With the sun out and temperatures creeping to the mid-20s (Celcius), I was half hoping that this year would be a year I wouldn’t need to arrive at the festival early. The schedule demanded otherwise. Saturday would end up being the warmest day of the weekend.
Kicking of day 2 right at noon was 24-year-old Los Angeles singer-songwriter Ava Maybee. Her performance continues a trend for the festival in featuring daughters of famous musicians in opening sets. Ava Maybee’s father is Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.
Last year, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan’s daughter Grace McKagan opened the Verizon Stage and in 2023 Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris Jackson opened the main stage.
Despite the obvious bit of nepotism that helped launch their music endeavors, the vocal talent and stage presence has made all of them stand out on their own to the point where all three have ended up some of my favourite sets I’ve seen the last couple years.
Maybee’s debut EP ‘Orange Drive was released May 16th.
Most of my Day 2 was spent going back and forth between the two major stages. But after all these years attending the festival, I though it was time to finally catch a little bit of the Napa Valley Youth Symphony. They’re in the lineup every year, but I had yet to ever see them perform. I approached the Prudential Stage to see the Youth Symphony decked out in tie dye shirts.
Because I had a little bit of extra time, I also went to check out another band from Napa in alternative pop-rock group Weekend Youth.
Next up back at on the Verizon stage was someone I had no idea was a singer. Golden Globe winning actress Kate Hudson performed a 45 minute set. Hudson has performed some concerts recently, but BottleRock was her first ever music festival performance. Her vocals are impressive. It’s surprising that her debut album ‘Glorious’ was only released last year.
I ventured over to the JaM Cellars main stage for Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory briefly. Her synthy indie rock gave me Portishead vibes
I’ve been a fan of CHVRCHES since watching the Coachella 2014 livestream. Since then, I have seen the Scottish synth-pop band live three times including at BottleRock in 2022. Lauren Mayberry has an unmistakable voice. This was the my first time seeing her perform music from her debut solo album ‘Vicious Creature’. The last time she was on a BottleRock stage she ended up covered in fake blood. This time Mayberry wore a ‘Protect The Dolls’ t-shirt in support of transgender women.
It pained me having to leave Mayberry’s set, but another band I was highly interested in was about to start on the main stage.
Have you ever looked at the list of names in a festival lineup and see a bunch of names you don’t recognize, but then you look up some of those artists and are suddenly blown away when you hear a song or watch a music video? New York’s Lawrence did that for me.
The soul-pop 8 piece band led by siblings Gracie and Clyde Lawrence are as good as advertised in their live music videos. They had a mostly high energy set even after Gracie Lawrence took a red eye flight to the festival from New York. Gracie is currently starring as Connie Francis in the Broadway musical ‘Just in Time’ for which she’s nominated for a Tony Award.
The band utilized the main stage’s catwalk to great effect with the horn section stepping out for solos.
The band’s last song was one of their most recent viral hits ‘Whatcha Want’ that I wish I could have stayed for, but the song started moments before the next act I had to run to cover.
Icelandic blues rock band Kaleo were over on the Verizon Stage. Lead singer Jökull Júlíusson was wearing his signature hat. Their set was a distinct tempo change from where I was moments before. I went from up beat jazzy soul with tons of band interaction to mellower blues rock with the band members mostly sticking to there areas of the stage.
Reunion shows are typically Coachella’s specialty, but this year will be the second one in a row that BottleRock has gotten a notable reunion. Last year it was Keanu Reeves’ band Dogstar. This year, it’s Linda Perry getting 4 Non Blondes back together after 30 years. Granted, it’s not the first show of the reunion, but it was the first date announced. Perry opened the set teasing a snippet of the chorus to ‘What’s Up’ acapella before going into the band’s first song.
At that point of the afternoon I was starting to feel some slight heat exhaustion so after photographing the first three songs I escaped to the media compound to cool off and grab a snack while observing the set on the TV screens in the room planning to head back to the main stage in 10 minutes.
4 Non Blondes only had one album released, but not all of the songs were performed. Linda Perry had stated in recent interviews that some songs don’t related to who she is today. Thankfully, the band’s big hit ‘What’s Up’ still does. Unfortunately for me, the band performed ‘What’s Up in the middle of the set while I was taking my break. Serves me right for assuming they’d save their megahit for the end.
So instead of going back to the main stage I decided to check out New York singer-songwriter Sasami at the White Claw Stage. I think this was the first time I’ve ever seen an alt/indie musician play a french horn and not be part of an orchestra or horn section of some kind.
Some reggae rock was next on my list with Rebelution performing on the Verizon stage. Sadly I couldn’t stay to experience their show for very long to to other acts coming up.
On my way to the JaM Cellars main stage I stopped by the VIP Village stage where Lawrence were performing again in an acoustic setting. I squeezed my way to the front to get some quick photos for one song.
Benson Boone is having a big 2025. His second album will be released in June and he had a prime spot on the Coachella lineup where he performed ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ with Queen’s guitarist Brian May. Boone seems to clearly have taken a lot of inspiration from Freddie Mercury. Boone wore a leather jacket and a white tank top, he performed songs at a grand piano and he had the audience and photographers at the palm of his hand with his stage presence bounding around the stage and catwalk.
One thing Boone has become known for at his shows has been his gymnastic flips on stage. I counted about four occasions he flipped on stage. He did a front flip and backflip off the grand piano, he flipped along the catwalk and at the end he flipped off the catwalk on to the ground and managed to not injure himself.
Two Feet is a another group I was only able to see for a few minutes. Thankfully there will be another opportunity to see them this summer in Victoria on July 5th at Phillips Tilt. What I heard sound great, though photographically there wasn’t much interaction between the trio.
Festival goers had three choices to end day 2 of the festival. They could dance to Run The Jewels’ Trackstar The DJ at the silent disco, see a legend of west coast hip hop and gangsta rap in Ice Cube, or see a superstar from the 90s boy band era in Justin Timberlake.
Photo pit access for Justin Timberlake’s show was limited to a handful of photographers so the majority including myself ended up covering Ice Cube at the Verizon Stage. Ice Cube rose to the top of of a platform as two giant hands inflated to show west side gang hand signs as Ice Cube kicked of his set with ‘Hello’. Behind him the video screen show palm trees engulfed in fire. Westside Connection member WC joined Ice Cube for ‘Gangsta Nation’ and would perform with him the rest of the set.
I ended my night watching Justin Timberlake from with in the VIP side of the main stage. I arrived just before an odd lull in the show where he ended up interacting with an audience member who wanted an autograph on a denim shirt. While that was going on someone chucked straw cowboy hat hitting him the leg. The sequence of events was awkwardly long. It wasn’t the only awkwardly long break during the set that I observed.
Timberlake had a large band in the Tennessee Kids with a horn section and backup singer and a dance team that were all fantastic. The show music-wise was well rehearsed and entertaining, but the long breaks at different points of the set had myself and others around me wondering why he wasn’t moving on to the next song. It didn’t help that some of his banter felt a bit generic. He kept referencing California rather than the city of Napa that’s literally in the festival’s name. He also told the audience that BottleRock was his “final show in America.” Again, a confusingly generic statement which I assume meant the final show in the U.S. for this tour and not forever?
Timberlake was wearing a white t-shirt with a graphic of his wife Jessica Biel on it. Biel was reportedly at the festival wearing an old Justin Timberlake tour shirt. He didn’t perform any NSYNC songs in his 20-song set though his numerous solo hits like ‘Cry Me a River’, ‘Senorita’, ‘Rock Your Body’, and ‘SexyBack’were all there.
