Paris Jackson kicked off the main stage for Day 2 of BottleRock 2023. 25-year-old Jackson is the daughter of Michael Jackson. Her debut album was released in late 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. Before her second to last song, she told the crowd her last show before the festival she opened for The Wrecks and attempted to do a sing along, but no one in the audience knew the right words because they were too young to remember the song. She figured with the demographics of BottleRock being slightly older, it wouldn’t be a problem. Jackson proceeded to perform a cover of Blind Melon’s ‘No Rain’.
Rapper Lupe Fiasco brought some hip hop to the early afternoon at the Verizon stage. His set time was originally after 3pm, but his time was swapped with the next act we covered at the stage.
Keanu Reeves’ band Dogstar performed live the first time since 2002 in the early afternoon. Dogstar were announced as an addition on May 10 following news that Japanese Breakfast had to drop out. The band debuted new music from a forthcoming album. It’s their first new music in 23 years and they had been teasing a reunion for nearly a year.
That wasn’t the only lineup change for Day 2. Thee Sacred Souls were a last minute addition replacing Alvaro Diaz. There was not official announcement that Diaz was off the lineup that I could find.
The legendary Nile Rogers and Chic were up next bringing some disco funk to the JaM cellars main stage. Right out of the gate the band started the set with ‘Le Freak’ and ‘Everybody Dance’. There was a minor sound issue off the top as you couldn’t hear Rodgers guitar.
Canadian sweetheart Carly Rae Jepsen performed on the Jam Cellars main stage. Years after ‘Call Me Maybe’ Jepsen has proved she’s not a one hit wonder having earned a dedicated fanbase and being billed highly on festival lineups in recent years. Her stage presence was playful and her backing band was having a good time on stage.
Saturday’s lineup featured quite a bit of female talent throughout the day from the previously mentioned Paris Jackson and Carly Rae Jepsen to Swedish singer-songwriter Maude Latour, violinist Sudan Archives and 2015 American Idol 3rd place finisher Jax.
Another Swedish pop artist, Tove Lo, subheadlined the Verizon Stage before Duran Duran. Her attire for the show left very little to the imagination. The subject matter in her music is just as risque. During the performance of her 2015 hit ‘Talking Body’, Lo even flashed the audience halfway through the song. 
Jax on the other hand was almost the complete opposite. The front rows of the Truly stage had numerous young teenage and pre-teen girls singing every word to Jax’s music. She mentioned to the crowd how she didn’t think anyone would actually come to her set.
Saturday had a couple R&B/Soul artists on the bill.
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Cautious Clay performed on the Allianz stage. He told the crowd it was the first of three sets he’d be playing for the festival this weekend. Clay played with a couple saxophones and a guitar with in the first couple of songs.
Leon Bridges took the pre-headliner spot to the JaM Cellars main stage and performed a mostly chilled out set letting his velvety vocal resonate with the large crowd.
The final acts of Saturday presented likely the most difficult conflict of the weekend. On the JaM Cellars main stage was Lizzo. The last time I saw her perform was at Austin City Limits 2019 where she had perfomed on a secondary stage. The crowd for her set at ACL was one of the largest I had ever exerienced. Her shows are always colourful and entertaining. The BottleRock set kicked off with Lizzo stepping up to a large platform with a large arch of lighting and video screen behind her. He band and dance team were all dressed in black. Her show ended a few minutes earlier than what her set time was alloted.
On the Verizon stage, Duran Duran kicked off their North America ‘Future Past Tour’ Saturday performing their decades of hits and new music including their latest single that features Tove Lo. Lo just so happened to make a guest apperance to perform the song (wearing more clothing).
Finally over on the Allianz stage was Meute, an 11-piece “techno marching band” from Germany having the difficult task of playing opposite of Lizzo and Duran Duran. If you ever wanted to experience a marching band perform marching band arrangments of well known techno, house and deep house tracks, they were a sight to see. I was actually a little worried arriving to the stage when only a few dozen people were waiting for the show to start, but by the third song the area was packed with people dancing and enjoying the spectacle.
