BottleRock Music Festival
Thursday May 9, 2013 // Napa Valley, CA
Photos and Review by Daniel DeSlover
Arguably the strongest set of the afternoon, The Black Keys set the early standard for the BottleRock music festival. Chris Robinson’s voice and dynamic energy drew a crowd to the Main stage for hits “Remedy,” “Twice as Hard” and a bluesy cover of Billy Joe Royal’s “Hush” to close their set.
Richard Thompson Electric Trio. Richard Thompson gave a guitar clinic that demonstrated his talents, while also joking with the crowd. “What are you doing away from work?,” Thompson declared, “It’s Thursday afternoon you lazy bastards.”
One of the biggest surprises was Café Tacuba. The raucous fans jumping to the beat of the Mexican rock act stirred up a minor dust storm. Rubén Albarrán, their dynamic vocalist, was a spitfire on stage. When he finally stopped to address the crowd he said, “My English is not good. It doesn’t matter the language, the music language matters.” The crowd roared and continued to dance up another dust storm.
The Avett Brothers have been moving up the jam-band food chain. Having sold-out a good portion of their last headline tour, they stepped in to headline the opening night of BottleRock when Further had to pull from the festival after Bob Weir’s ongoing health issues became a concern.
Violent Femmes closed out the night on the intimate Miner Family Winery stage, ending in a sing-along as they performed their original eponymous release in its entirety.
