniversary during Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28, with an array of delicious food and wine and a lineup that spotlighted pioneers and next-generation artists. Thanks to Marriott Bonvoy x American Express, I joined the thousands of fans who flocked to the Napa Valley Expo and got a front-row seat to all the action from their VIP Viewing Suite, which featured a sparkle bar, a custom bracelet station, a luggage-tag-stamping activation, and specially crafted bites from La Toque at The Westin, a Marriott Bonvoy participating hotel.
BottleRock’s headliners included Post Malone, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran, Lizzo, and Lil Nas X, who were joined by a bevy of other artists, such as Leon Bridges, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Carly Rae Jepsen, Bastille, Tove Lo, Paris Jackson, Wu-Tang Clan, The National, and Sheryl Crow, among several others.
What sets BottleRock apart from most festivals, though, are the amazing food and wine offerings, which are all sourced locally. In fact, there’s even a Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage that celebrates the world’s foremost culinary talent – and this year, José Andrés, Giada De Laurentiis, David Chang, Roy Choi, Andrew Zimmern, Aarón Sánchez, and the Voltaggio brothers were all in attendance. So even if you’re not a fan of the music, the food and wine alone are definitely reasons worth attending.
Image Source: Courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy and American Express
American Express and Marriott Bonvoy introduced the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express Card for travelers who want to earn more points so they can get to their next concert and trip with family and friends faster with access to Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of luxury and lifestyle properties. During my trip, I stayed at the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa, which is a quick 10-minute drive to the Napa Valley Expo and where Bevy Card members earn 6X Marriott Bonvoy points on eligible hotel purchases and enjoy Gold Elite status.
Ahead, see the best moments from this year’s BottleRock festival.
Getty / Tim Mosenfelder
Keanu Reeves Reunites With His Band Dogstar For Their First Performance in 20 Years
Reeves certainly made the most of his time at BottleRock. Not only did the actor join celebrity chef Roy Choi at the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage to cook up some delicious kimchi fried rice and Korean barbecue burritos, but he also reunited with his band Dogstar on the Verizon Stage after a two-decade hiatus. The band delivered a nostalgic performance, singing songs from their 1996 album, “Our Little Visionary,” and their 2000 album, “Happy Ending,” but they also jammed out on tracks from their upcoming third album, including “Glimmer” and “Flowers.”
Getty / Tim Mosenfelder
Nile Rodgers & Chic Cover Songs by Beyoncé, Madonna, and Daft Punk
Rodgers and Chic had everyone on the fairgrounds on their feet with their soulful performance. In addition to belting out some of their greatest hits, they also covered songs that Rodgers personally had a hand in writing or producing, like Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family,” Beyoncé’s “Cuff It,” Madonna‘s “Material Girl,” and Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams’s “Get Lucky.”
Getty / Steve Jennings
Lizzo Makes History as the First Black Woman Headliner
Lizzo made history at the festival as the first Black woman headliner, and she refused to let trolls ruin her moment. During her performance, the 35-year-old singer told the crowd, “I saw signs talking about how they want to cancel people like me. Silence people like me. Choke people like me. And they right across the street.” Right before launching into her hit “Special,” Lizzo added, “So we’re going to sing this one more time so they can hear it, because maybe they haven’t heard it in a long time.”
While Lizzo didn’t reveal what the signs said exactly, she also spoke out for trans rights during her set, telling the audience, “Drag is not a crime” and “Cancel hate, cancel intolerance.”
Lizzo then took a break from performing to have a “Bad B*tch Meditation,” where she delivered a breathing exercise for fans.
Getty / Steve Jennings
Leon Bridges Has Everyone in Their Feels
Bridges truly let his vocals shine at BottleRock, performing a greatest-hits performance, including “Brown Skin Girl,” “Texas Sun,” and my personal favorite, “River.” Despite the packed audience, his performance still managed to feel intimate as he strummed his guitar and couples in the audience swayed along to his songs.
Getty / Steve Jennings
Carly Rae Jepsen Travels Back to 2012 With "Call Me Maybe"
I saw Jepsen at San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival in 2018, and “Call Me Maybe” still hits the same every single time. I felt like a teenager all over again when she began to sing the hit track – and so did the rest of the crowd. While “Call Me Maybe” was definitely the highlight of her performance, the new songs from her latest album, “The Loneliest Time,” were also crowd-pleasers.
Getty / Steve Jennings
Red Hot Chili Peppers Bring Down the House
I’ll admit that I was probably one of the very few attendees who wasn’t a diehard Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, but I still thoroughly enjoyed their performance. As they played their hits “Californication,” “Under the Bridge,” and “Give It Away,” I found myself singing along and feeling nostalgic for my teen years. Clearly, others felt the same, as the fairgrounds were the most packed during their performance.
Getty / Jim Bennett
Post Malone Pulls a Fan Up on Stage
Post Malone‘s performance was hands down my favorite of the festival. The 27-year-old rapper performed a bunch of his hits, including “Better Now,” “I Fall Apart,” “Congratulations,” “I Like You,” and “Wow” – and he had the moves to match. I was actually surprised by the amount of songs I was familiar with. At one point, he even brought a fan named Luke on stage to perform “Stay,” and their performance was so good that I’m still wondering if Luke was a plant.
Post Malone also proved he’s a family man with all the special shout-outs he gave his daughter, who celebrated her first birthday on Friday. The rapper told the crowd he couldn’t wait to get home to his daughter to tell her how much he loves her.
It’s safe to say Post Malone turned me into a fan with his BottleRock performance, and I’ll be snagging tickets to his “If Y’all Weren’t Here, I’d Be Crying” tour.
