The final day of BottleRock 2023 started off cooler with overcast skies with threats of rain, but ended red hot as the Red Hot Chili Peppers closed out the festival. The grounds seemed more busy with people trying to weave passed each other and squeezing passed lineups at vendors. The blanket zone at the back of the main stage lawn was packed and some areas were just plain difficult to walk through.
I kicked off the day seeing Long Beach, California indie pop rock band half*alive on the Verizon stage. There seemed to be some sound problems in the band’s in-ear monitors off the top that looked like it affected their demeanor on stage. Unfortunately I had to leave after only to songs to run to the next stage, so I missed the dancers that were brought on stage and the choreography the band did that is known for in their music videos.
British rockers The Struts were next on the JaM Cellars main stage with a energetic set. Lead singer Josh Taylor channeled Queen with his stage presence and his bandmates bounded around on stage.
Back at the Verizon stage Teddy Swims walked on wearing a bright purple track jacket and shorts and pink bucket hat and three cans of beer. If you didn’t know what type of music he performs, you’d might assume the wrong genre base on his look. Blending a mix of R&B, soul, country and pop, Swims wowed the crowd with his smooth vocals.
The grounds at the main stage were packed for Sheryl Crow. She performed hit after hit during her set and sounded flawless. She kicked off with ‘If It Makes You Happy’ and ‘All I Wanna Do’ and ended with ‘Every Day is a Winding Road’. The clouds started to spit a tiny amount of rain during Crow’s show but it didn’t last.
Venturing to the JamPad stage on the opposite end of the grounds to catch Warren G’s short set was slow going. There were just so many people to follow and weave through. The days of social distancing are definitely a thing of the past.
When I finally got near the JamPad stage the area was… well.. jammed. Warren G’s short 20 minute set started about 10 minutes late and unfortunately the mic audio coming from the speakers sounded overmodulated. I bailed after one song due to the sound issues and it just feeling way too crowded.
I managed to make it to the Verizon stage on time for Detroit singer-songwriter Quinn XCII. That’s Quinn “92” for those unfamiliar with him as I was. He started telling the crowd, “I wasn’t supposed to be here today” implying that he might have been another lineup dropout. He had messed up his voice but it somehow felt good Sunday. At one point he pointed out San Francisco star tight end George Kittle was watching from the Platinum viewing area near the front of the stage.
After a quick bite to eat I headed over to the Truly stage for Los Angeles pop rock band The Wrecks. Saturday afternoon, Paris Jackson on the main stage had mentioned that prior to the festival she had opened for The Wrecks so it felt a bit odd The Wrecks were performing on the smallest of the festival’s main four stages. The front of the audience was lined with young women who screamed out lyrics throughout the set. To say The Wrecks performed a high energy set is an understatement. These guys were bounding around the stage doing jumps, kicks, standing on the subwoofers in front of the stage and there were only three media photographers in the photo pit. Basically a music photographer’s dream scenario.
Wu-Tang Clan. Do to close set time overlaps I was only able to see the the first two songs initially. After the full band and DJ kicked things off, RZA took the stage covering Chere’s ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’ by himself before introducing GZA during ‘Clan in The Front’. At that point I had to leave and run to the next set at the main stage. I returned about 25 minutes later to see that the entire (living) Wu-Tang Clan were on stage. Having all members at a show isn’t the most common thing to happen so that was a plus. Last year Wu-Tang clan headlined Laketown Shakedown in Lake Cowichan, BC and were missing Method Man and Raekwon.
I made it for the tail end of The National performing on the JaM Cellars stage to see frontman Matt Berninger sauvely strolling around the stage in his suit. This was the first time I’ve seen The National live and their set was more up tempo than I expected. Their new album ‘First Two Pages of Frankenstein’ is their first in four years. Sadly, there were no surprise appearances by Phoebe Bridgers or Taylor Swift who are featured on the album. Both were in New Jersey performing for Swift’s massive tour. The National also had large square LED lights along the edge of the stage, but since it was still daylight, the lights didn’t really add much to the visuals of the performance. They only served as obstacles the media photographers had to shoot around for the set and all the previous acts of the day.
The final acts on the two larger stages started at the exact same time. You had to make a choice of who to see from the start. California rock legends Red Hot Chili Peppers? Or rap/pop star Lil Nas X?
If you chose The Red Hot Chili Peppers, you were treated to a lot of their back catalogue of hits along with well received music from the latest album. There was some funk rock jamming between some songs and the band remained fully clothed. Flea’s bass riffs are unmistakeable to the ear. The show started with just Flea and guitarist John Frusciante jamming before Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith came up for ‘Around The World’. The main set ended with ‘Californication’ and ‘By The Way’. Considering that most at the festival Sunday seemed to be there for the Chilis the audience wasn’t all that loud in clamoring for an encore. The band would return to the stage to close the festival with mega-hits ‘Under The Bridge’ and ‘Give It Away’.
Headlining the Verizon stage was Lil Nas X. If all you knew about Lil Nas X was his breakout country-rap song ‘Old Town Road’, you were in for a surprise. I’ve seen some of his recent music videos and even I was suprised at what his live show is. I missed the first few songs due to covering Red Hot Chili Peppers so I walked into the audience during ‘Old Town Road’ about 20-25 minutes into Lil Nas X’s set. He was wearing a gold chestplate and white fuzzy chaps while sitting on a large long haired horse sculpture with dance team surrounding him. On the next song a giant bird puppet walked around stage while he performed.
He then left the stage for a wardrobe change while his dance team, one by one, performed solo routines to the cheering crowd. Lil Nas X would re-emerge from the top of the set’s stairs in a sparkling blue loin cloth with a blue belt, large shiny bull skull belt buckle, blue collar, knee pads and fur boots. This was a show that some governments in the U.S. with certain political leanings would probably try to ban. Those places would be missing out on what was probably one of the biggest visual spectacles of the weekend. Apparently there was also a giant minatour, but I had gone back to see the end of the Red Hot Chili Peppers set.
